Each year from March to early June, we organize our Spring Program, and nothing evokes the feeling of nostalgia in our students like a China School Trip, the cornerstone of the Spring season for kids and adults alike. However, as we all know, 2022 has continued to be a challenging year for travel and mentally stressful for students and teaching staff.
With borders being closed, inconsistent Covid-prevention policies, student mental health, and parent concerns with students being stuck indoors with “virtual” classrooms while being expected to maintain the same teaching environment, outdoor experiences have never been more critical.
China School Trip
Despite these setbacks, some schools continue to push for school trips around China as they believe it is vital to a student’s mental health and the development of soft skills. Although these schools were forced to limit the travel distance this year, it became their mission to continue planning and executing a China school trip to allow students to learn outside of the classroom by exposing them to nature and expanding their horizons.
WildChina shares this belief in the importance of travel and has helped schools plan and execute China school trips both online and offline. Read on to get a glimpse into some of the cool things WildChina has going on in educational tours in Asia.
- In City Residential: Nanjing International School
- Program Key Elements: Art, Service, Outdoor
In May, 37 students from Nanjing International School (also referred to as NIS) arrived near Shijiu Lake in the picturesque Zhujia Village of Lishui District, Nanjing, for a four day China school trip experience where they had the opportunity to not only create indoor and outdoor works of art but also provide a service by learning to build chairs and tables to be used during the open forum sharing session for an art exhibition.
When it was time to cool off and take a break, students were taken to enjoy the beautiful scenery of Shijiu Lake, where they had the enjoyment of kayaking and cycling around the area to take in the soothing nature only Mother Nature can provide.
On June 4th, 2022, the Shijiu Lake Art exhibition program kicked off, and the students of NIS will have their beautiful creations – graffiti, painted bamboo, indoor art exhibition, chairs and tables – set out on display for the public to enjoy until October 31st.
- In City/on Campus Day Program: Harrow International School (Beijing)
- Program Key Elements: Soap Box Car Building and Racing (STEM), Raft Building and Kayaking
In April, roughly 70 students from Harrow International School arrived for a day of STEM education to build and race their own Soap Box Car. All the materials were tried and tested by the WildChina team beforehand. On the event day, they were pleasantly surprised by the students’ ingenuity.
Even though they were only 8-9 years old, they had no problem building the wooden cars through a collaborative effort. Under the direction of a professional mechanical engineer, the students turned 330 parts into 16 cars. They even had the glory of racing them down a track for the chance to win a trophy in 3 different contests.
Additionally, the older students had a 2-day raft-building experience where 112 students worked together in teams to build 21 bamboo rafts. Building the raft was difficult, but when it came time to take the boats out to the water, you could see the excitement in the students’ eyes as each one came wearing swim gear and spent the day out on the water – even though it was only 9 degrees!
The students received a lengthy introductory seminar where the safety and the importance of this possibly life-saving skill were emphasized, and each student participated wholeheartedly.
- In City Program: QSI Shenzhen
- Program Key Elements: Leather Workshop, Vegetable Picking, Computer Building (STEM), Mangrove Forest Survey, Water Testing and Filtration
WildChina created a 4-day program for the students of QSI where students would enjoy indoor and outdoor adventures to learn values beyond the classroom. WildChina worked with their Shekou campus to provide a tailored school trip itinerary so students of all ages at QSI could get a hands-on experience and have fun while doing it.
On day 1, WildChina led students aged 8-10 in a leather-making workshop, where they handcrafted Elephant head keychains using genuine leather.
For day 2 WildChina led the students to Jingui Camping site, where students enjoyed a day out on the field playing capture the flag. There was also a vegetable picking experience, where students learned about the different kinds of vegetables they eat – from how to grow them to finally going out into the vegetable garden and learning the proper tools to use and methods of picking them out of the earth.
On day 3, the students arrived at a DJI retail location for a STEM day of learning. Students received an exhibition of DJI products, including drones and robots, and later on, they received a hands-on experience piecing together a drone and then learning to fly them.
Day 4 was the student and teacher’s favorite adventure of the entire program, visiting Mangrove Park. Upon arrival, WildChina led students to different exhibits in the exhibition hall, where they received art supplies to sketch the things they saw, including scenery and various agricultural tools. The students also received hands-on survival training with methods for testing water quality and water filtration.
Virtual Program: Dulwich College Pudong (Shanghai)
Program Key Elements: Kungfu and Taichi, Survival Cooking, Online Scavenger Hunt, Anxiety Workshop
In April and May, students from Dulwich College Pudong participated in an online experience promoting community well-being that saw over 400 students come together.
A Kungfu and Taichi expert came in to lead hundreds of students to learn about this ancient practice, where the coordination of breathing and body movements is said to have positive effects both on the mind and body. Seeing hundreds of students together practicing online was indeed a motivating experience.
Over the past two months, students in some key cities were forced to face reality where food and ingredients were not readily available. Without such luxuries and only a handful of ingredients, students were taught to make simple yet delicious dishes out of ordinary necessities in the home kitchen.
The online scavenger hunt was designed to be an interactive experience for the children as they not only got to move around their homes looking for “treasure” but also to share a bit about their home lives with their peers. Students were fully immersed in this experience and had much fun in achieving the treasure hunt’s ultimate victory–and the game’s toolkit has been open-sourced, so you can try it out at home yourself!
The Anxiety Workshop was a great experience in this challenging time, and a professional psychologist came in to lead students in managing and coping with difficult emotions. Students learned the valuable skill of facing their feelings, whether good or bad.
WildChina creates memorable and valuable experiences for teachers and students.
With over 20 years of experience and an in-house team of academic managers who hold educational-related master’s and doctorate degrees, plus our sustainable relationship with local experts and partners, WildChina is able to support schools’ educational trips outside the classroom.
Despite all the challenges, WildChina Education managed to make an incredible amount of various programs that could be basically run EVERYWHERE and ANYWHERE for the China school trip experience.
We know it’s hard to plan, but we hope that you will join us in holding out for and looking forward to all of the off-curriculum activities that were a part of regular school life before the pandemic. Because important things are worth holding out for, important things are worth looking forward to.
