Beijing no.9 High School

ESD trainees were divided into several different schools in which they're gonna teach about Sustainable Development, and arrange some other activities.

Jarek, Viola and Nguyet were sent to Da Lian
Frank and Mira went to Xi'an
Carey went to Hadian (something) International School (aduh maap lupa, tar gw tanya lg >.<) Putu, Ky, Fani and Dom went to Camford Royal High School Slava, Martyna and Me went to Beijing no.9 High School I'm so proud with my school, i love it really much. First, because it was built in a really huge area (it might be weird, but i always like school with huge yards ;p), second, it has really cool facilities such as indoor-olympic-size swimming pool, acrobat class, indoor basketball courts (about 6), football yard, and so on, third, people are extremely nice here, especially Mr. Wang, our supervisor, they are so friendly and helpful, fourth, it's one of the best high school in Beijing with a lot of achievements.

(front side of Beijing no.9 High School)

Built in 1946, Beijing no.9 High School is a key high school as well as exemplary high school in Beijing. Covering an area of 57.000 square meters and floor space of 30.000 square meters, Beijing no.9 High School is well designed with an attractive layout and possesses the advanced teaching facilities. It consists of a teaching building, a lab building, a library, a gymnasium, two dining halls as well as a standard playground with 400m racetracks, which provide modern learning environments for the students here. 70% of the teachers in the school hold a Master's degree. In the aspect of students, large quantities of students are admitted to the key universities every year and the admission rate of the graduates maintains the level of 100%.

(classrooms building)

(the students)

Concept
The school is always for the development of students and teachers, trying to promote democracy and always put people's right in the first place.

Objectives
We are trying our best to build the school to be renowned one domestically and abroad with high quality and specialty

Goal
We are educating our students to be physically and psychologically healthy, helping them master special skills and ability so that they can develop in an all around way.

(The library)

(the dorm)

The gymnasium has all kinds of advanced equipment. The library can hold 500 people, where students can search and read on line. In addition, all the classrooms are equipped with such fasilities as a liquid crystal display projector, a computer connected to internet, and so on. The dorminotories are tidy and bright, each of which has an air conditioner.

(the gymnasium)

(indoor swimming pool)

(sport yard)

(Text taken from Promotion Book of Beijing no.9 High School)

(Me and the school sport yard)

AIESEC GIP Testimony

I was asked to make a testimony about my internship in Beijing, China, as the part of AIESEC Global Internship Program's promotion. Momon, the current VP Comm of AIESEC LC Bandung said that they're gonna make a poster of me :D (yeah, i'm THAT famous lol)

So, here's my testimony:
"It was September 2009, when i took Development Traineeship and joined the "Education for Sustainable Development" Program also known as "Hello China" Project in Beijing, China, for two months. It was the biggest project in China, and i was so proud and happy to be part of it.

It was just great. Development Traineeship is a really good way to develop your creativity and proactiveness. I was working in Beijing no.9 Middle School, educated the students about sustainable development and arranged some English activities for them. Every week, me and my friends developed creative ways to campaign the issue in such fun way.

The whole team of this project consisted of 13 people from 8 countries. I was working in the same school with two girls from Russia and Poland. Working in such international environment helped me to develop my horizons and soft skills in communication; trained me to have broad international mind and to be tolerant and flexible.

AIESEC GIP has helped me to develop not only my professional skills but also my personal skills. I found more about my self during this internship and i thank AIESEC for that. To know more about my experience you can check my blog in www.meandmylittleadventure.blogspot.com"

My Trainee Friends

(ESD training)

This autumn, we have 13 trainees working for Sustainable Development issue. These 13 trainees come from 8 different countries. We attended the same training in the 4 first days in B&B Inn, Shaoyaouju District.

I really like all my trainee friends. I can simply say that we are so different, but we get along really well. We made friends, and really enjoyed spending the time together. For me, they are really inspiring people. I can just learn something for each of them, too bad that some of them have to go other city for internship and i can't meet them again.

But I can introduce you to my friends ^_^ here are they;

(le-ri: Frank, Slava, Fany, Ky, Putu, Dominic, Martyna, Mira, Me)

The picture was made in a restaurant near the Beijing Zoo. I don't know the name of the restaurant since it was written in Chinese, but the foods are great and pretty cheap.

Okay, start from left side...

• Frank Bosman: He's from Netherlands. He is working in Xi'an, that's why I don't see him a lot. But once he was coming to Beijing and we went to the zoo together.
• Slava: She's from Russia and she's working in the same school as me, Beijing no.9 Middle School. She's pretty, sexy, fashionable, really nice, and she's a great dancer... but sorry guys, she's married :D. She has Chinese grand-grand father and she really loves to shop.
  
• Fany: She's Indonesian. She's from Jakarta but she is now studying in Malang. She was working in Beijing Royal Camford School. She finished her internship earlier and now she has already returned to Indonesia.
  
• Ky: Her full name is Tu Manh Ky and she comes from Vietnam. She has really unique accent and she's pretty quiet. She is working in Beijing Royal Camford School.
  
• Putu: She also comes from Bandung Indonesia. We took the same flight and we're gossiping about everything :D. She's working in Beijing Royal Camford School. She's an accountant and this internship is actually a time for her to have fun before she start her job.
  
• Dominic: Or Ho Joon Jang. For me, it seems like he has 3 nationalities; Korean, American, and Japanese. He's studying in Waseda University, Japan, grown in US, but he's actually a Korean. Eventough he's Asian, his English is flawless. He works together with Putu.
  
• Martyna: She's my roomate in Beijing no.9 Middle School. She studies Philosophy and Politics, and she's really smart and nice. She has broad knowledge about world's important events and people. She's interested at Chinese culture and art. She also speaks Chinese.
  
• Mira: She comes from Germany, and she was working in Xi'an. She finished her internship earlier because she needs to take a test in her university. She had bad experience in Beijing when somebody exchange her 100Y money into fake one, poor Mira :(
• Well, that's me ;D
  

I have some other friends...

(le-ri: Aaron, Dom, Carey, Michelle, Me, Martyna, Chris)

The picture was taken in bar 9.9 in Sanlitun. Sanlitun is a bar street where you can find various bars, clubs, etc. It's the place where the foreigners gather and have fun.

Okay, start from the left side...

• Aaron: He lives in Australia, but he's actually Malaysian, so he can speak some words similar as Indonesian. He attended the training but actually he's doing the Education Traineeship, because he teachs English and he's paid for that. He's an AIESECer.
  
• Dom again
• Carey: She comes from Canada and she's working in the same school as Aaron. Carey is really pretty and sweet. She had pretty tight schedule with her school but finally she managed to arrange some payment with such schedule.
  
• Michelle: She's a funky mama :D Michelle comes from Canada and she's teaching in the same school with Aaron and Carey.
  
• Me again
• Martyna again
  
• Chris: He comes from US and he has already returned to US. Chris is really nice and friendly. He wanted to be called "Mr. Ganteng" but always ended up call himself "Mr. Gentong" wkwkwk >.<

(le-ri: me, Putu, Jarek, Viola)

• Jarek: He comes from Poland and i only meet him during the training because he was working in Da Lian. He's Viola's boyfriend.
  
• Viola: She comes from Poland and she was also working in Da Lian with Jarek. Viola and Jarek have been together for 7 years and they're probably the cutest couple i ever met.
  

(le-ri: Me, Nguyet, Putu, Carey)

• Nguyet: She comes from Vietnam and she was an English teacher in Vietnam. She was working in Da Lian.
  

Owkay,, actually, i made quite a lot of friend here but i don't have their pictures. Maybe i will tell you about them in other note.

I really learn a lot from my friends here. My impression about them are; nice, open minded and educated. Really, most of my friends are really smart; they read a lot of book and have their own statements about world issues and so on. Also, i used to think that my English is pretty good, but my friends, they speak perfect English, eventough for some of them English is not native language. I'm encouraged to fix my English here. Now, I can use grammar better than before.

To work in such hetero environment like this train me to be open minded and flexible; as well as be strict to my own personal limit. The most obvious character of my friends is that they really have big curiosity, they dare themselves to learn and try new things, and they always try to find proper information about everything. That's awesome for me.

All i can say when you need to mingle in such international environment, you have to be extrovert, open minded but also culturally sensitive. Remember that each of you come from different places and have different culture. What's good and funny for you could be different for them. It's really a huge fun to be the part of this team, i learn a lot, and i really like them :D

1st Meeting of Our English Club

Yeay! so, finally Beijing no.9 High School has a English Club, or a English Corner... whatever, it's just the same.

There were some challenges that we had in our way to make the first meeting in Monday, 19 October 2009. First challenge, we didn't know yet where we can do this club, because the school had not tell us the place. But some of Martyna's students sent her an email where will the club take place, so she just told them to gather in front of the school gate.

Second challenge, suddenly in Monday afternoon, Wang Lao Shi told us that it's better to start the club on Wednesday, because they need to report any kind of gathering and meeting due to the issue of H5N1. Hehe,, that was a bit funny for me. But we told him that we've already told the students about this club, so we have to do it today. So, he gave us a meeting room to do this activity.

(the 6 first club members)

And finally, we managed to hold the first meeting of our English Corner in Monday (19-10-09) at 12.45 until 13.40. There were 6 students who attended this club, but we think that it was a good start, since we didn't give proper announcement about the place. Moreover, we like a small class. We can give more quality in fewer quantity.

The first meeting is only about introduction, but we made them make a long introduction so that they have to say long sentences and use more complicated phrases. The method was that we divided them into pairs, an then each of them had to introduce themselves as their friend. It was just a simple one.

("My name is Candy...")

I had quite fun. And i will prepare the next meeting (Wednesday, 21 October 2009) more seriously. We asked them to prepare a topic that they like to be told during the club, because we will learn about Public Speaking. Meanwhile, i will make a poster to announce everyone about the next meeting.

Anyway, these are our 6 first club members:

1. Michael
   
2. Sam
   
3. Candy
   
4. Maria
   
5. Li Sa Tong
   
6. She wrote her name in Chinese characters so i can't read it >.<

I hope we will see them again in our next meeting, and also some more club members! Cheers!

Remember Their Name

I always find it's pretty hard to remember people's name, even in Indonesia. There was one situation when i handle the press hosting in an event.

(an important-faced, senior journalist approached. I stood up immediately, set up a professional PR gesture, smiled widely, and greeted him so warmly because i felt that i know him pretty well)
Me: (shake his hand) "Mr. Agam... how are you? wow, it's been a long time! been busy?"
Him: "Umm... actually, I'm Kuncoro"
Me: "........"

Now, can you imagine when i have to remember Chinese names? well, more than 200 Chinese names?

But i have to do it, anyway. Because i found out that, your students will pay more attention to you, and feel closer to you, if you remember their name. Because for them, it's an appreciation if you remember them and call them by their name. Of course it's really hard to remember them all, but start to remember those who most active first.

(each of them wants to be recognized...)

Still, it's hard for me. So, i made a strategy. I asked them to write down their name in my notes, those who most active, for sure. Some of them have English name, and it makes everything easier for me. So, here's my note:

Class I-1
Cindy: long hair, sweet face, her English is not really good but she's so passionate and cheerful
Michelle: she just had her English name, really friendly
(they like to come to my room and talk with me, Martyna and Slava)

Class I-5
Chu Wen Yi: tall, pretty, friendly, she asked me if i can sell my batik blouse to her. She gave me a bracelet in our first meeting and showed me how to write my name in Chinese characters

(she said it's to protect me ^_^)

Scarlett: Sweet, active, intelligent, she sang for me in our first meeting. She asked me to come to her baptist ceremony and become a witness or something haha.
Denise: I'm impressed by this young girl. She told me that she wants to go to Canada for college, but her family isn't rich. So, she needs to find a scholarship, but she has to speak English well for that. She can't afford an English course, so she asked me to teach her English. She has that quality of knowing exactly what she wants and also how to get it. I don't know whether she'll achieve Canada or not, but she will achieve a lot of great thing with that kind of personality. She sent me a sweet letter and i will keep it. I really wish the best for her.
Cai Chen: The guy with glasses who's not really active but speaks English pretty well.
Zhang Xu: Haha,, he's the man! he's the funniest guy in the class. The whole class put attention everytime he speaks and makes jokes. He helped me a lot to get the class attention. He's also really friendly and active. Eventhough his English isn't that good, he always try to speak and seek for new words in his dictionary.
Yin Cheng Xuan: Korean student. He can't speak English or Chinese really well, but he always greet me and try to speak with me.

Class I-9
Gu Ming: (Secara fisik mengingatkan gw pada tokoh A Kiong di Laskar Pelangi >.<) kind of attention seeker who requires extra treatment. But if he got the attention he needs, he will be really kind and helpful.
Liu Chuang: One of the class cool gangster. His hand was fractured in our first meeting (not by me, for sure). He can't really speak nor understand English. But recently he was becoming really proactive and nice.
Tao Yun: He doesn't look like Chinese at all. He looks like Indonesian-Western mixed born. He speaks pretty good English and really friendly.
Guo Wei: A nice little gentleman who always help me with the computer.

Class I-10
Jeff: A cute, intelligent young man ;p he sang for me so beautifully in our second meeting ("nothing's gonna change my love for you..."). He's also really active during the class and he speaks English pretty well. Slava was right, he makes us think, "Damn, i wish i'm 7 years younger..." wkwkwkwk >:D
Belinda: A sweet girl that wants me to go to Badachu park with her
Betty: The girl with glasses, a bit shy but her English is good

Sally: She gave me a heart shaped origami with "We love you, teacher!" written on it. Aaaawww,, how sweet is that??

(I love you guys, too! :D)

And finally, this gentleman... he's also from Class I-10. He wanted to take picture with me. I can't remember his Chinese name, so he asked me to give him an English name. Wow, that's an honor to give someone a name. I have to think seriously about it. By the way, this is him:

So, i'm thinking about the name of some cool guys...
Bruce (from Bruce Willis)
Brad (from Brad Pitt)
Ashton (from Ashton Kutcher)
Johny (from Johny Depp)
Hugh (from Hugh Jackman)
Antonio (from Antonio Banderas)
Clint (from Clint Eastwood)
Stephen (from Stephen Spielberg)
Robert (from Robert Langdon- come to fiction)

So... can anyone give me an idea for this guy's name? his future is depend on us!
*untungny gak perlu bubur merah- bubur putih bwt kesempatan ini.. wkwk

I'm a Teacher! >.<

"Tuhan tahu, tapi menunggu"
(Leo Tolstoy)

Really, be careful with what you do, and with what you say
Because, karma does exist! Huahahaha >:D

My mother is a teacher, and i always tell her that i never want to be a teacher, or lecturer. I think those two profession require really high competence and patience. Well, it happens that i don't really have the 2nd requirement.

Moreover, i don't want to be a teacher because i'm afraid of karma hehehehe. Really, i was a bad student. I was always being so mean to the young, new teachers. Together with my friends, i teased them, and really intended to piss them off. I thought it was fun. I talked a lot during the lesson, played card, took pictures, ate, and slept. I really did, i've told you i was a bad student :p

(Me in highschool. This picture is taken during lesson and i was half- sleeping)

Since i believe in karma, i don't want to be a teacher. I don't want to meet a student like me. It would be a nightmare >.<

But through ESD Program, life brought me into Beijing no.9 High School and made me a teacher! I mean, how funny is that?? I was terrified that i would meet "another version of me" here. Being a teacher is challenging. But you know what? i like it. I have to teach 4 classes of 1st Grade High School students (aged between 15-16 years old) per week. This is my schedule:

Friday, 10.15- 11.00 Class I-1
Friday, 11.10- 11.55 Class I-5
Friday, 13.30- 14.15 Class I-10
Friday, 14.25- 15.10 Class I-9
(in average, each class has 52 students)

(One of my class. I finished the lesson too early so i took my time to have some fun ;p)

I have to teach them Sustainable Development, which is something pretty new and hard for their age. I have to do it in English, which is not their, nor my, native language. That's the 1st challenge. The 2nd challenge is that i'm a foreign teacher, i don't really understand their language, and they know that i don't have any authority to give them score. The 3rd challenge is that, i'm a petite girl with small voice, they thought i was 18 *sigh.

So, i try to be their friend. I love it, so do they (well, hope so... >.<)

There's a lot of thing that you can learn from being a teacher. I can tell you some of it:

1. Punctuality. It's a shame here if the teacher come late. So i train my self to be in the class 5 minutes before the lesson (it's hard... late is almost my habit wkwk).
   
2. Preparation. It's quite challenging to make them interested on what you're explaining, so you have to make sure that you design an interactive class, prepare a good presentation, translate some difficult words for them, etc.
   
3. Creativity. They will get bored with you as the time goes by. So, you have to prepare different strategies each week to maintain their interest in the topic.
   
4. Flexibility. I just realize that each class has different personality, habit and culture. I have to treat them differently in each class. Well, duh.
   
5. Patience. I don't have to explain more about this.
   

Actually, i find out that i learn more things from the students than they do from me. It's actually me who have 4 lessons to learn each week. They are my teachers. They make me think and evaluate my self every time. They push me to develop my self, to give better lesson each week, to be as creative as i can, to be tough and determined, and so on. I'm sure i will still learn a lot of things from them.

So, i love to be a teacher. I learn a lot from this experience. It's sometimes frustrating and tiring, but this job pulls me out of comfort zone, and i like it. I feel it because of my wonderful students. Some of them are really sweet, friendly and clever, some of them act like me when i was in their age XD. I will tell you about them in another post.

At last, be nice to your teachers and lecturers. Don't make any mess with them. You don't know what will happen to you in the future. Huahahahaha >:D

(Me and Beijing no.9 Middle School. You might not see it clearly, but that's me)

Beijing no.9 High School English Corner

I really like my school, Beijing no.9 High School.


People are super nice and friendly, the environment is great, the facilities are good. That's why i want to make a contribution for them. I want to do something more to help them, so do my trainees friend, Martyna and Slava.

We proposed a English Club to our school, and i submitted the proposal to our supervisor, Wang Lao Shi, last week. The proposal is like this:

English Public Speaking Club

Current condition:

English is widely needed nowadays. Students show high appreciation on it, and really interested to learn more about it. There are many students who really try to speak English well, and they need a platform in which they can practice English speaking actively, with correct pronunciation.

Objectives:

1. To boost students self confidence in speaking English

2. To give students a platform to speak English actively

3. To teach students how to pronounce English correctly

4. To give students platform to learn new words and use them actively

Activities:

1. Story telling

2. Simple presentation (Informative)

3. Simple presentation (educative)

4. Simple presentation (persuasive)

5. Simple presentation (to entertain)

6. Vocabulary learning

Method:

1. Practice

2. Trial and error

3. Evaluation

Schedule:

1 class/ week

(negotiable)

But it happened that Wang Lao Shi hadn't read it yet. So today, he asked three of us to meet him and an English teacher as a translator in the teacher office, in 3rd floor. So, there we went.

Finally, i could ask them if it's possible for us to make this English Club. We explained roughly about the club's purpose and what we will do there. For my surprise, they instantly say, "yes". We managed to arrange an English Corner, 3 times a week, (Monday, Wednesday, and Friday) from 12.40 until 13.45. They will ask the ban zhu ren (coordinator teacher) in every class to inform this new club to the students.

I was so happy that i finally i can have more experience in working in this school. More experience= more development, rite?. Martyna, Slava and I will discuss about the material that we will give during the club activity, it will be improvised from the one i've made. We really determined to give the students a really good activity. So, Monday next week, will be our first meeting of the club! Wish us luck! ;D

The important thing that i want to tell is, if you're a trainee, you gotta be proactive. If you feel like you need something more to do, just propose the activity to the place you're working at. If you think you can do something good for them, just tell them. It's your development, so be responsible to it.

I will seriously prepare for this English Corner. I will give them my best. And I will tell you about our first meeting in another post. For now, i'm soo happy that we can do this club! :D

Training ESD Program

To be eligible trainees, Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) trainees were given preparation training delivered by AIESEC, Plan International and Roots and Shoots. This training held in the 11th of September until the 14th of September 2009. The training took place in B&B inn Shaoyauju Branch, where 13 trainees from 8 countries gathered and learned how to be a good trainer.

First session of the training was about the ESD Program itself; it’s aim, objective, history, and it’s method to create an impact. This session was delivered by Jose Carlos Feliciano (MCVP Project AIESEC Mainland of China), Monica (Former OCP of “Hello China” Project) etc.


The second session was delivered by Adam Lane, member of Plan International and also one of the people who first established ESD Program. Trainees learned deeper about various issues related to Sustainable Development and how to conduct a class due to the issues.

Trainees also learned about the characteristics and habit of the Chinese students, and some practical tips to be a good presenter in front of them. Moreover, there was a session delivered by Roots and Shoots, an international NGO that gave the trainee more knowledge about environmental issue.


The best thing about the training was that the trainees from 6 different countries could gather and knew each other. We shared a lot of thing and experienced working in an international environment. I started to realize that each of us has different point of view and all we could do to solve the problem was by being open minded and tolerant. We faced some communication challenges because of different accents that we had, but we managed to get along very well. We cooperated to discuss the problem given and did class activities actively. I can say that it was a really nice start for our internship. We were quite sad that the training ended and we need to go to different schools (we went to a club and had a good bye party in the last day of the training ;p)

Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) Program

The largest project thorough China…

With more than 2 years of experience…

Includes more than 30 international trainees from all over the world…

Create impact in more than 25 schools in Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Xi’an, etc…

Develop a sustainable environment for a sustainable world!

What is Sustainable Development?

“a pattern of resource use that aims to meet human needs while preserv

ing the environment so that these needs can be met not only in the present, but also for future generations”

(Bruntland Commission in wikipedia)

Why do this issue in China?

· China is the most developing country in the world, at the moment

· China citizen is 60% of the world citizen

· Sustainable China will give big impact for sustainable world

ESD Program in China

Program Description:

Trainees from all over the world cooperate to spread the understanding and inspire action of sustainable development thorough Beijing, Shanghai, Xi’an, Dalian, and other big cities in China. They teach the issue correlated with sustainable development in some middle and high schools in China, in creative designed class, upon an international working environment.

Plan International and other NGOs in China support the trainees by giving proper knowledge related to the Sustainable Development issue. Trainees receive integrated training given by the NGOs and AIESEC before they start to work with the project.

Track Record:

Round I (Spring 2007)

Held in Shanghai and Beijing. Totally 1,800 students from 6 high schools and 10 international trainees involved.

Round II (Autumn 2007)

Held in Beijing. Totally 1,000 students from 3 high schools and 4 international trainees involved.

Round III (Spring 2008)

Held in Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin and Xian. Approximately 3000 students from 11 high schools and (?) international trainees involved.

Round IV (Autumn 2008)

Held in Beijing, Shanghai and Xian. Totally 2200 students from 6 high schools and 10 international trainees are involved.

What do they say?

“We must protect our earth, if we don't protect it, animals will die and flowers will die too. When animals and flowers die we can't stay at earth. But scientist says: 'there isn't any ball like the earth around 200 kilometers'. So we only have one earth. She is our mother. Let's take care of our mother earth”

“I think English classes are very interesting. We learn about global warming, human activity. Some people have no water.”

AND NOW…

Autumn 2009

Round V

Held in Beijing, Dalian, and Xian…

With 6 middle and high schools participated…

13 international trainees from Poland, Germany, Holland, Korea, Indonesia, Canada, Russia, Australia and Vietnam

How can we make impact?

What have we learned?

What are our challenges?

How much have we’ve been developed?

Hear our stories…

See our experience…

Keep follow up!