<A>Edelweiss, Every Morning you greet me

Edelweiss, singing and dancing together

Edelweiss, Every Morning you greet me

Wrong web site? Travelling in Austria?
Let me explain
June 2006- Search world atlas for Dongguan. Emailed reply to web advertisement for English teacher for summer camp in Dongguan, accepted.
July 2006- Prepare Chinese visa application and search website and travel agencies for air ticket. A little hesitant about travelling alone in China away from the main city tourist trail.
July 2006- Fly to Guangzhou with CAN on my suitcase, the mystery and ancient history of CANTON exciting me.
Land in rain at a very big modern airport feeling very special and at ease to see my name on a sign outside international arrivals.
Arriving at the school that was to be my home my name was on a large board with the other international teachers. I hoped I could live up to the expectations and the trust the camp organisers had placed in me.
Made my bed of 8 thin mattresses in the 10th Storey dorm in a large privately owned junior school. Unpacked suitcase, hung towel and spread my clothes and teaching materials round my bed. This was my home for 2 weeks and my air-conditioned haven.
The international teachers later met each other and completed a training meeting.
Next morning find 18 quiet children 9 years old sitting in rows in classroom, not knowing each other, or me and away from home.
Introduce myself, ask them how they are feeling and receive formal chorused reply from them in English.
Move desks to form U shape so we could dance and do crafts in the middle and I could easily talk to each child individually.
Fly paper aeroplane from front of class to break formality and give children chance to be children and not feel as though they were still at school.
All children wanted to get the aeroplane and fly it too. But all, too, didn’t want to be the centre of attention and speak if it landed on them.
Children grasped the informality and spoke back to me in English before they thought too much about being shy.
Great start!
So began the fun of getting to know each child with singing, games and crafts.
All the time the children were speaking English without being too self-conscious.
For the opening ceremony the school rode by bus to the local main street where a red carpet was laid. Each child and teacher signed a large banner that stayed up throughout the camp for the community to share.
The school had on its internal computer system songs and attached pictures that projected on a big screen.
One song we chose was Edelweiss and it was magic sharing singing with the children in English in China in 35degree heat. I experienced the joy of seeing children singing in a tongue other than their own, joining hands and dancing with others they had met only a few days previously.
One day the school went on buses to the local shopping mall to visit Teletubbies Land. The children had the chance to ride a miniature train, climb and play in a pit full of balls. Strictly, you understand, in the interest of international relations and keeping the children safe, I had to ride the train and play with them.

In the evenings the teachers took the opportunity to walk to the local park. The music and movements of aerobic dancing were demonstrated on a big screen under the stars in the velvet night air. It was special being able to share that with the community and enjoy time with about 200 people from local families. As part of a teacher’s role as a guest in the community some local people speak to you to practice their English. This enabled me to meet some interesting people.
So thank you, Dongguan, for sharing your children and leisure with me. I loved being part of Dongguan community in the evenings and dancing in the plaza. To the children who shared all day for 2 weeks with me “ every morning you greet me” as I have kept the photos from the website. I hope you remember the camp with pleasure.