A Ningbo Nottingham University Student volunteers to teach in Tanzania

We live in different parts of the world, but we are the same and we are equal that is what Liu Lipeng, a volunteer teacher from University of Nottingham of Ningbo China, tries to impart upon the students inMoshi, Tanzania.

Teachers in Moshi enjoy absolute authority and they are allowed to conduct corporal punishment. Students ought to hand in their assignments on their knees and will be asked to kneel down when disrupts the discipline in class.

Liu Lipeng changed the teaching mode.

Liu is a graduate student majoring in international management. In the winter holidays, she went to Tanzania to be a volunteer teacher. She stayed for about one month during which she saved the students from kneeling down and brought Chinese culture to them.

Her arrival stops students from handing homework on their knees.

It took Liu 30 hours to fly from Shanghai to Dar es Salaam, the capital city of Tanzania, 3 hours on train and one hour on bus to finally arrive at Moshi. She volunteered to teach 9th-grade students and she was the only girl in that volunteer group.

Upon arrival, she was surprised by the teaching mode there. She says, Teachers in the school enjoy the absolute authority and they are allowed to conduct corporal punishment. Students ought to hand in their assignments on their knees and will be asked to kneel down when disrupts the discipline in class.

Liu Lipeng changed the situation. I kept telling the students that we live in different parts of the world, but we are the same and we are equal, says Liu, they no longer needed to hand in the homework in that way and we had group discussions openly and soon communicated with each other without barriers. They would come to me right after the class.

Students often put into Liu's bag secretly an avocado or a pineapple to show their fondness.

Besides the teaching mode, the scarcity of education resources and students' attitude of learning also left a deep impression on Liu. She says, The whole grade had only one tattered book. All of them used one pen to jot down things on equally tattered notebooks which were already fall of notes.

Though in difficult conditions, they were all highly attentive in class and craved eagerly for knowledge, says Liu.

African students love Chinese Kung fu

Liu also taught the students Chinese and Chinese culture besides English. There was no Internet in Moshi. In order to bring them more about the outside world, Liu spent half an hour on car everyday going out of the town to download pictures and videos about China to prepare her lessons.

After class, students always enjoyed their best time. They gathered around Liu and watched the videos on Liu's IPAD about Chinese paper cutting, operas, calligraphy and Kungfu, etc. They gradually came to know China.

They enjoyed the videos very much and they especially loved Chinese Kung fu. 'Chinese Kung fu is amazing' had become almost everyone's favorite saying, says Liu, they would get excited and try to perform Kung fu after class.

Liu taught the students some Chinese like Ni Hao (i.e., hello) , Xie Xie (thank you) , XinNianHao (happy new year) etc. The students would greet Liu with these newly learned Chinese words. They also wrote down Ni Hao in Chinese characters or some messages like God bless my teacher in their exercise books.

Every time I heard them speaking Chinese, I felt greatly moved, says Liu Lipeng.

Despite the high temperature, no air-conditioner, and regular power cut, Liu never regretted coming to Tanzania. I believe every experience matters. When I think about the new ideas and Chinese culture I brought to them, I felt it's all worth it.

Liu loves volunteering. She was the president of the university youth volunteer association during her undergraduate years and has participated in about 100 volunteer activities in China.She also signed up for organ donation. One of her volunteer projects was listed as Zhejiang outstanding volunteer project and she was awarded Zhejiang outstanding volunteer.

LINK:	http://en.nbwh.gov.cn/art/2017/3/7/art_1325_94474.html...
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