Liaoning Shin Shin Schools

Liaoning is located in the southernmost part of China's Northeast region. It borders the Yellow Sea (Korea Bay) and the Bohai Gulf in the south, North Korea in the southeast, Jilin Province to the northeast, Inner Mongolia to the northwest and Hebei Province to the west. Liaoning has three approximate geographical regions: the highlands in the west, plains in the middle, and hills in the east. Liaoning has a continental monsoon climate, and rainfall averages about 440 to 1130 mm annually. Summer is rainy while the other seasons are dry. The population of Liaoning is 84% Han Chinese with 43 minorities of Manchus, Mongols, Hui, Koreans, and Xibe making up the remaining 16%.

Shin Shin has helped rebuild 19 elementary schools, two high schools, and one memorial library since 1998. Five of the schools are in heavy minority resident areas. In 2005, Cupertino Rotary Club raised funds and donated computers, printers, organs, and many other instructional aids to three of our schools. Starting in the same year, Shin Shin began its Follow-Up Fund program in this region and has helped all of our schools with various intructional equipment and aids. This year, we added another elementary school, with the construction completed in September. During the summer, the first English Teacher Training (ETT) program in the northeast region was held at TieLing Teacher University. Twenty-eight teachers from all of our schools participated in this Shin Shin sponsored eight-week resident training program. During these eight weeks, classes were held in English teaching techniques, reading, writing, conversation, computer use on English teaching, music, and art. Weekend outings were also included in the eight-week program. All teachers are returning to their schools with a better understanding of the language and many new ideas on teaching. Many expressed a high level of appreciation for such opportunities. Such teacher training programs will be well served if English native-speaker volunteers teach in future ETT programs. It would also be a great experience for the English-speaking volunteers to get an in-depth experience of people and life in China.