Beijing Haitu International Youth Hostel

We'll spend our first week at the Beijing Haitu International Youth Hostel in the Haidian District of Beijing. It is a stones throw from the Haidian Christian Church in the University District of the city.

Leo Brodsky - he is now with Jesus

This is a picture of Leo in China with Mr. Feng. Leo was the life of the Tianjin team in 2008 - he was loved by all. He made "Your Name" a favorite sone of the students at the University. Leo was killed in a motorcycle accident on Thursday, July 23. We will miss you Leo.

Clubs at TIP

Part of the Total Immersion Program (TIP) experience for students is participation in "clubs." The overall and underlying purpose of club time is to encourage students to continue making progress in their oral English through conversation. Club activities are structured in such a way that students are speaking 80% of the time.

Club themes and topics can be determined according to student and facilitator interests and needs, and materials available to effectively teach the club (which means that if you have a specific interest, you could develop that as a club beforehand). Some club theme , with lesson plans included are: Business; Career; Cooking; Drama; Music; Relationship; Science; Sports; Travel; Bible (specifically for Christian students); and TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages- specifically for English teachers). Pick something that is of interest to you or be creative and begin to craft something. Next week, I'll include some Club outlines (on the right margin of this blog)) as attachments so that you can get an idea of what they look like.

Visas

We generally use an online service, Visa Express. There are also visa services at Postal Annex (just walk in to their location at the southwest corner of Cedar Hill and Walker Rd (behind Arby's)

China Swine Flu Quarantines

There is no immediate impact to our teams at this point, but it is possible we will have some restriction when we first arrive. This is simply to keep you informed. See the Reuters news story.

More About the Program - TIP

The Program
The Total Immersion Program (TIP) is an innovative, dynamic immersion program that first began in 2005. TIP. empowers Chinese students and shatters the traditional barriers that hinder their ability to learn English. The focus of the program is to improve oral English, with minimal to no emphasis on grammar. Students are put into classes of about 20-30, separated by levels. The students are very dedicated, and are diligent throughout their 15 hour days. The students stay in dorms, up to four in a room and eat at the cafeteria. The program is 2.5 weeks long, and there is a strict English-only policy. While TIP is in session, students must stay on campus 24-7, so as not to break their English-only environment.

The Students
Students come from all over the country for various reasons, ranging in age from 11-77 years old. Our student population is made up mainly of Chinese English teachers. But we have in the past prepared many graduating students to go abroad and vocational students in impoverished regions seeking a better future. Our training program now also includes populations of Chinese pastors, seminarians, engineers and disabled people. Some students we train for a fee, and some for free, but all revenue, if any, are finally steered towards training teachers from Western and impoverished areas. Applicants do not need to worry about the teaching assignment for we always prepare them adequately to do the task. But if any individual has strong reservations about teaching a particular category of students, let us know in advance and it is most likely that we can make some re-arrangement.

The Schedule
A sample student schedule for a typical week is as follows:
Monday-Friday
7-8am – Breakfast (Optional for students and facilitators)
8-9am – TIP Exercises (Large group: review of TIP philosophy, Vocal Warm-ups, Diction & Chinglish exercises)
9-10am – Morning Motivational (Large group: read an inspiring article, discuss, and apply it)
10am-12pm – Class time (Classroom: facilitator acts as a teacher in providing lessons and activities to help the students improve their oral English and ability to organize and share their thoughts)
12-1pm – Lunch (In cafeteria, seated with class)
1-2:30pm – Nap
2:30-3:30pm – Famous Speeches/Fairy Tales (Large group: a famous speech is given, students listen and fill in the blanks, or they watch a fairy tale and discuss its moral)
3:30-4:30pm – Reading (Large group: students read magazines/newspapers and write an article summary)
4:40-5:40 – Games/Activities (Classroom: a relaxed time of games like Taboo, ping pong, Monopoly, basketball, etc)
6-7pm – Dinner (In cafeteria, seated by club)
7-8pm – Club (Lessons and activities with a certain focus: drama, science, music, etc)
8-9pm – Personal Time (shower, relax, etc)
9-10pm – Daily English review and journaling (In their dorms, students write a daily journal to reflect on their experiences and English learning)

Weekends
7-8am – Breakfast (Optional for students and facilitators)
8-8:50am – Morning Motivational (In Classroom: student led)
8:50-9:30am – Speech Preparation (In Classroom: student led)
9:40-10:50am – TESOL Lecture (For teachers to learn TESOL methods)
11am-12pm – Lunch
12-2pm – Nap
2-6pm – Weekly Themed Activity (Photo Scavenger Hunt, TIP Commericals, Movie, etc.)
6-7pm – Dinner
7-8pm – Themed Activity Continued (Talent Show, White Elephant Exchange)
8-9pm – Personal Time
9-10pm – Daily English review and journaling (Students write a daily journal to reflect on their experiences and English learning)

The Work
As a facilitator at TIP, you have many varying responsibilities. Some of the time you may serve as a class facilitator (the number of facilitators depends on the number of students), or as a large group session facilitator, and other times you may be working on other things.

Class Facilitator: If you are a class facilitator, you will be teaching your own class. You will have class from 10am-12pm, have lunch with your students, lead game time, and lead a club. Standard lesson plans are made for facilitators to follow, but each facilitator has the freedom to edit or create their own. Same goes for the clubs. Weekly, you will review the students’ journals, pocketbooks, and speech progress.

Other Projects: Those facilitators who do not have a class will usually lead one of the large group sessions, and possibly have a club. In addition to this, they might work on curriculum development projects for the TIP program itself, or for the training of teachers around China. Past projects have included developing curricula and manuals, creating modified versions of the program for more targeted participants, and working on an English learning software program.

ALL facilitators: All facilitators are required to eat with the students in the cafeteria for lunch and dinner. During the first rounds of sessions, there are nightly staff meetings, but later these taper off to be held biweekly. Facilitators work on rotation to visit students in their dorms at night.

Atmosphere
Change is probably the most constant thing in China and in TIP. Policies and methods are continually changing. TIP facilitators must be able to adapt to change, go with the flow and make alterations without any prior notice. Team members must be able to work autonomously and figure things out for themselves/ improvise when necessary, as well as work well in a team. Sometimes it seems informal, because sometimes it is. You will quickly learn when to have fun, when to get down to business, and when it is okay to mix the two.

Date Adjustment

I spoke with Danny Yu (of ESEC) today and he has asked me to make an adjustment and have more people from our team come earlier than later. So - I am going to ask as many as can to make an adjustment to make their plan for August 7 through August 21.