Day in the Life
A Day in the Life
Volunteer Kirsten Bontrager shows us one very exciting and delicious day in Huaihua!
A Day in the Life
Below is one volunteer's observations about a student's life in a Chinese middle school. While a teacher's life is much less hectic, this is the schedule that will shape your life as a volunteer in China. On average, each volunteer will teach during three of the four periods listed below.
A Student's Day
A student’s life here is busy. I mean really busy. It is not even in the same world as an American high school student. So, I thought I would walk you through a Day in the Life of a Yueyang Number 1 Student.
0600 – Wake-up Call:
The call sounds at exactly 0600 each morning. It is usually a mix of patriotic and pop music. The music plays for roughly 10 minutes. It is loud. Really loud. Oddly, I am starting to get used to sleeping through it.
0625-0705 – Early Class
Class starts early in China. The first class of the day is 40 minutes long and takes place before breakfast. I am unsure what they cover in these classes. Maybe it’s homeroom? I am never up this early, so it is a bit of a mystery to me.
0705-0730 – Breakfast
The students get to eat at 0705 and have 25 minutes to eat. Again I have never been to the school breakfast. I usually have yogurt and fruit for breakfast in my apartment.
0730-0755 – Break
So the students can get ready for the day.
0755-0840 – 1st Class
0850-0935 – 2nd Class
The first two regular classes of the day. The classes are 45 minutes long here.
0940-1000 – Exercise Break
The students (all 3,000+) go outside to an assigned spot to do the rhythmic exercise. This last for 20 minutes and is a sight to behold.
1000-1045 – 3rd Class
1055-1140 – 4th Class
1140-1205 – Lunch
Lunch is 25 minutes long, like breakfast. The students eat in a different canteen (the preferred word over here) than the teachers. I usually eat my own food for lunch, but I occasionally visit the canteen. Lunch is also the start of the mid-day break, so often I go eat out with other teachers. The students that live within walking distance can also go home during lunch to eat. If they do go home, they stay there for the whole mid-day break.
1205-1230 – Break before Mid-Day Break
25 minutes of free time, often spent playing basketball or just hanging out with friends. It is a bit odd to have a break before a break, but mid-day break is in no way free time.
1230-1500 – Mid-Day Break
This huge break is not as open as you might think. The students must either be in their dorms, in their classroom, or have permission to study else where. Most students nap in their dorms for about 2 hours or so. Those who stay in their class can study but many end up asleep on their books. The whole campus just shuts down. The teachers vanish. The students all fall asleep. The school just become one huge ghost town. Around 1430 a wake-up call sounds, always some pop music. Students are allowed to start leaving the dorms at 1430 and the campus slowly comes back to life. I generally do not sleep during the break because I am not much of a napper. I relax or do work.
1500-1545 – 5th Class
1555-1640 – 6th Class
1650-1735 – 7th Class
1735-1800 – Dinner
I eat dinner in the canteen more often than any other meal. But now that I have started to cook for myself, that might change. Dinner is the largest meal here. There are usually about four dishes in the teachers canteen. The student canteen has a broader spread with more snack dishes and a few main courses.
1800-1830 – Break
30 minutes to relax, talk to your friends and play basketball. There is usually one or two large basketball games happening with a crowd watching. All the ping-pong tables are full. Badminton pairs hit shuttles back and forth in the walk ways. Generally a party.
1830-1900 – Student Led Study
The students return to their classes and lead study sessions or clean their rooms. The teachers switch rooms here, not the students, so the students are responsible for their own rooms.
1900-1940 – Self-Study 1
1950-2045 – Self-Study 2
2100-2155 – Self-Study 3
Back to class for supervised study periods. After dinner, the students all go to their classrooms to study. Unlike American schools, the schools in China schedule study time. Each period is overseen by a teacher but the teacher does not teach. Instead they act as an overseer, making sure the students study, but providing no guidance. This forced study time ensures that the students study, but the students still have to provide some motivation.
2200 – Back to the Dorms
2230 – Lights Out
by Shawn, 2009-2010 volunteer