Linda – The Empty Streets Before the Crowds Came

Look at the cleanly prepared streets! Just waiting for the Olmpics. You can guess the traffic conditions . You can see beautiful scene everywhere. Here are some photos of below before all the crowds came to Beijing. The last picture is of my eating cheerios when I noticed the Olympics rings. There are signs of it everywhere!

Kelen: Interview with a Music Teacher about the Olympics

Du Xiajiao is a music teacher I met in Beichen Shopping Mall. She is a nice lady. Before I met her, there were several people did not want to receive our interviewing. When we met her and talked to her about our interviewing. She said she would like to do it. I was super-happy. You will see my happy face in my picture.

Kelen: What’s your name?

Teacher: Du Xiajiao.

Kelen: What do you do for work?

Teacher: Music teacher.

Kelen: What is the great changes in Beijing Olympics?

Teacher: The environment of Beijing.

Kelen: You must be proud of our country hold the 29th Olympic Games?

Teacher: Of course. Beijing is my great hometown.

Kelen: Which sports will you follow most in the Beijing Olympics?

Teacher: Water sports are my favourite and I always go swimming with my friends.

Kelen: Which friendlies do you like best?

Teacher: Jing Jing(Panda) but all of them are lovely.

Kelen: Me too! I like panda best! Thank you. Goodbye~

Special Post from WKCD (What Kids Can Do)

After 6 months of the Beijing Youth Voices (BJV) blogging project , Dr. Barbara Cervone, Executive Director of WKCD, joined Tricia Wang, BJV Program Manager and Gloria Xu, BJV teacher, in China to work with the 6 BJV students for 1 week at the Adobe Beijing headquarters. Within 48 hours, Linda, Steve, E-mail, Kelen, Siqi and Iris produced amazing narrated, photos slideshows. You can find their six slideshows here, as they talk about the confluence of the Olympics and their daily lives. Before checking out their individual slideshows, we suggest that you listen and watch this special 5 minute audio slideshow on their thoughts around the Olympics. After following their lives for 6 months on this blog, we think you will be able to gain a new perspective when you hear their thoughts around this important event in their lives.

Hosting the 2008 Summer Olympics is a point of huge pride for Chinese of all ages. It is China’s debut on the world stage and they pray it is impeccable. For many Westerners and other non-Chinese, the Beijing Olympics offers a different—and no less urgent— storyline: about the suppression of dissent, the importance of human rights, the impact of environmental pollution, and more.

The Beijing youth whose voices and photos we share here speak from the first perspective. They love their country. They are smart and compassionate. They worked terrifically hard to produce these audio slideshows, and they offer them with open hearts. As outsiders, we may wish these six Beijing teenagers had taken up some of the issues that have stirred discussion and protest elsewhere in the world. But these are their stories—from youth who have big dreams for their country as well as for themselves.

We would like to give a special thank you to Adobe Beijing and Adobe Youth Voices for making this project possible. In particular, the Adobe Beijing staff was absolutely invaluable in empowering the students to tell their stories!

Enjoy!

Barbara Cervone, Tricia Wang and Gloria Xu

Siqi – Admirable Migrant Construction Workers: Building Beijing One Step at a Time for the Olympics

On July 19th, Mrs Xu, Steven and I went to the Yuan Da Du Park to discuss some blogs and we did some interviewing there.  On the way there we were taking photos.  Then I saw some workers building the construction for the subway.  I saw a group of rural migrants with all kinds of tools.  I lookeded at my watch. It was 2 o’clock in the afternoon! It is the hottest time in the day. I looked at them far away, they were trying hard to dig a hole. Their bodies were all wet and they looked like they had taken a shower just but really they were sweating.  You could never imagine my feeling at that moment. I respected them. They were working hard to help us to build a more and more beautiful Beijing. Thanks my friends! Here’s the picture I took when they were building the the road.  Did you see the new road?

Linda – Olympic Site: We are So Proud

 Although this is a stadium, it is beautiful. It looks ductile.  I will pay much attention to the Olympic Games. What about you ?   We all want to be a volunteer.  But the process to become a volunteer is very competitive.   Our citizens work hard. They will try their best to guarantee the Olympic Games.  Look at the beautiful scenery.

Welcome you , anytime

 

 

 

Linda – The Concordant City: We Welcome You

We has just finished our exams. We are all feeling very relaxed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

When I on my way home I always find our road is very clean.You can flowers everywhere. It’s really a feast of the eyes.  Ahhh flowers and trees~   Soo wonderful!

 

 

 

 

 

The street is very clean!   Welcome you here!

Linda – The Rush to Learn English in Beijing: Even Grandmas are Learning!

If you are in Beijing, I can bet with you that there is a storm to learn English here. You can find people learning, speaking English no matter how old they are.

These even is a university in Sichuan where the students study English all at one time on the ground!

One day I went to Wangfujing by subway and bus. On the subway I found a granny learning English by reading an  English book. And on the bus I found a child asking her mother about English words. So I could win the bet.

We welcome people all over the world!

 

Steven – Pollution in Beijing: We’re Fighting It!

Now that the 29th Olympic games is coming, Chinese people are preparing for the games. Every who people lives in Beijing wants a fantastic game. So it is important for Beijing to have blue skies, green grass and beautiful flowers.

But the pollution problem is still the biggest problem in Beijing. So less pollution must happen! The government has been working on the pollution problem since 2001.   But there are more than 20,000,000 cars in Beijing and they are making the air so polluted. We had a very big company for steel-making, that’s SOUGANG GROUP. And discharged lots of bad gaes, such as carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide. But now there is no SOUGANG factories in the Beijing city proper. That’s one of our achievement in pollution problem.

Iris – Transportation in Beijing – Impossible to Avoid

The 2008 Olympic Game has been the most cheerful and anticipated event throughout Beijing ever since Beijing was rewarded the right to host the 2008 Summer Olympic Games.

Now, let me to introduce transportation construction in Beijing.

For longer distance travel, basic public transportation around Beijing consists of taxis, subways, and buses. Taxis are conveniently available everywhere in the city, and taxi costs can quickly accumulate as it is by far the most expensive method of transportation.  People who don’t mind crowded conditions will do well for their travel if they use a combination of the subway and bus systems.

We can purchase an IC (Intelligent card) card and card readers are present in all subway entrances and buses.  The IC card can be used as a ticket for both bus and subway systems. They also provide another type of IC card for students at a lower price. Now my home is far away from my high school, so I live in the dorm during the weekdays and therefore there is no need to use transportation for myself.  My parents usually drive cars to work.

The subway is extremely fast compared to other forms of transportation as it can avoid traffic jams above and below. Buses on the other hand service every corner of the city, but it is impossible to avoid  avoid rush hour traffic congestions.

Iris – The Rush To Learn English: Beijing is Preparing for the Olympics

Beijing is a beautiful city of passion and people are getting ready for Olympic games. Through languages, we may communicate with foreigners. But to set good condition for communication with Westerns, we must learn English and speak English fluently.

Therefore many citizens are rushing to learn English these years. For example, now nearly 90,000 taxi drivers in Beijing are working hard on their English so that they will be able to communicate with foreigners in the near future. Moreover, some taxi companies have equipped their taxies with translation machines to help the drivers who know do not know enough English.

Currently many elderly people in Beijing have become enthusiastic for English learning, hoping do their best for the upcoming Olympics when large number of foreign visitors will come to Beijing.

We believe that speaking English during the Olympics could make foreigners feel more comfortable with their stay in Beijing.

I also think it is a good idea to study English in a country such as the USA. Most students in non-English speaking countries learn English from their secondary school and sometimes the university, which is the case in China. Although our spoken English is not usually of high standard, our knowledge of grammar is often quite advanced. This is certainly useful when students come to an English-speaking country to perfect the language. When we study abroad, there are opportunities to practice listening to and speaking with local people. We can experience the culture first-hand, which is a great help when trying to understand English.