OCEF

每年暑假，OCEF的义工和捐款人从全国各地甚至是全球各个角落而来，利用休假或回国探亲的机会进行支教或走访学校，亲身体验助学活动。在本期的捐款人快讯，我们特地选取了两篇义工见闻，与大家一起分享他们的心得和快乐。

Every summer, OCEF volunteers and donors from all over the world spend their vacation time to visit OCEF-sponsored schools or to help in teaching, in the process gaining first-hand experiences in the mission and functions of OCEF. In this issue of the newsflash, we would like to share the stories and reflections of two volunteers on such visits.

作者：美国义工黄晓帆
By Huang Xiaofan, volunteer from U.S.A.

六月份，我带着读初中的儿女小海和小湾来到甘肃平凉，想走访几个学校，看看我们的图书资助能怎样提升效益，看看我们的网络英语角怎样能切实帮助到中国的学校和孩子。

第一个学校：我们开始了解

我们走访的第一个学校紫金城小学是个城郊小学。近年来中国城市扩张迅速，很多原本是郊县的地带都高楼林立商业繁荣，看上去完全是城市的样子，甚至学校的编制也逐步成了城市学校。但是十年树木百年树人，学校的教育水平和学生家庭教育与城市优秀学校还是有很大差距。原本OCEF希望侧重资助乡村学校的图书，紫金城小学并不是主要帮助对象。但是正好捐款人希望能找到方便网络沟通的学校，而紫金城的图书管理员任会琴老师特别热情，对图书阅读非常有心。OCEF于今年四月资助了学校657本图书。来到学校，看见楼很漂亮，可惜操场很小，勉强能排开做做广播操。和校长聊，也很遗憾学校每天上课几乎一直排到放学，中午又因为安全原因，要求学生都离校回家，无法开放图书室。只好后面再想办法。

我随后去听优秀青年教师马永军的课。马老师在平凉市青年教师讲课评比中获得了一等奖。他坚持每天阅读优秀教师写的各种教学经验的书，自己也坚持写各种心得体会。听了他一节《彩色的非洲》，很惊讶地发现他整节课竟然很少给学生讲东西，基本上是通过教师提问、学生回答然后教师点评中把课讲完了。老师不断地鼓励学生动脑筋、尝试回答问题。整节课每个孩子都非常投入，不停地思考。连我们家小海听完课，都跟老师说，太棒了，和美国老师有些一样了。听了课，我和马老师商量，如果他能在字词句之外，和学生更多地探讨文章的用处，对孩子的语文学习可能更有助益。

张校长请我最后给孩子们上堂课。我也没有推托。他召来四、五、六年级三百个学生，把一个多媒体会议室挤得满满的。我从《驭风少年》讲起，正好是我们《乡村少儿》上下一期要登的稿件。这是一个非洲初中辍学的孩子，因为热爱阅读和尝试，给自己做了一个风力发电机，让村子里的人在大干旱的贫困年代用上了电。我希望能让孩子们知道，自己的学习绝对不只是考大学才能用上的。

接着，我请小湾来给大家读《Cat in the Hat》。孩子们随着故事的起伏跌宕专注极了。孩子们的词汇量都很不错，我简单点几个关键词的意思他们就抓住了整个故事。读着读着，有孩子能勇敢地上来读给大家听。一页又一页，孩子们完全融进了故事，连下课铃都听不见了……第二天，孩子们给我来信：“黄老师，我第一次知道英语有用！”

后来，我又找时间和紫金城的英语老师见了面。把北加青年组辛苦收集的英语绘本带给他们。老师们告诉我，现在的英语课本内容丰富，有儿歌有游戏，但是英语教学任务完不成，老师不敢再分时间去做那些兴趣提升的内容。我后来走了更多的学校，意识到很可能是孩子们学英语太辛苦太畏惧，学习的时候带有抵触情绪。如果英语教学多一些兴趣提升的内容，教学任务可能完成得更好些。这还需要更多的实践才知道。

我在和老师们交流的时候，另一些老师把小海和小湾拉到班级给同学们念课文。她回来抱怨老师就让她一句一句读课文，她读一句孩子们跟一句。“太无聊了……”小湾抱怨。“我下次去要带他们做游戏！”

游戏中，孩子们眼睛亮闪闪

我们每天走访两个学校，节奏很快，但一直牢记孩子对英语绘本的热爱，每个学校都坚持给孩子讲绘本，因为那是他们学几年英语才找到的第一个用处。

这天我们来到离城市很近的水桥沟小学。四年级的老师把我们拉到教室，想要我们给孩子们上上英语课。我手头的绘本对四年级孩子们有些深了。小湾带着孩子们读了一遍课文，正好孩子们学到去商店买东西。我估计城乡结合部的孩子们家里会有人做生意，就灵机一动，来了一堂卖东西英语课。

我问孩子们：怕英语的同学有多少？大部分孩子举手。

我问：怕什么？答：背单词、背课文

我问：我们为啥学英语？答：可以和外国人交流，可以去国外旅游。（估计是老师教的答案。虽然没答错，但都不足以帮助我们咬牙克服学英语的困难。）

我问：如果老师不逼我们，有谁愿意学英语？我很惊讶还有两只手举了起来。

我问：你们觉得要用英语赚美国人的钱，要学多少英语？答：很多，很多。

我说：两个字，只要学两个字，你就能赚外国人的钱了，知道是哪两个字吗？孩子们左猜右猜，不得其解。

我说：Two yuan！你只要能说价钱，就可以把手上的东西卖给外国人了！有谁想帮爸爸妈妈多赚钱的？孩子们眼睛亮起来了，腰更直了。

我接着说：世界各地无数的旅游点的孩子，就说着这两个字，给外国人卖了矿泉水、水果、各种特产……当然，我们会说的越多，卖得就越好。另外，大家都杀牛吧，很多河南农民去澳大利亚杀牛，都开饭店吧？很多福建农民去世界各地开中餐馆，都摆摊卖衣服吧？温州人是去美国、欧洲卖衣服……孩子们眼睛越来越亮了。

我问：大家要不要来学给外国人卖东西，回头帮爸爸妈妈赚钱？小脑袋们急急地点着。

我让孩子们各自想想自己要开什么商店，想卖什么东西。小家伙们哗哗地翻着课本，写了划掉。我估计那几分钟内，他们都复习了好些单词。接着孩子们此起彼伏站起来告诉我他想卖什么，“tomato”，“skirt”，“bike”，“apple”，“desk”，“book”，“robot”……很努力地把音发准。也许注意力都在想着怎么卖东西，孩子们竟然没怎么扭捏。我也一个个地为他们点赞。

我接着再请孩子们为自己的东西定价钱。孩子们急急地查课本，互相商量起来。有个孩子问56元怎么说，我们大家顺势把1到99的数字复兴了一遍。

孩子们准备好了，正好有个孩子有假钱，我拿着钱挨家挨户地买东西。孩子们兴高采烈地给我找钱，给我东西。可惜我们时间太少了，不然我们可以组织同学们互相买卖，可以帮助孩子们学会描述自己的东西，那该多棒！

海外捐款人探访学校能做的事情有很多

很多朋友希望能去乡村学校看看自己捐助的学校和孩子，带去一些文体用具、一些问候。我们欢迎大家想去看学校的时候尽早来找我们聊聊，看看能帮助学校做些什么。这里是一点建议：

• 如果学校有图书室，你可以请学校安排时间让你给孩子们讲故事，鼓励孩子们多阅读。
• 如果你英语流利，或者你带着英语流利的孩子回国，你可以带上英语绘本，去给孩子们讲英语故事。中国绝大多数孩子需要这样的机会来体验英语的用处。
• 如果你热爱你的职业，你可以给孩子们介绍你的职业，让他们知道学习能给他们怎样的未来。中国孩子接触职业教育的机会很少。
• 如果你的孩子有意愿和中国学生交流，你们可以事先准备一下想交流什么。因为我的孩子在现场，中国孩子只能想起问你叫什么、几岁了。但是这样的交流对中国孩子学英语有很大的鼓舞。
• 如果你对教育了解更多，你可以和学校老师探讨图书室的建设，甚至一些教学方法。

请和 该E-mail地址已受到防止垃圾邮件机器人的保护，您必须启用浏览器的Java Script才能看到。  接洽，也许你的探访可以更有一个意义。

In June, I took my kids, Hai and Wan, who are both in junior high, and visited a few schools in Pingliang, Gansu, to see how our sponsorship in the Book program and English Corner on the Internet program is impacting the students’ lives.

First School: the Beginning of Understanding

The first school we visited was Zijincheng Elementary. It is located in an area that was once rural but now looks urban. However, like many other schools in similar settings, Zijincheng still lags behind the traditionally urban schools in the same city. OCEF provided 657 books in April to the school, partially due to the efforts on its passionate and dedicated librarian, Ms. Ren. On this visit, we spoke to Principal Zhang and found out that the class schedule is almost filled to the maximum and all students are required to go home during the noon break because of safety requirements. As a result, currently there is no time slot for the library to be open to the students, and the school still needs to figure out a way to do that.

I sat in a class taught by Mr. Ma, winner of a teaching award from the City, who reads books about teaching techniques from experienced teachers and writes down his own reflections every day. The class I sat in was on “Colorful Africa,” and I was surprised to see that there was little old-fashioned lecturing, as most of the content was delivered through an interactive process of Q&A, with a final review by the teacher. All students were very engaged throughout the session. Afterwards my son Hai told Mr. Ma that it was wonderfully done, skin to the way similar classes are run in the U.S.

In the end, Principal Zhang asked me to teach a class for the students and gathered about 300 students from the fourth, fifth, and sixth grades in a multimedia meeting room. I started with a story about an African kid. A dropout from school, he loved reading and experimenting, and managed to build a wind turbine by himself to generate power for his fellow villagers. I hoped to demonstrate to the students that the power of knowledge reaches far beyond the college entrance exams.

Then I asked my daughter Wan to read Cat in the Hat for the students, who were so absorbed in it that some of them stepped up to read part of the book to the others. Later on, some of the kids wrote me to say: “That was the first time that I felt learning English was useful.” The English teachers at Zijincheng told me that they were so hard-pressed to complete the regular curriculum that there was no room left in their classes for extra materials to stimulate the students’ interest in the subject. In later visits to other schools, it became increasingly clear to me that a large part of the difficulty with teaching English at rural schools lay in lack of course materials that the students would find interesting.

Learning English through Games

During our trip to Pingliang, we visited two schools each day, and everywhere we went, we would share some time with the kids over picture books in English. One day we were at a fourth grade English class at Shuiqiaogou Elementary, and the illustrated books I had with me were somewhat beyond their level. Wan took the lead to read their textbook, which happened to be about making purchases in a store. It occurred to me suddenly that I could teach them how to make a sale in English, since some of their families probably ran small businesses.

I asked the students who was afraid of English classes, and most of them raised their hands. Asked why they needed to learn English, the kids answered that it would allow them to communicate with foreigners and to travel abroad—probably standard answers given by the teacher before. That was when I brought up this question: “How much English do you need to learn before you can do business with Americans?”

“A lot,” came the answer.

“No,” I told them, “you only need two words. Do you know which two?”

All the students looked puzzled.

“Two yuan,” I said. “As long as you can tell them the price, you can sell stuff to foreigners and help your parents make money.”

At that, the students became noticeably excited and engaged.

Then I dropped this on them: “What do you want to sell?”

Immediately they started going through their textbooks and looking for the words: tomato, skirt, bike, apple, desk, book, robot… They were so focused on the task that they did not even feel shy in giving out answers in the best English pronunciation they could muster. We went on to discuss the prices of the various items and reviewed all of the numbers from 1 to 99. One student happened to have brought some fake money and we practiced selling and buying. I only wished we had more time to go further in this exercise.

There Is a Lot Overseas Donors Can Do while Visiting!

Many friends of OCEF expressed the desire to visit schools and kids their donations are helping, and to bring with them school supplies and warm wishes. We encourage you to talk to us before you go and find out more about what you can do for the schools. Here are a few suggestions:

• If there is a library on site, ask the school for an opportunity to read to the students and encourage them to read more.
• If you or your companies speak fluent English, take some illustrated books with you and read them to the students. They need opportunities like this to appreciate what they have learned in their English classes.
• If you love your profession, talk to the students about what you do and show them what future they may have. There is very little opportunity for rural kids in China to access professional and vocational education.
• If your English-speaking kids are looking forward to conversions with the students, prepare some topics beforehand. While my kids tried to engage in conversation, the students could only come up with questions like “what’s your name” and “how old are you,” although even such simple topics also inspired them to practice their English.
• If you have a background in education, talk to the teachers and administrators about building libraries and teaching methodologies.

Please contact 该E-mail地址已受到防止垃圾邮件机器人的保护，您必须启用浏览器的Java Script才能看到。  and make your visits more meaningful!

作者：香港义工王雪梅
By Wang Xuemei, volunteer from Hong Kong

2015年海外中国教育基金会的暑期支教夏令营在甘肃省会宁县的柴门中学和头寨小学举行。今年参加夏令营支教义工大部分都有海外留学背景，有在职人员，也有在读学生，大家从不同的地方齐聚柴门中学。在支教的三周时间里，他们一部分人留在柴门中学，另一部分人则前往头寨小学进行支教活动。

柴门中学是柴门乡唯一的一所初级中学，距离会宁县城30分钟的车程，坐落于祖厉河畔，被大片的农田环绕。学校内有十几排平房，配有教室、宿舍、计算机教室、多媒体教室、食堂，还有篮球场和小型足球场。

柴门中学第一周

在夏令营正式开营之前，义工们已经开始积极筹备，每一位义工都分配了不同的职责，每周的课程安排也准备就绪。

7月20日，夏令营正式开营。

同学们早早就来到学校报到，我们准备了丰富的破冰游戏让同学们互相熟悉。我们鼓励同学们充分发挥想象力，为自己设计色彩缤纷的名片。义工们向同学们进行自我介绍，让同学们更多地增进对义工们的了解。接下来同学们被分成A、B、C三个班，每班推选自己的班干部和值日生表。第一天开营，满满的活动让大家既兴奋又有点疲惫，但当我们见到雨后的双彩虹，所有的劳累即刻一扫而空。

在接下来一周的课程中，我们每天上午三堂课，下午两堂课。刚开始同学们和⽼师还有点生疏，老师便在课堂上尽量多和同学们互动，尽量选取同学们感兴趣的话题教课。课后，老师们还和同学们一起玩游戏，一起聊天。经过一个星期的磨合，同学们渐渐和老师熟悉了，还会主动和老师谈话甚至主动邀请老师们去校外爬山。

阅读课上，每班同学们被分成六个小组，讨论如何改编乌鸦和狐狸的故事，并且分配角色表演改编的故事，希望通过这种形式培养同学们的创造力和团体合作的精神。同学们在课堂上也表现得比较积极。

美术课上，老师让同学们将现在的自己和未来的自己画出来。有同学想当歌手，便画出自己当歌手的模样，也有同学想当服装设计师，便画出了一件美丽的裙子。同学们对未来的憧憬丰富多彩，连老师们都非常佩服。

计算机课是同学们非常感兴趣的课程之一。尽管有些同学已经可以利用电脑看电影打游戏，但是绝大多数同学对于电脑的基础知识仍然比较欠缺。老师从电脑入门开始讲起，利用一些游戏锻炼同学们的打字能力，并教授了一些基本的上网搜索方法。

数学课老师从一些有趣的纸牌游戏开始，引导大家讨论一些课本上没有出现过的数学问题。音乐课老师介绍了一些不同种类的音乐，希望能培养同学们对音乐的欣赏能力，老师在介绍芭蕾舞的时候还和同学们跳起了四小天鹅。

体育课也是同学们喜欢的课程之一。好动是同学们的天性，老师们和同学们一起运动，互动多了，关系自然更加亲近。今年老师引进了新的运动项目——垒球，同学们对这项运动十分好奇，参与度也提高了不少。

由于志愿者们来自不同的国家和地区，我们安排了世界文化课这个大班课，由各个老师选取不同的国家和城市，为同学们介绍世界各地的风俗文化，开阔同学们的视野。同学们对于新奇的事物也都充满好奇。

在课间，同学们和志愿者们玩起了小游戏，放松心情。也有不少同学去图书室借书，非常认真地阅读。

柴门中学支教夏令营第一周的课程顺利结束了，在这一周里，志愿者们每天晚上开一次总结大会，回顾当天遇到的问题，分享各自的经验。有些志愿者提到如何提高学生们的参与度与积极性，大家各抒己见，建议多利用分组讨论和发言改变同学们传统上课方式的惯性。在计算机课上同学们容易开小差、打游戏，老师就要不断地布置实际操作练习让同学们在课堂上完成。还有志愿者提到老师不能事事迎合同学们的喜好，要在某些情况敢于说不，对于同学们一些不合理的要求作出合理判断。对同学奖罚分明、老师要以身作则等建议也是大家积极讨论的话题。每一堂课对于志愿者自身来说都是成长和学习的过程，希望通过经验分享能在接下来两周的学习中营造更美好的学习氛围。

柴门中学第二周

转眼暑期夏令营已经过了两周了，课程安排还与上周一样，除此之外同学们放学后还开始排练闭营节目。别看同学们平时很腼腆，但是报名节目时还是相当踊跃的，每个班都有五个以上的表演项目，唱歌、跳舞、话剧、口琴、太极拳等应有尽有。

A班的同学拿出舞蹈“阿拉伯之夜”，听说舞蹈是他们自己编的，大家跟着领舞同学岳婷练习得汗流浃背。王欢同学自编自导了话剧“灰姑娘”，从剧本的编写到选角色都是她一手包办。王彦军同学主动提出表演口琴，平时经常看到这个大男孩在球场上挥洒汗水，没想到还会吹口琴，让我们刮目相看。

同学们在下课后主动提出带领志愿者们欣赏祖厉河的风景，我们沿着校外的公路走了几分钟就来到了一处斜坡，顺着斜坡往下走，一大片空旷的田野呈现在我们的面前，田野的东西两边是连绵的黄土山，在远处一条蜿蜒的河流从北往南贯穿于田野之间，这就是祖厉河。这时黄昏的太阳照耀在旷野上，整个峡谷就像是披上了一层黄金外衣，格外美丽。带领我们来到祖厉河的同学们说这里是她们放学后经常来的地方。志愿者们也趁着日落的余晖，尽情玩耍。

柴门中学第二周的星期五举行了一场热血沸腾的垒球比赛。垒球是同学们第一次接触的运动项目，多亏了体育老师朱玮在每堂体育课里耐心地教同学们如何打垒球，这次比赛才能顺利进行。比赛一共有四支队伍，A、B、C班每班各出一支代表队，加上志愿者们组成的D队，以淘汰赛决出胜负。

最后的决赛中，C班虽然落后，但一步一步紧追不舍，并以最后一击反超，以一分的优势战胜了A班。赛后他们都兴奋地跳了起来。A班的同学们忍不住哭鼻子了，连最后的大合照都没心情拍。但这就是比赛，有赢就会有输，这次经历也是一次小小的挫折教育，有时努力不一定能得到期望的结果，但是只要能正视挫折，从失败中吸取教训再接再厉，下一次一定能取得更大的进步。

柴门中学支教第二周，欢乐与激情、汗水与泪水交织成一幅七彩斑斓的画卷，愿此情此景在同学们心中永存。

The 2015 OCEF Summer Teaching Camp was offered at Chaimen Middle School and Touzhai Middle School in Huining County, Gansu Province. Most volunteers at the camp this summer had overseas education, including working professionals as well as students.

Week 1 at Chaimen

The Camp was officially opened on July 20. The students came very early for enrollment, and we prepared great ice-breaking games for them to get to know one another. They were encouraged to design creative name cards, and were then divided into three classes, A, B and C. After a full day’s activity, everybody was excited and burned out at the same time, but all fatigue was wiped away when a double rainbow appeared in the sky after a storm.

In the following weeks, we offered three classes in the morning and two in the afternoon. In reading classes, students were assigned to different groups to adapt the story of the crow and the fox into a play, in an exercise of both creativity and teamwork. In art classes, the teacher asked the students to draw themselves and their future, and the students’ rich imagination gained admiration from the teacher.

Computer classes were very popular among the students. While some of them knew how to use computers to play games or watch videos, the majority of them had very little general knowledge about computers. The teacher started with entry-level contents, developed students’ typing skills through games, and taught them some basic search functions.

The math teacher launched the classes with interesting card games to initiate discussions on math problems that students had never encountered in classrooms. The music teacher introduced different genre of music to help them develop music appreciation, and even danced with them in a ballet segment from Swan Lake.

Naturally, PE was also popular. The teachers and students mingled together and really got to know each other. The teachers introduced a new sport this year—baseball, which proved to be highly intriguing and engaging to the students.

Since the volunteers came from many different countries and regions, we arranged a World Culture class to expand the students’ horizon. Every night the volunteers would get together to reflect on the events during the day, and to review what had gone well and what needed to be improved.

Week 2 at Chaimen

The overall curriculum remained the same as in the first week, but the students started to prepare for their performances at the closing ceremony. Even though many students were shy, they were very active in volunteering for the event. Each class came up with at least five items for the program, including a dance called Arabian Night and the play Cinderella.

On Friday, the whole camp went into frenzy with a baseball tournament. Each of the three classes had its own team in the tournament, and the volunteers contributed a fourth team. After some grueling sessions, Class C came out to claim to championship. In the final game, Class A led most of the way, but Class C completed a comeback though last-minute scoring and won the game by one point. The students from Class A were so disappointed that they burst into tears and were not even in the mode for the final photo shot. But that is what sports are really all about: There will always be winning and losing, despite the best effort. As long as you learn from your mistakes, failure will be the mother of progress.

The second week of the camp was full of happiness and passion, with sweat and tears merging together to paint a colorful picture. I hope it will remain in everyone’s memory forever.

第20期（2015年暑期专辑）/No. 20 (Summer 2015)

组稿：杨敏 英译：何雪炀 编校：汤柏
Compiled by Catherine Yang Translated by He Xueyang Edited by Tang Bai

海外中国教育基金会/Overseas China Education Foundation

地址/Address: P. O. Box 772436, Houston, Texas 77215-2436, USA
电话/Telephone: (281) 506-2018 电子邮件/e-mail: 该E-mail地址已受到防止垃圾邮件机器人的保护，您必须启用浏览器的Java Script才能看到。

捐款链接/To make a donation to OCEF: https://ocef.org/donation

了解更多OCEF义工工作/To learn more about OCEF volunteers and their work：
https://www.ocef.org/publication/vol-newsflash