Yangshuo is on the Li River and has some wonderful mountains. Yangshuo, China and Morehead, Kentucky have become Sister Cities or Brother Cites as the Chinese like to call our relationship. The first of our exchanges was the summer English camp we had this past July. The following pictures were taken during that summer English Camp.

I recently participated in an 11 day Summer English Camp in Yangshuo, China as a part of our local Sister Cities commitment. Carolyn Franzini, Ann Scott, and myself have returned from Yangshuo in the province of Guangxi, China where we taught English to Chinese English teachers from the middle and primary schools of Yangshuo County. Over 73 teachers representing as many schools attended the camp sponsored by the Yangshuo County Department of Education. This was the first time that Foreign English teachers had participated in teacher training in the Yangshuo area. Yangshuo, a tropical town, is located in Southern China and has about the same climate as Cuba.

We three Sister Cities teachers prepared for the camp by taking private tutoring in conversational Chinese, preparing lessons to teach the Chinese teachers, and researching China in general. Teachers in the countryside of Yangshuo often teach English along with seven or more other subjects and needed more training in spoken English. We Sister Cities teachers experienced many cultural differences such as food, transportation, and teaching schedules, but found the teachers of Yangshuo to be very interested in learning Western culture and education. It was a true cultural exchange. Many friendships were sparked and hopefully will continue with next year's summer camp. Teachers came many miles on bicycles and motorcycles to attend the camp.

The afternoon classes were combined in one large class to teach songs and games.

Most of the teachers were primary school teachers although a few middle school teachers also attended.

We taught English teachers in Yangshuo County of Guangxi, China.

Three teachers, Ann Scott, Carolyn Franzini, and myself, came from Morehead Sister Cities to teach in the Summer English Camp for 11 days in July of 2005.

The students were English teachers from the rural schools of Yangshuo County. Some of them taught other classes besides English and needed to be able to speak English better.

Each Sister Cities teacher brought different talents and experiences to the camp.

Ann Scott had the immediate English level students while Carolyn Franzini taught the advanced class and I taught the beginners.

The students in this picture are participating in a bargaining game during the afternoon class of games and songs.

Emily Hsu taught on Saturday afternoon using one of their textbooks with a middle school class that was asked to come as a demonstation class.

I am teaching a fruit vocabulary song using the screen to display the lyrics. Andy at the far right was my computer specialist as well as classroom assistant.

Carolyn taught in a large conference room on the first floor. Here she is teaching health terms.

I am using the laptop computer to play an audio book.

These students are demonstrating a song that introduces feelings and greetings. It is called "Hello. How are you?"

We often divided our classes into conversational pairs to encourage them to speak in English.

Ann taught on the third floor with me. In the morning we had an hour long first class and then divided the classes into 35 minute classes that changed rooms. At 12:00 we all took a break until 3:00 p.m. The Chinese enjoy an afternoon nap during the hot part of the day.

Carolyn enjoyed telling stories and got her students to tell stories about their lives.

In the afternoon large class Carolyn and Ann usually taught games while I taught songs.

Emily Hsu from Taiwan was a part of our team for about a week. She was very helpful with translation between the Yangshuo Education Department and the Morehead teachers.

The teachers came from the rural primary schools and middle schools.

These are some of the English books that we gave away to the teachers for their classrooms.

We had sent English children's books three months ahead of time, so they would arrive while we were having the summer camp. The teachers got to select the ones that they wanted to use in their home schools.

Carolyn and Ann brought magazine and newspaper clippings for their classes to use.

The teachers were encouraged to speak in English which was usually very hard for them. They could read very well, but spoken English was not usually a part of their class training.

Ann came up with ways to get her students to present small talks in class.

Alice helped me demonstrate a color game where items were drawn from a sack.

"Mother May I" was a good total physical response game for action verbs. This was the afternoon we spent in the park.

The teachers enjoyed the outdoor games that we played with them in the local park. This game used water balloons.

Russ Mead from Crane House, an Asian Cultural Center in Louisville, visited our camp to see if Sister Cities could work with Crane House on future English summer camps. He enjoyed telling personal experiences to the teachers.

One afternoon game was a hunt for people who had experienced certain events in their lives. One question for example was," Does you family have a water buffalo?" Several of them did.

All the teachers seemed to enjoy our classes. We had an evaluation time every afternoon and changed the classes some based on their suggestions.

I taught about American culture using a lot of home movies I had made of Morehead.

My class enjoyed games and songs.

Alice, my classroom assistant and interpreter, was very helpful in a tight spot with vocabulary.

Ann used her background as a Spanish teacher to help her students understand grammar and language structure.

Classes were divided into ability levels and classrooms arranged to take advantage of the smaller class sizes.

At the closing ceremony gifts were given to all the teachers.

Carolyn gave her students copies of the CD and booklet that we teachers prepared as gifts for each teacher.

Ann is gving out certificates of participation to all the Yangshuo teachers who attended the program.

Mrs. Gloria Wei from the Education Department of Yangshuo County was in charge of the summer camp. Her tireless commitment to excellence made the camp a success.

Carolyn Franzini, Teacher in Yangshuo - Morehead Summer English Camp 

Betty Cutts, Teacher in Yangshuo - Morehead Summer English Camp 

Ann Scott, teacher in Yangshuo - Morehead Summer English Camp