The Qiekang Village Funfair — a celebration for students and teachers
8In12July, on Monday, a unique flag-raising ceremony was held in the courtyard of the village committee of Qiekang Village, Longzi County, Shannan City. The participating students were from nearby primary and junior high schools, and the teachers were members of the scientific expedition team from China Agricultural University.
This was the fourth day of the scientific expedition team’s summer camp teaching support activities in Qiekang Village. After the flag-raising ceremony, the team organized a carefully prepared funfair for the students. The fair featured6booths and included14activities. The themes of the five booths were: Bacteria Pathway, Bacteria and Infectious Diseases, Clean Little Hands, Oral Health, Get Moving, and Eye Care. The goal was to help students understand how bacteria spread and how to defend against infections, master basic microscope operation, develop healthy habits for handwashing, tooth brushing, and eye use, improve physical coordination, and learn what to watch out for during sports — all through engaging games and vivid explanations.
The children showed great enthusiasm for the funfair. At the “Twister” game in the “Get Moving” booth, students eagerly raised their hands to play first, and after one round, many wanted to play again. Everyone was determined to follow the rules and complete the actions to the best of their ability, but due to time constraints and others waiting in line, sometimes they had to settle it with a game of rock-paper-scissors.
At the Bacteria Pathway booth, there was an activity called “Tunnel Crawl,” where images of various bacteria were posted along the wall, and the teacher guided students from start to finish, explaining each pictured bacterium. Toward the end of the funfair, a teacher encountered a student who had come back after leaving. He told the teacher he had a question, ran up to the image of Candida, and said he’d forgotten its name. Touched by his earnestness and thirst for knowledge, the teacher explained Candida to him, then walked him through the entire Bacteria Pathway again with explanations. Later, the student told the teacher that he wanted to be a biologist when he grew up and that he owned a biology book he had found.
The next day, he brought the book to show the teacher, who noticed he had written the character for “scientist” (jia) after the word “biology” (shengwuxue).“Biologist” — that was the student’s dream.
There were many more fun and touching moments at the funfair. One teacher said, just as the lyrics go, how we wish it would never close, so we could keep playing and learning with the kids forever.