JEREMY WECHSLER Lizzie Salzfass ’01 takes a break from work to mold a Chinese vase.

Sophmore Teaches, Learns in Shanghai By David Ly Features Editor Some people dread coming back to school, but for Lizzie Salzfass ’01, just coming back to the United States was a welcome relief. Salzfass just completed an eight week program in China, teaching English to high school students. "They were really excited to have us there," Salzfass said. "They were very attentive and very interested in learning as much as they could, especially about American culture …like holidays and college life. They wanted to milk me for all they could. I kind of felt like an expert on all of it because they didn’t know anything about it."

Salzfass participated in the Shanghai Summer Teaching Program, which is one of many programs sponsored by WorldTeach, a non-profit organization which markets itself as an alternative to the Peace Corps. WorldTeach offers programs in Costa Rica, Ecuador, Mexico, Honduras, Namibia and China. The stated goal of WorldTeach is to "help developing countries maintain their current economic success while fostering cross-cultural understanding."

Salzfass left for China in June, and after 10 days of training at Eastern China Normal School, she and 14 other Americans were dispersed into Shanghai High School for a pair of two-week long programs.

Salzfass taught English to two groups of four, while other group members taught math, science, and environmental education.

Chinese students were selected into the program based on their previous academic achievement.

"They had been learning English for at least five years from textbooks, mostly British English, so their grammar was excellent," Salzfass said. "They would sometimes correct my grammar because they know all the rules. But they were more interested and it was more useful to do things like teach them common language, which they definitely would be confronted with if they came to the United States."

This was the second overseas experiment for Salzfass, who did a similar program in Costa Rica the summer before her senior year. In China, however, Salzfass was given her own class as well as freedom to introduce new ideologies. One of the activities the group participated in was a tolerance workshop that focused on discrimination, something that was very new to most of the students of the Communist nation.

"They’re a lot less mature there, and I felt a lot older and more experienced than them — I was like a sister." she said. "After the workshop, one of my students started her journal off with ‘This lesson changed my mind’, and I was almost crying because I think I did make a difference for them."

The trip also left an impression in Salzfass’ mind. Not knowing much Chinese, she relied on her students to lead her through many changes, which were difficult at first.

"When I first stepped out of the airport, I thought I was still inside because the air was so thick and polluted," she said.

In addition to the environmental change, there were also differences in lifestyle.

"The people’s manners were different. I don’t know if it has to do with overpopulation and the fact there are so many people there, but every life is slightly less valued," Salzfass said. "My friend David said that he got hit by four bicycles and one car while he was there. There are no such things as traffic laws. I really didn’t like the city at all and that almost sent me home because I couldn’t handle it all."

Despite the changes, Salzfass believes that she learned more from her experience than most people did during their summer break.

"I want to care as much about learning as they do, and I want to take advantage of the fact that my situation is so much better. I can learn about anything...that they can’t even read about over there."