On December 19th, at 6:45 in the morning, 19 children from Bo Ke kindergarten and 2 teachers gathered together and left for Yew Wah International School (YE) for a Christmas event specially organized for migrant children. Bo Ke kindergarten is located in the rural area of Qingpu district. These children have never had the chance to visit downtown Shanghai and their living conditions are even more difficult than most other Youdao supported children.
The children were driven to the school by a nice coach; they were cheerful and filled with curiosity. At 8am the students of YE waited for their little guests on the two sides of the school’s main entrance. When the bus arrived, they welcomed the kids and brought them to school’ cafeteria. The kids were divided into small group of two to three, and were taken by the students coming from different classes. They first visited the classroom and played some games with students. Then the kids learned how to cut paper snow-flakes with other children from other migrant schools. The teacher of Bo Ke told us these children have never learned paper cutting before. The groups then made ginger man biscuits. Every kid was given a snowman shaped biscuit. They used an icing tube to draw whatever they imagined on it. The students packed the biscuit into a small Christmas bag after they finished and let them bring it back to share with their family.
Lunch was a highlight for the students. The students brought each of them a big plate of food, including fried chicken, french fries, and fresh salad. They all enjoyed themselves and ate a lot. The students looked after them thoughtfully. After lunch, the students played with the kids on the playground for a while. Then they took them to classroom again to make Christmas cards for their family. The students gave each kid a special selected Christmas gift.
When the event ended, the students sent Christmas wishes to the kids and waved goodbye to them as they got onto the coaches. The migrant children fulfilled a wonderful Christmas happy day and returned home safely. The Youdao staff received positive feedback from the Bo Ke kindergarten the next day that parents were very happy and thankful for their children’s trip and joyful experience.
We thank Yaw Wah Education and their students for organizing and sponsoring this great event. We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

On October 25, 2014, Qingpu Youdao Children Centre held a second collective birthday party during the month. It was held for the migrant workers' children, who live close to the Centre and were all born in October. Also, many other children were invited to celebrate it together. Volunteer teachers and students from Shanghai Community International School (SCIS) came along with two big delicious cake. Altogether, 15 children, 3 volunteers as well as two Youdao staff took part in the celebration.
During the first half, Volunteers from SCIS played a card-match game. The children were divided into four groups and each group was given a big card with different pictures. Each time, the volunteer picked one from a pile of small cards, read the name on it, which was the one of an animal, a person, a toy or something else. The children looked through for that on their card, and made a mark once found. The first group to find all the matching names in a horizontal line or a vertical line would be rewarded a prize. So would the first pair to match both lines. In this game, the children got to know something new and learned some English words as well as to be patient and confident. What a great fun they had! Things did not go well with the group who joined late at the very beginning. They could match nothing and got upset. But the teacher encouraged them to be patient and confident, and eventually, they were the first to complete the matching.
Four of the children, Han Yi, Cheng Yuqin, Li Yuqing and Tian Ruidong were born in October. They blew the candles together and made their wishes. All people sang a birthday song for them and offered them best wishes. The volunteers dealt the cake to each one and they all enjoyed it, talking cheerfully.
And we really appreciate all the effort Andrea, the teacher from SCIS has made. She was too busy to be present because of her school schedules, but she bought the cakes personally and arranged everything via emails and SMS. Another teacher, Desiree and the high school students were so enthusiastic that they impressed everyone. Also, their good manners set a good example for the children.