Hey friend! Want to see some cute pictures of Cubby Adventures?

During the month of August, the Cubbies go on a field trip every Wednesday. The first week we went to a fun place where the owner is passionate about organic foods and educating people on where their food comes from. At this place, our kids made cookies. =) Sadly, I don’t have any pictures of this as I was too busy organizing kids.

Week 2

The second week we went to the Art Museum where we made a mask of a face and got to play with different aspects of art. Here are some of the pictures from this week.

Listening to instructions.

“Look, Teacher! It’s my dad!”

Industriously working away…

Week 3

The third week we went to a historical farming village in Hsinchu where the people have gone back to their historical roots and farm like their grandparents did. We were taught the history of the area, shown an old Japanese bunker/arsenal supply that was built to shoot down American ships during WWII, rode a train that was build before WWII (and renovated after), made rice noodles by hand (which were then a part of our afternoon snack), and got to take a turn at husking rice. Here are some of the pictures from this week.

Listening to uncle’s history lesson.

De-husking rice!

Train ride through rice fields.

Rice noodle making is sticky work!

Crazy photo bomber. =)

Cubby cuteness!

Intricately painted mural wall.

Painted mural walls throughout the village.

Week 4

This last week of the summer program we went to a bakery where they specialize in making suncakes.

Suncakes are a Taiwanese sweet snack that originated in Taichung. At this bakery, the students were taught how to make their own suncakes.

Suncakes consists of two types of dough: one with lots of oil and one with a ‘regular’ amount of oil. This helps create the light and flaky crust that is so signature of suncakes. The filling of the cake is a patty of malt sugar.

After the cakes were formed, the kids were given flavored and colored dough to decorate their cake.

The shop had a few pre-made and decorated cakes to give inspiration. Aren’t they cute?

While the cakes were baking, the kids were shown a video on a Chinese legend.

It’s been a fun month of summer program! The Cubbies are picking up English phrases at an incredible rate and those with more English have started to translate for those students who don’t know how to express their thoughts. They are sweet, love giving hugs and high fives, and their faces light up when they see me outside of class. It has been a month full of challenges, depending on God, small accomplishments, and seeing these little Chinese speakers become comfortable in an English environment. Praise God for His work!

May God bless you and keep you,
Tr. Ruth