The Dandelion School

On Thursday afternoon, students climbed on the bus for the Dandelion School, a middle school for the children of migrant workers. Because migrant workers are classified as "rural", they are not entitled to the same social benefits as other Beijingers who are classified as "urban". One of these benefits is education, so it is very difficult for the children of migrant workers to receive a decent education away from their family's home. The Dandelion School is a nonprofit organization aiming to give these children a high-quality education. In the summer, they run an English language camp. Read more about the Dandelion School here!

Upon arriving at the school, we were taken on a tour of the campus. It's a beautiful, cheerful campus with bright colors, mosaics, and murals--anything to make it more inviting and uplifting for the students.

We even saw a classroom which was donated to the school by the China Institute in 2009!

At 3:00, students split into various groups to visit the Dandelion School's classes such as English, music, art, PE, and English reading. The students were able to watch the classes to see how the English summer camp worked, and many students participated in class games and activities!

The students all had fun learning about the Dandelion School and getting to participate in the summer camp activities. The Dandelion School is definitely a successful organization, though not without its difficulties (it has moved locations multiple times and will again, due to government plans for the area, also, they will have to cut down on enrollment due to space issues). Students agreed that it was neat to visit such a school and interact with its students. Before we left, each student was given a lovely thank you card.