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July 12, 2002
Dear Friends,
China Notes #5
Last week in Nanjing we held the orientation for Amity’s
Summer English Program (SEP), which brings volunteers from the
United States and the United Kingdom to China for the summer to
conduct English courses for Chinese middle school English teachers.
Working in teams of four or five, they teach a curriculum prepared
by Amity which helps Chinese English teachers improve their spoken
English skills. Before sending these teams off to their placements,
Amity conducts a three-day orientation program in Nanjing, introducing
teachers to the curriculum, the education system in China, the
church in China, and various aspects of Amity’s work.
A few basic statistics and facts for summer 2002:
- This year we have 91 teachers from 7 different groups—Cooperative
Baptist Fellowship, Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America, Virginia Baptists, Friends of the
Church in China (UK), American Baptist, and Presbyterian Church
(U.S.A.).
- They are conducting programs in 22 Chinese cities spread all
across China, from Hailaer in the north on the border of Russia,
to Fuzhou on the eastern coast, to the southern city of Qujing
in Yunnan province, to Lanzhou in the northwest on the old Silk
Road.
- The age of SEP volunteers ranges greatly, from college students
to retirees. Many are teachers or pastors, but we also have
students, retired military personnel, government workers, and
about any trade or profession you can imagine.
Amity sponsors the Summer English Program because many Chinese
middle school teachers are caught in a bind: When they received
their training years ago, little stress was placed on oral skills,
so many never really learned to speak English. (Rather, they learned
how to explain English grammar and vocabulary—in Chinese.)
However, as China’s middle school curriculum has recently
begun to place more emphasis on oral skills, these teachers—many
in the countryside or in less well-endowed city schools—are
struggling to keep up with the demands of the curriculum. More
to the point, they find it difficult to provide the training that
will give their students an equal chance in the fierce competition
for places in senior middle schools and eventually university.
Through the SEP, these teachers get what is for many their
first chance to really practice their oral English, building the
skills and confidence to use English in class.
PC(USA) involvement in this program comes at several levels.
PC(USA) Co-worker Kim Strong is the coordinator for the program,
so shares with Nanjing Amity staff in the work of administering
the program. PC(USA) Co-worker John Strong also assists in the
orientation in Nanjing in various ways, this year serving, among
others things, as official photographer and introductory Chinese
teacher. I (Don) prepare much of the curriculum and materials
for the program, and assist in the orientation. And, while there
has been some Presbyterian involvement in the past from Columbia
Seminary, this is the first time the PC(USA) has organized a team.
This year’s PC USA team consists of 4 members:
- Teena Anderson is a music teacher from Oregon. Her
interest in the SEP arises in part from a tour of China she
took with Frank and Jean Woo in 1990, which first introduced
her to the work of Amity. However, her interest in China goes
back much further—her grandparents were missionaries with
the Disciples of Christ in Anhui province during the 1900s.
(Her grandfather, Oswald Coulter, is the subject of the book
Scattered Seed, 1969, Phillips University Press.) So Teena grew
up with the witness of
her grandparents and their love for China.
- Husband Hugh Anderson is a regional presbyter for the
Presbytery of the Cascades, Synod of the Pacific. He grew up
in a church with a strong emphasis on mission, and with Teena
has served in both Lebanon and Northern Ireland. Teena and Hugh
located information about Amity and the SEP on Amity’s
web site and then worked through Carol Clarke in the Louisville
office.
- Ken Mast is a pastor with the PC(USA) in the Hudson
Valley in New York. He is also a veteran Amity teacher, having
taught in Nanjing through Amity from 1985 to 1987. After seeing
in the "China News" (produced, you guessed it, by
Jean and Franklin Woo) that the PC(USA) was hoping to organize
an SEP team, he jumped at the chance to return to his old haunts
for a summer.
- Stan Lou is an administrator with the Federal Aviation
Administration and an elder at the Church if the Pilgrims in
Washington, D.C. He is also the son of immigrants from China,
so when he began looking for a volunteer service opportunity
and discovered information on the PC(USA) Volunteers in Mission
web site about an opportunity to serve in China, he was especially
delighted.
As you have probably guessed, I would like nothing better than
to encourage more interest in the SEP, especially from those of
you in the
PC(USA). More information about the SEP can be found on the Amity
Foundation web site (www.amityfoundation.org). For those in the
PC(USA), you might also contact Carol Clarke in the Louisville
office (cclarke@ctr.pcusa.org). Last but not least, please pray
for Stan,
Ken, Teena, Hugh and the other SEP teachers this summer as they
live out their faith through service to Chinese middle school
teachers
across China this summer.
Don Snow
The 2002 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 179
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