9. At Home in the Classroom. Sam Keir

At Home in the Classroom by Sam Keir

 

Getting to Xiamen

I am a bit of a self-confessed teaching geek. Both my parents, a sister, uncle and in-laws work in various education roles in the UK. My teenage-self swore I would never be a teacher because of this! By accident or design, I find myself a High School English teacher at Chiway-Repton School in Xiamen.

After teaching in Thailand for two years, my journey in China began in 2015. In a small city (1,000,000 people) outside of Wenzhou in Zhejiang Province. I was blown away by the sights and smells of the Walking Streets where grills, bowls and tables heaved under the weight of delicious snacks. I was also deafened by the loudness of the local Wenzhou dialect being thrown around the streets. Apparently, it is so complex that it has been used as a military code in the past.

I made some great friends there and attended my first Chinese wedding with over 400 people. As I settled in to life in China, the value that Chinese parents put on education really began to shine through. This can come across as a little extreme in some cases, but on the whole, the education of children is central to the success of the family and the society as a whole, and I really respect that.

Education, Education, Education- Left-behind children

In the summer of 2019, after to moving to bright and clean Xiamen, I was looking for a volunteer project to keep me busy for a couple of weeks in the summer. After connecting with Stepping Stones, an NGO in Shanghai, I was placed with a summer camp for ‘left-behind’ children in the Yong Kang area of Zhejiang. This really made me experience a different side of China. I had explored a number of bigger cities at this point and was taken aback by the relaxed and chilled rural life there. We taught in the morning and later had time to explore the fields, mountains and even rode in a hot air balloon!

 

Alongside another volunteer from Shenzhen, we learned about the difficult childhoods these kids have had. Growing up in villages where a large proportion of the adults have migrated to cities in search of work. Some of the kids wouldn’t see their parents for two years at a time. The local volunteers there were left-behind children themselves and they were acting as stand-in parents for many children. It was heart-warming to see the extended family and support network they were creating around the children. Inspired by these stories, I decided to write my MSc dissertation on the topic of left-behind children and the community groups supporting them. To learn more myself, and I believed it would benefit my High School students in Xiamen to learn about how other children grow up in China.

Wanting to continue after graduation, I connected with Zuzana and we organised volunteer teaching at Guanren Library & the Bird Nest Kindergarten for migrant children. The highlight of this for me was watching my own students excel as responsible classroom teachers. Shy students came out of their shells to teach, prepare lessons and look after children, who took great delight in having some strangers come to their classroom and teach them English. At the mention of education, I had the full support of school administrators, parents and a core team of students who wanted to give their time and energy.

I have continued and completed a further summer camp for migrant children in Tong’an and during the pandemic teaching continued online and will probably change the way education can be delivered in some positive ways. My current school hopes to continue to work with local education groups in Xiamen and beyond. In my day job, I am lucky to work with some of the most privileged families and students who have dreams of top universities and studying abroad. I hope for those students who do choose to volunteer that they see how lucky they are and not everyone gets the opportunities they have had.

Ten years of teaching later, I continue to be amazed by the passion and dedication of teachers here. One aspect that has stood out for me is the individuals who have devoted their entire lives to helping others through education. From the volunteers in Yong Kang, to Mr Ding who runs the migrant library network in Xiamen, and Sun Laoshi who converted half her house into a library and school in Tong’an. Educating children, and often books are central to their plans for getting the best opportunities for the students around them. I have only met a very small number, but I am sure there are many more all over China.

Xiamen is a special place with lots of talented locals and expats working in volunteer and educational roles. In many ways it reminds me of my university city, Bristol in England. Currently I am working alongside a group of 25 writers who are passionate about writing short stories for a Young Adult audience. We hope to inspire more High School students to read in English by creating stories they will find engaging. We hope to also turn this project into a fundraising endeavour in the future and publish a free e-book to share with teachers. This writing project has proved more popular than initially expected and we are hoping to begin a face-to-face Creative Writing Workshop very soon. We aim to meet twice a month, and writers can share anything they have written; receive feedback and critique of their work. The written word is powerful and has so far brought together writers from China and various countries around the world through stories.

Happy Reading & Writing to you all! Look out for the free Sabre Short Stories (Volume 1) coming in summer 2022.

 

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