Guang Qi Academy

Here it is! We made it through our first (albeit 2 day) week of school and we survived (I think). All joking aside, it is a pretty amazing thing to see this vision of Guang Qi Academy take shape. The first day of school was Thursday and we had about 20 students, 4 full time teachers and 2 part time teachers.

I have posted very little about this school project on the blog, simply because none of us were sure how far we could actually get. About six months ago, we began holding parent meetings and interest meetings about starting a bilingual, classical school. The interest was there and a steering committee was formed. That was in late May. Fast forward three short months and here we are with a little school! At some point I will write everything down (I hope), but for now I'll just post a few photos and captions.

The countdown! This photo was taken a few days before the start of school. A friend painted our logo on the wall of the main room!

First day of school! The girls were thrilled. Vera started half-day pre-K (中班), and Wendy started Primary 1 (First Grade)!

Ready for the walk. The school is a 20 minute walk from our apartment.

We were so blessed to be able to find this location for the school. Actually, as of mid-August, we were planning on renting a totally different space. But last minute (at the contract signing meeting, no less) the owners of that place decided they wanted more money, so we spent a day or two looking around to see if there were other options. Stressful? Oh yes. However, looking back we can see how much of a blessing it was. One of our teachers found this large, empty apartment that opened up onto the apartment complex playground!

Here is part of the yard that we hope to turn into a garden. Not on the urgent list this week...but hopefully soon!

Geneva and her friend 'Zai Zai'. His mom and I are both helping out part time at the school. The babies joined us for a couple hours on the first day and had a great time sharing cookies and 'helping out' around the school.

Geneva in her favorite room...the activity room! This room is right in the middle of the pre-K (小中班） and K （大班）classrooms. It is still 'in the works' and awaiting a few more items and a chalkboard-painted wall!

The main teacher for each class is chinese, but then there is a Chinese language class and an English language class. Here are some of the expat kids in their chinese reading and writing class.

And here I am teaching Wendy's Grade One class. Yes, Wendy has a drink in her hand...we are still working on how to maintain good classroom behavior even when your mom is your teacher! :) Actually Wendy is doing great. There are five kids in her class, and she is loving having classmates, having Daddy as principal, and having Mommy as her English teacher! I am spending about two hours each morning at the school...half with the Kindergarten kids (大班） and half with Wendy's class. Despite having a degree in ESL education and doing my practicum in an integrated classroom setting (i.e. ESL kids in the regular classroom and I helped teachers differentiate lessons for them)...it has been awhile, umm actually a loooong while. So after my first two days, my head is spinning and I'm sure I will be online reading up again on incorporating ESL kids into a regular Language Arts classroom. Both classes are a mix of chinese speaking and english speaking kids. Thankfully, the school is small and each of my classes just has 5-6 kids that I am working with.

You might be wondering where Geneva is at this time? Having an amazing morning with her NaiNai and YeYe (Alex's parents)! She will sometime play with them, sometimes with a friend and from time to time will come to school and play (under the watchful eye of Alex) while I teach for those two hours.

Unfortunately no photos of Vera at school on the first day. I was too nervous to go in and check on her for fear she would decide she wanted to stay with me the rest of the morning. I told her I was at the school, but tried to avoid being seen during the morning. She did GREAT!! I was so thankful! After a negative experience at the larger, local preschool in the spring (we only sent her for a few days), I was relieved and thankful to see that she had a great time and really enjoyed her teachers and classmates! It made all the sleepless nights and challenging past month of getting the school up and going seem all worth it to hear her say '明天间' ('see you tomorrow!') to her teacher when we left at noon!

So hopefully more photos next week of the school and of Vera, the other teachers, and maybe even of Alex! He's worked so hard and we are so incredibly proud of him. Now that the hurdle of getting the school up and running is over (although there is still tons to do), he is already looking ahead to our next hurdle of getting the primary school portion of the project registered with the district bureau of education. All I know is that there will be lots and lots of paperwork, bureaucracy (I'm pretty sure it will make Vera's adoption paperwork look like a piece of cake), and challenges ahead. But tonight, as I think about the week, I can't help but feel so thankful that the Lord has allowed us to be a part of this amazing project.