Overview

In the summer of 2010, Love Across the Coast organized our first reading camp at Chujiang School (出江学校）in Chujiang County, a small town in the mountainous area of Sichuan Province, China. During the two-week camp, 12 volunteer teachers and mentors worked closely with 60 students in seminars and collaborative group activities.

Our project was based in Chujiang School in Sichuan Province. 80% of the students are left-behind children (留守儿童). What makes the situation worse was the disastrous earthquake striking the region in 2008. The academic buildings were completely razed to the ground. With the financial assistance from the public, the academic facilities were reinstalled, but the education quality was still in poor condition.

In the final anonymous survey, 100% of students said that they wanted to come again to our camp!



Program Timeline

     04/23-05/25     Volunteer application open

     05/26-06/20     Volunteer recruitment

     06/20-07/21     Seminar content discussion, team meetings

     07/22-07/25     Volunteer training

     07/26-08/12     Summer Camp 

    

Volunteers

12 volunteers, including 4 members from Love Across the Coast summer camp committee, participated in the program.  All volunteers are currently enrolled undergraduate, graduate students, from US or Chinese universities. Representative schools include: Mount Holyoke College, Duke University, Vassar College, The University of Michigan Ann Arbor, Wuhan University(武汉大学),  Chinese Central Academy of Economics (中央财经大学), Chinese Academy of Sciences(中国科学院), and Beijing Normal University(北京师范大学).



Seminars and Activities

Morning Reading Seminars—thought-provoking
     Introduction to Psychology

     General Natural Sciences

     Introduction to Philosophy

     Chinese History
Afternoon Activities—fun, engaging, and rewarding

     -Course-related group activities:
        Mini psychology games--increase students’ confidence and bridge their gaps
        “Siqiaoban”—encourage creativity and spacial imagination
        Tell my story—to retrospect and to dream, to appreciate life and to value ourselves
        Chinese play—help students understand the contexts better

     -Collaborative group activities:

        Activities were designed to horn students’ team work ability, to challenge creativity,

        and to encourage communication. Activities include:

            Model design

            Scavenger hunt

            Art crafts

            Sports

            Creative Play