English Education for Rural Children in China

In the spring semester of 2019, our Videolink Program, in which we organise volunteers to teach English lessons to rural children in disadvantaged areas of China, continued to grow significantly and sustainably. 

While still working with our six 2018 partner schools in Shanghai, Anhui, Henan and Hunan, we also opened three new programs, at Nuodeng Primary School in Yunnan province, Bengbu Longxiang School in Anhui, and Shangwen Martial Arts School in Songjiang, Shanghai, taking our total number of schools to nine, a 33% increase on fall 2018.

Although every new remote partnership has its risks, particularly in terms of logistics and resources, it also has its rewards, most especially in terms of the hundreds or even thousands of children we can reach. Longxiang School in Anhui, for example, is one of the remotest primary schools we have ever partnered with, reachable only by a long drive out of Bengbu along remote, unsignposted farm tracks. These students are incredibly isolated, and really need our help. 

Nuodeng School in Yunnan, on the other hand, is situated in a small village not far from the famous tourist town of Dali; the village elders want their children to improve their English to give them the chance to become tour guides as the village opens up to future tourism opportunities. Learning English could totally change the lives of these children.

One last thing to report is that we have made significant progress in the writing and editing of our new videolink PPTs, which we will roll out in the fall. It’s a huge task, but we feel confident these bright, engaging new lessons will make a big difference to our students’ progress in the Videolink Program.

Links:

• https://steppingstoneschina.net/english-teaching-programs/videolink-program/