April 9, Nara's blog

Visiting an elementary school

We visited an elementary school today where local kids, including my host family’s two sons, are students. It was about a 10-minute car ride from our homestays. In China, elementary school encompasses K to 6th grade, followed by middle school (7th to 9th) and high school (10th to 12th). At the school, we attended different classes, such as ceramics, technology, and calligraphy. The local students acted as helpers, assisting us with learning new skills and translating. In ceramics class, the 5th and 6th grade students shared with me that the racks of perfectly symmetrical cups, bowls, and plates were their own work. They taught me how to throw a bowl on the pottery wheel, and their proficiency at such a young age amazed me (they had to save me multiple times from accidentally destroying my bowl). I took Intro to Ceramics in 9th grade and never quite got the hang of the wheel, so I enjoyed finally being able to produce some bowl-shaped object from it. Later in the day, we read aloud the English children’s books we brought from home to small groups of 12 and 13-year-olds.

It was a huge privilege being invited to the elementary school and to participate in their activities, from morning exercise (doing jumping jacks while jump roping is no joke!) to sitting in on their classes. I noticed that the school put a lot of effort into raising healthy children, such as giving nap time, serving a lot of vegetables in the cafeteria lunch, and blocking out exercise time twice a day. The students were very inviting and kind to us, especially as we were trying things for the first time --- for me, that was learning ping pong. Many of us noticed their focus on STEAM (science, engineering, arts, and math) and how well-resourced their school was with 3d printers, Arduinos, and AI technology, despite being a free public school in a rural area.