...and so the story goes

Our SHJT class consisted of twenty-five students going into their second year of high school. We found the students to be very intelligent, especially when we tried some math problems with the Excel classes. But it was their willingness to learn which really helped the class go smoothly. Most students could read and write English pretty well, but listening was a bit more difficult. However, with some translations and trial and error on their part, the class turned in excellent works.

We liked to start the days off with some games. After flying through the Moya games suggested, we moved onto more advanced games, like musical chairs.

To get the class 'closer' we played the 'if-you-love-me-please-smile' game. In this picture, Olive tries desperately to squeeze a twitch out of Ellen.

Hesky giving his HTML lecture. We usually gave a short translation after each section, which seemed to work out pretty well.

Hesky goes over some HTML with Andy.

Waiting for bus to Children's Palace.

During the field trip to Children's Palace Intel Computer Room, Reid gives Viki some neat tricks for surfing the internet.

Bob, Viki, and Susan pose in front of their beautiful dorm. There are three dorms altogether. All students dorm, but are required to go home on weekends.

Our second field trip was to Shanghai Number Three Girls' School, where Professor Xu Kan gave a presentation on usage of internet in education, impressing us with his WIMS (WWW Interactive Mathematic Server) website. After that, each of the participating schools gave a presentation on the webpages they had made. Here, Hesky helps out Wu Hao (behind Hesky), Daisy, Christina, and Candy with their explanation of the students' website they made.

Students explore the vast Mindstorm kits. The class was broken down into eight teams of three and four. This group, MOT, is checking out the pieces. Tom studies the manual as Magic Dog (aka Yan Feng) ponders the possibilities with the RCX brick. let the games begin....

Saro and Jane figure out how to make a singing robot with the Mindstorm graphical programming language. The LCD projector proved to be very helpful throughout the course. We used it to give HTML examples in class as well as going through the Mindstorm tour.

The class gives a shot at gearboxes. The task is to make the slowest non-stopping robot possible.

It is wise to take a picture of the robots (and the the students) before the bashing starts. Students pose with their master creations. Einstein, Maxwell, and Curie watch over them. Front row (l-r) are Helen, Susan, daisy, and Candy.

Aruthur cheers on his robot as the rest of the class looks on. The final contest was held on a four by eight foot wooden board. Nine ping pong balls are placed across the middle. The task is to get as many balls into your own endzone.

Olive and other promising directors fiddle with clay and the Sharp Viewcam for some claymation. They tell a 'lovely' story of Reid the Squirrel and his female counterpart.

Hu Laoshi with his wife (librarian of SHJT) and their just full month daughter.

Taking last pictures of the class on the last day.

Our Children's Palace class was divided into two sections. The morning Java section contained eleven students, from ages 13 to 17. These students were tremendously brilliant, having already Visual Basics and C programming under their belts. The afternoon class consisted of roughly twenty students (some students had to drop it to attend foreign language classes). Again, the age varied. We let the students choose their own teams of either two or three. The students were fascinated by these Mindstorms. They had a lot of interesting ideas and came up with some very impressive robots. Li Cong, our 'guide,' who is majoring in robotics at Jiao Tong University, also tried to make a robot that could make its way through a maze.

Again, we played games with the Children's Palace Students. Here, the group tries to untangle themselves from the 'human knot.'

Getting to know the students at Children's Palace requires getting our pictures taking with them.

Reid and Hesky look for bugs during our morning Java class. Yun2 Dong4 (in front of Hesky), at just thirteen years old impressed us with his programming skills.

Li Cong, our official emcee, calls out the next two teams. Yan Zhen (in red), Wang Laoshi, and Mark look on.

This team is making some measurements for their robot. The competition here used the same wooden board, but with many modifications. The goal is to get ping pong balls (twelve altogether) into the opponent's goal, which are located on the opposite two corners. There are also four posts on the board to make for obstacles.

Taking a picture with the class on our field trip to Zua4 Bai2 Ci2.

Taking our last picture with the class in the beautiful back lawn.

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