Harbin Institute of Technology

Reported by: LAN Rui

Photographed by: LAN Rui

Translated by: CAI Yujia

Edited by: Jennifer Taylor

Updated: 2013/5/5

On April 14th, JIANG Chunguang, a 2nd year student of the First High School of Shuangyashan City saw a foreigner in his school for the first time. Even better, he actually attended the foreign teacher’s English class. The classroom next door also became a temporary “airport”. When a model airplane from the HIT Model Airplane Association landed safely on the ground, there was thunderous applause in the classroom.

Vice-chairman of HIT Union, XU Yang, led a 15 member delegation to visit the First High School and Tian Jiabing High School of Shuangyashan City and conclude a student support project that had been running for the last three years. At the ceremony, Vice-chairman XU said the three-year project might draw to a close but none of the caring HIT faculty would forget the poor students they supported. “We will encourage them and support them financially. The genuine friendship that has developed over the last three years will become a lasting memory forever. Hopefully, those students will soon realize their dreams and pass this love on to other students who need it”, he said.

YU Wangchen, a member of the Standing Committee of Shuangyashan Municipal Committee of Communist Party of China and Minister of the Shuangyashan Organization Department, thanked HIT for its acts of love and support for local education. He said: “In the three-year project, HIT brought new ideas and educational methods to Shuangyashan City with inspiring results in raising the regional education level.” Minister YU expressed his hope that those students who received financial support would turn their gratitude into motivation for study and that HIT will continue to pay close attention to Shuangyashan City to encourage economic and social development.

HIT invited ZHOU Long, Xiang Fang District Teacher Training Center Moral Education Office Director to conduct class teacher training for local A-list teachers. Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of the HIT School of Law, HAN Ying played a group training game to help students reduce their stress about the college entrance exam.

Foreign Teacher Megan McKenney from the HIT School of Foreign Languages taught a demonstration speaking lesson in a 2nd year class. The lesson topic was health. The lesson activities included learning vocabulary with the Total Physical Response (TPR) Method, with active participation by students acting out a story as she read and singing “If you’re healthy and you know it” with the different symptom words they had learnt. Finally they learnt the song and dance Cha Cha Slide which involved them in calling out the actions they needed to do such as slide to the right and clap your hands. The students really enjoyed and actively participated in the lesson. The students also had an opportunity to ask Megan any questions they had. It was the first time they had a foreign teacher in their class.

HIT Model Airplane Association used one of the classrooms as an airport and conducted a model airplane demonstration to encourage the student’s interest in astronautics. The students were excited when the plane flew around the room and landed safely.

For the past three years, thirty two caring HIT teachers have formed “one to one” relationships to help support thirty two good but poor students financially. Apart from helping with their studies, HIT teachers also donated a money up to ninety six thousand RMB in total and thousands of articles including clothing and daily necessities. The project not only materially solved students’ pressing needs but also encouraged them spiritually. The HIT Union also actively organized excellent teachers and students to go to Shuangyashan City to conduct lectures about topics including psychological training for teachers, university enrollment information, the college entrance examination, teamwork training and robot and model airplane science. More than 100 hours of lectures were held during the three year project.