"Simon says, touch
your nose," Brendan Frentz said during
an English class in a tent on
the playground of Lushan High School.
"Simon says, touch your
foot."
The school is providing
shelter for more than 2,000 survivors
of the magnitude-7 earthquake that hit
Sichuan province on
Saturday.
Canadian volunteer Frentz,
22, along with 14 other students and
three teachers from Southwestern University
of Finance and Economics in the
provincial capital of Chengdu, set up
a class for children temporarily
placed at the school, the largest
shelter in Lushan county.
The
class began on Sunday afternoon in
a tent that can hold about 40
students. However, organizers had received
more than 200 applications by Monday
afternoon.
The class has two
sessions a day: from 9:30 to 11:30 am
and from 2:30 to 4:30
pm.
Besides spoken English, the
temporary school also provides psychological
counseling, a sanitary and earthquake
protection course, as well as basic
finance curricula to
students.
"My main idea is
to divert students' attention from the
grief and fear from the quake,"
Frentz said. "We mostly play games
and sing songs, try to bring
some fun to these kids, making
them not think about the earthquake
for now."
He said students
from different age groups are mixed
together, from 6 to 16.
"As a
volunteer, I can't stay here
too long. I'm skipping school
to be here," he
added.
Zhang Wenju, a young
teacher and leader of the university
volunteer team, said starting the
lessons was a "last-minute
decision".
When the team came
to Lushan High School on Sunday,
they saw many children fooling around
on the playground, looking upset and
lonely.
"We thought, Why not
set up a temporary class to
gather these kids?" said Zhang, who
also worked as a volunteer teacher
during the Wenchuan earthquake five
years ago. Classes began four hours
later in one of the two tents
from the university.
Michael
Kleinert, another international student from
Oklahoma in the United States, led
the class activities with
Frentz.
"The students were
upset, and some of them were
crying. That's why we try to
make them excited," the 21-year-old
said.
Zhang Xinwei, a college
junior, taught students how to work
together.
"I hope the
youngsters who receive our help can
offer helping hands to people in
need in the future," he
said.
In the daytime, the
tent serves as the classroom. It
serves as a "dorm" at
night.
"When I was sleeping
in the tent, I was woken up
by aftershocks 15 times on Saturday
night, the first night we arrived
here, and 10 times last night," Frentz
said, adding that one aftershock on
Sunday night was strong enough to
send everyone running from the
tent.
Frentz said some of
his friends asked him not to go
because of the danger.
"If
I didn't come, I'd regret
it for the rest of my life,"
Frentz said, adding that his parents
are very supportive.
"I came
here under a Chinese government
scholarship. The Chinese people paid
for my study. This is my chance
to give my thanks back to
them," he said.
The tent
school also collects students' wishes
and posted on a board
outside.
University teacher Zhang
Wenju said they will bring the
board back to Chengdu and share
it with college students.
"I
want to return to Bao-xing. I
want to bring food to mom and
dad," one post said. Baoxing is
one of the counties hardest-hit by
the earthquake, with 26 dead as of
Sunday.
Students in Baoxing are
expected to resume class in tents
within a week, at least for the
Grade-12 students first, according to
Han Bing, Party chief of the
county.
A total of 410 students
and 30 teachers from the 12th grade at
Lushan High School will set out
to Southwestern University of Finance
and Economics on Tuesday to resume
classes in Chengdu, China Central
Television reported.
Lushan county
has 38 primary and middle schools and
one high school.
Wang Dong,
deputy chief of Lushan county
government who is in charge of
education, told Xinhua News Agency
that except for senior students, the
school schedule remains unknown because
of the damage to school
buildings.
Education Minister Yuan
Guiren told China Daily on Sunday
that senior students in Ya'an
would resume classes on Monday, and
schools in other disaster areas would
gradually resume.
>>>Quake-hit China grows in
painThe principle of sparing no
efforts to save lives cannot be
more stressed. No minute or even
second should be delayed during the
"golden rescue period" in the first 72
hours after the
quake.>>>Pilot cancels wedding to
participate in quake reliefWhen the 7.0-magnitude quake
happened, Zhang Shangnian, a pilot
from an aviation brigade of Chengdu
Military Region, was about to hold
his wedding. >>>Nurse returns to work
after losing motherJust likes other medical
staff, she was busy with rescuing
people injured in the earthquake in
SW China, but no one knew her
mother just died in the
quake. >>>Wedding ceremony without
bridegroom held on schedule Zhuo Jia, the bridegroom, is
a solider of the Chengdu Military
Region; he had to leave his
beautiful bride behind to participate
in earthquake relief. >>>An injured girl's smile
moves many "Your smile makes the entire
world beautiful,” a photo of a
smiling girl with bandage on her
head has moved so many Chinese
netizens.>>>Teenager saves mom with
his bare handsThe mother moves away a
precast slab weighing over 50 kilograms
alone to save her son in the
earthquake. She said she did not
know where her strength came
from.>>>Chinese Premier: Rescue every
personPremier Li Keqiang gives
light of hope and confidence to
quake victims as he leads rescue
work, comforts survivors and asks for
every home to be checked.
