Community Service in China

This community service trip travels inland to rural China, to the town of Anhui, where Lawrenceville students will work with elementary school students; teaching them English through lessons planned at Lawrenceville prior to departure. Lessons will use songs, art, as well as physical games and activities as a means to enhancing language skills.

During the month of June 2010, Alice Huang ’11 and her parents conducted a site visit for this trip; in March 2011, several other Lawrentians participated in a small “dry-run” and found great success. Students spoke of their experience as revealing the "real" China, as their location placed them in a farming community with a population that rarely travels outside their community.

Before the trip inland to Anhul, participants will spend one day in Shanghai touring and experiencing the booming city life. Following our work in Anhui, the group will fly from Xuzhou, a major transportation hub near our work location, to Beijing to spend the last three days exploring the capital and the Forbidden City, as well as a day trip to the Great Wall.

In Shanghai the group will stay in hotel accommodations before they travel to Anhui; while there they will stay in a local hotel; they will also eat all of their meals there. This lodging is within walking distance to the school. Accommodations and services will be basic and students with special dietary needs or with extreme allergies should not participate in the trip. In Beijing students will stay in modest hotel accommodations.

Trip Dates
Friday, March 2 – Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Chaperones
Mathematics Master Ramon Olivier and Science Master Elizabeth Fox

Target Student Population
Open to the School community, but half of the trip participants MUST have Chinese language skills in order to help facilitate instruction. The maximum number of students that can participate in this trip is 12. Please note that all who participate are required to meet weekly during the winter term to plan their class lessons.

Cost
$3,300 (approximate)

The current approximate cost contains price of flights at time of trip research. There is the potential for this to change. Participants will be alerted to any changes at time of trip sign-up.
A list of required vaccinations for this trip will be sent home to all families.
If students do not provide records of having these vaccinations by their return to campus after the December break, arrangements will be made for the vaccinations to be administered on campus.

Note: All passports must be current six months past the return date of any school sponsored trip. Please check and plan accordingly.

Sign-up Instructions
To sign-up for spring trips, please have housemasters or advisors complete the House Master/Day Advisor Recommendation and submit to Louise Wright by Thursday, October 20, 2011.