During the last week of March, all YCIS secondary students enjoyed our Service Learning Week visiting 5 different communities. Here are the best experiences shared by our students upon their return to school:

Constance:Our Y7 and Y10 students joined forces during our Service Learning Week, and set out to do what they could to make a difference here in Qingdao.The students had one main objective, to visit the neighbouring school, TaiHangShanLu Primary School, make friends with some local students and give them a chance to learn something new. In preparation for this exciting week, Friday afternoon CAS periods were spent preparing lessons and conjuring up plans in groups. As the week came close, there were three activities in mind: volleyball, paper airplanes and dominoes - each of which were a huge success! As the students at TaiHangShan Lu Primary School the were not familiar with volleyball, it was great for our students to be able to pass on some of their knowledge. We began showing them how to bump, set and eventually serve. For beginners, the students learnt very quickly and had loads of fun! The kids were then shown by our experts how to make paper airplanes, and as they began to learn they became more and more creative with their designs, letting their imaginations run wild. Finally, the kids were treated to a game of dominoes, students from our school and theirs working together to make the longest, tallest and prettiest arrangements of dominoes!

Sandra:

Y9 and Y10 students had different activities during this service trip. Our school Y10 students went to Taihangshan primary school with Y7. They were divided into three groups, they taught different things to them, like playing volleyball, making helicopters and playing dominoes. They all had different fun, and primary students enjoy it a lot. On Wednesday, Y10 students went to a school for deaf students. First they visited the campus, and then they made jewelry and painting on eggs. .After lunch, they learned some sign language. They also played chess, checkers and other board games with the students of the deaf school. On Thursday, Y10 students started to paint. They were painting the drain covers, gardening room and ping-pong room. Some of the groups did activities outside. They all did a lot, and enjoyed it a lot.

Anna:

As part of YCIS’s service learning week, students have been going to various areas to develop not only develop their Learner Profiles, but also their ATL skills. During the first couple of days, Year 10 went to teach the students from the neighbouring school. Some groups taught the children volleyball, others taught the students how to make paper airplanes. On Wednesday, Year 10 went to visit a deaf school in Qingdao. They learnt how to make jewellery, paint eggs and did many fun activities with the children such as skipping. On the last day, Year 10 spent the whole day doing their service activities at school. Two groups were painting walls on the fifth floor, while some of the other groups were outside. Overall, students have learnt many things from these new experiences, and cannot wait for the next service learning week!

Erica:

Year 9 students and some teachers went to Jiaonan Deaf School on March 26^th~March 29^th 2018. The purpose of this trip was make a good memories for the children, and as well for us. To make a good memories, we helped the children and interacted with them. For four days in school, we were divided into many different groups. While some groups were painting the war, other one were interacting with children. So, how did we interact with children? We danced with them, played many sports, dominoes, origami, and so on. We were very happy because they liked our activities. As I said before, we painted the wall. We drew marvel characters, Winnie the Pooh, forests, and outer space. As we work hard, we could see awesome paintings developing. I learned about children who have disabilities, and could understand them. Also I knew a way to interacting with them. My thinking has changed a lot. I thought most of children would be hard to interact with, but I realized I was wrong. They are same as all children. I hope the children like these paintings, and remember us when they see our artwork.

Marie:

Last week my class arrived at Jiaonan deaf school, about 2 hours away from Huangdao. Hiding from the city in between the old car shops and standing on unpaved roads was this old building with huge metal fences separating it from the outside world.

The school was on a side road, our bus every day had to be careful entering because the road was very bumpy. As we arrived, a kind lady opened the fence for us, it was one of the teachers. You could see in her eyes she was very happy to see us; maybe we could do something to help where she worked and the kids especially. We started to unpack our paints and brushes leaving them in one of the cold rooms we were going to paint. Once all of us were inside the room we divided up and quickly started to work. Every once in a while, a couple of people would leave to play games with the kids. I didn't have the fortune to do so, but I did manage to go and have some fun once in a while.

They really needed help. Our first day we were having lunch in their playground where the activities took place, and from nowhere the cook appeared carrying some of the food she had cooked for the children. Ms. Bruno quickly declined the food, we were here to help not to take.

The days quickly passed, the walls looked more beautiful than the day before, finally our last day arrived. We rushed to clean our dirty brushes at the one pump they had, being careful not to use a lot of water since that was all they had. Afterwards we had nothing to do so we decided to have fun and get to know more about the children; lifting them, dancing, it was a great day. Within the blink of an eye it was time to leave. Very sadly the kids ran to us to say a goodbye, but of course it was not going to be the last time we would see them. When we were leaving we carried our trash out to the street to were the trashcans were. We hopped on the bus and there is where we realized that maybe the kids would be happy to see our murals. Maybe they had had a better day because we played with them. I hope so. Overall it was a great experience and I hope we can repeat it.

Follow our students' volunteer works on our Newspage.