trip to china

《山东之旅感言》

2008-08-14T00:06:00.000-07:00

五月十九日，小五与小六四十位尚育小学的同学去了中国，山东省（青岛）。我们去的学校是嘉峪关小学。这是一个文化教育游学之旅。那里的课堂十分有趣，那里的老师也很热情地招待我们。不仅如此，连那里的学生也很热烈地欢迎我们。我们上了音乐课、体育课、语文课和美术课。嘉峪关的学生都很积极地参与课堂，也十分专心听老师们讲解课文。每两位尚育小学的同学将分配到一位中国学生。两位尚育小学的同学会到一位中国学生家住两夜。在居住在中国学生家里时，那里的家长都很好客，真让人觉得好有家的感觉。中国人的饮食习惯稍微跟我们不太相似，他们较喜欢油腻与咸一点的食物。因为只呆在那里不久，还能适应。我本身也交了一些朋友。中国学生态度友善，非常乐意与我们沟通。我也注意到中国人的主要交通工具是脚车。我们还游览了许许多多的中国著名的名胜，如黑虎泉、崂山和青岛山炮台。

总的来说，我学了不少东西。中国人的文化虽与新加坡人不太一样，但我们应该尊重他们的文化，如：他们如何尊重我们的文化。那里的人给我留下深刻的印象，尤其是他们友善的态度与热忱的招待，他们爱国的精神与学习的积极。我很珍惜如此珍贵的学习机会。我向他们学了不少，也希望他们也能从我们身上学到一些东西，如：我们的创意精神和我们的开朗豁达。他们认真的学习态度，是很值得我们敬佩的。这次的旅程也让我对新加坡的爱国精神提高了。我看见他们力求上进，与对为国家作出的贡献，我自己也很向往。这个旅程果然是值得去的，因为从学习中获益不浅啊!

On 19 May 2008, 40 Changkat pupils from P5 and P6 went to Shandong, Qingdao (China) for an exchange program at Jia Yu Guan Primary School.

The lessons over there were very interesting and the teachers there welcomed us warmly. The pupils there were also quite friendly. We had music lessons, P.E. lessons, Chinese Language lessons and Art lessons.

The pupils at Jia Yu Guan were very actively participating in the lesson. They paid full attention to the teacher when the teacher was explaining the text. Every two pupils from Changkat was assigned to a pupil in Jia Yu Guan School. The two pupils would then go for a two-night homestay at the assigned China pupil’s house.

During the homestay, the parents were very hospitable, making us feel at home. The food they ate are not quite similar to ours. They prefer having food which were more salty and oily. We could adapt to it as it was only for a short period of time. I made some new friends. The China pupils were friendly and were willing to open up to us.

Their main form of transport is the bicycle. We went to many famous places of interest in China for sightseeing, such as Black Tiger Spring, Lao Shan and Qingdao Hill. We had gained valuable knowledge from these visits.

Overall, I felt I had learnt quite a number of things at Shandong. The culture of the Chinese people is quite different from the Chinese Singaporeans. We learnt to be respectful of other cultures as how they respect ours. The people there left a great impression on me. They were amiable and hospitable. I appreciate such a good learning opportunity. I have learnt something from them and I hope they have learnt something from us too. Their seriousness in their attitudes towards their studies, is something worth applauding and worth learning. This attitude is very commendable. This had also increased my love for my country. Seeing how serious and persistent they are in their studies, wanting to do well and hoping to contribute to their country. I realized I can also emulate them. This trip was indeed worthwhile. It had taught me many things in life and I am looking forward for such immersion trips in future.

Done by : 陈伟康
Tan Wei Kang 6A

My Shandong Immersion trip

2008-08-14T00:02:00.000-07:00

After that long ride, we have finally reached Guang Zhou. Too bad we need to take another internal plane ride to Ji’nan… Ow! How my back hurts! It was another 2 hours when finally landed. By then, my back already felt like it is going to give way, hehe. But I just could not wait to see the views of China. When we landed, it was around 6:10 pm. We took a coach to our first hotel and checked in.

I did not really have a good dinner on the plane and was still extremely hungry. Luckily, I had brought 3 cup noodles for the trip. My partner, Loke Boon, boiled the water and within 5 minutes, our supper was ready. Now that is what I called a perfect meal!

The next day, we had our first breakfast in China in the hotel, since it is international buffet type of breakfast. The varieties of food are about the same as the hotels I have been in Singapore, only that the portions were bigger. After a most filling breakfast, we went off to QuanCheng Square. One strange thing was, all the flags around us were only raised to half mast. The tour guide said that for three days, the flags will be raised to half mast in order to commemorate the victims of the recent Sichuan earthquake. It was the 2nd day of the commemoration when we were there in the Square.

After an hour of photo-taking, we went to a bookshop. For 1 whole hour I could not find any book of my interest. Just as I was going to lose hope, I found it, a story book about the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. I heave a sigh of relief upon leaving the bookstore, well, at least I did not step out of the shop empty-handed! Haha.

We took the coach to Qufu after that. The ride was a tedious and tenacious 2 hours! When we finally checked in, I was so fatigued that I fell asleep the moment my head touched the pillow.

We left at 8 am on the next day and drove straight to the Confucius temple. I was informed that the temple is built so well that it can even withstand earthquakes! After that, we went to the Confucius forest which was filled with many tall trees and plants, the forest was so big that it took us more than half an hour to reach Confucius burial spot.

Our next stop was Qingdao, a ride of another unbearable 5.5 hours! That night I was so excited about the lessons I was going to have at Jia Yu Guan Primary the next day, I couldn’t sleep well.

I was so excited! Today is the day when we are going to attend lessons in China! I can finally see how lessons are conducted over here! When we arrived at the gates of the school, the students stood in two rows which led to the main entrance and warmly welcome us with endless applause, we were so shocked by such a warm reception. We assembled in the conference room and the principle welcomed us with a speech. The first lesson we attended was the music lesson. At the end I even learnt a new song about football kicking!

The second lesson we attended was the mother tongue - Chinese lesson, I was duly impressed by how fluent they were in the reading of the passage! I was also surprised when the teacher asked a question, almost every single student in the class raised up hands to participate. The culture in Singapore is such that only a few students would raise up hands to answer questions.

The third lesson was PE, we played a fun game! We tied our legs to each other then tried to walk in unison. We failed the first few times but got the hang of it very quickly. After the third lesson, we went to the school’s basement and guess what? They had a mini ecological garden! I have to say that the students who attended to us are not only very smart, they are very eloquent in their speeches and introductions!

We finally went back to the conference room and were told who was going to be our hosts in China. When me and Loke Boon’s host was revealed. Everyone started to giggle because our host was about twice our size! I could still remember Loke Boon saying, What a bit of bad luck!(Please pardon us, we are intimidated what, haha) But in the end, we had a great time at his house! Our host may be big framed, but he is a fast runner and certainly a great basketball player as well! He even taught us a few moves! Too bad we still could not do it properly. And who knew that his mother made the best dumplings that I had ever tasted?

The next day, we went back to Jia Yu Guan Primary to have lessons, and how interesting it turned out to be! They had chess class today, and I got to play with some of The China students! (Whether or not I won, I won’t reveal) After that, they had another period of PE. This time we played ‘tug of war’, too bad we lost. But the PE teacher said repeatedly, none of us emerged as the winner. At the end of the day we went back with our hosts.

On that day, we were brought to Jusco, a humongous departmental store, to do a bit of shopping. We also played at the video arcade and we had an exhilarating time! I wish I could have stayed here forever! Too bad we had to leave the next day.

The next day, we assembled at the Conference Room again. After saying a few goodbyes, we set off to Laoshan. Laoshan has Nine Waters （九水）but we only managed to climb to the Third Water as the slopes were getting too steep for a safe journey up. When we climbed down again, we took a 3 hour coach ride to Yantai (烟台). We stopped at Moon Bay to take a few pictures and to do some exploring.

We checked into our 6th hotel, thinking about what we could be doing the following day. The next day, we left at 8am to visit Penglai Pavilion, the Ancient Boat Museum. There were many models of the ships they used in the past. After that, we took a coach to Weifang. We visited Yangiabu Folklore garden to learn how to make kites. Too bad the one we made was not good enough to fly.

We checked into our last hotel that night to do our packing. The next day, after a sumptuous international buffet breakfast, we headed back to Singapore.

I must say that not only did I have a great time during the course of this immersion trip, I did learn a lot of things about the culture of China. This is indeed a very fruitful trip! Given a chance, I won’t hesitate to go for another trip like this.

Ernest Kua
5A

Lessons at Jia Yu Guan Primary

2008-08-03T02:02:00.000-07:00

At Jia Yu Guan Primary, we were very happy to have a fruitful learning experience.

We had Chinese lessons, Art & Craft, Music, Physical Education (Tag of War and Team Race ), Chess Competition, Computer lessons and even Math lessons.

Shandong Trip

2008-08-03T01:33:00.000-07:00

Day 1 (:

2008-07-18T05:22:00.001-07:00

Jinan International Airport (:

Restaurant we ate at (:

The food (:

Hotel we stayed at for the first day (:

The bottle's actually VERY BIG (: