On the 12th of December, Bloomberg kicked off a year-long project with Stepping Stones by hosting a winter themed English class in their Lujiazui office. The 26 students from Yongmei school (咏梅学校), accompanied by two of their teachers, were led in learning English winter vocabulary and participating in winter activities by five Bloomberg employees.
The day’s activities started with an office tour. The students were amazed by the impressive collection of fish that Bloomberg has in a huge tank at the center of its office. The Bloomberg employees’ allowed some of the students to sit in the chair where the reporters read the news. Getting to feel what it’s like to be on TV brought a lot of excitement for the children. After the tour, the students gathered to have the first half of their winter-themed English class. The Bloomberg volunteers and the students discussed winter vocabulary, such as winter activities, clothing and food. This first session ended with the Bloomberg staff reading the students a winter story.
As snack time had arrived, the Bloomberg volunteers asked the students if they had ever tried hot chocolate, but none of them raised their hands. They surprised the children, saying that hot chocolate had been prepared for everyone! The student’s eyes twinkled, excited to try this western dessert drink!
In the second half of the lesson, the kids participated in fun activities revolving around winter. The students got to make googly eyed snowman sock puppets, with some of them being extremely creative and making little bow cut-outs for the snowman’s hats. The Bloomberg volunteers conversed with the students in English about what they like to do and wear in the winter, while helping the students with their snowman creations. After finishing their sock puppets, everyone gathered around for a couple rounds of pin the nose on the snowman.
All the Yongmei students truly enjoyed all the fun activities and the day out of the classroom in Bloomberg’s office. Before the students left, they were presented gifts from the Bloomberg volunteers. This was a wonderful experience for both the students and volunteers, marking a great beginning to a series of events to continue with Bloomberg in 2015. Stepping Stones is looking forward to more days like this one!
