So it was that time of the year again where the mountain program staff had to show off their performing skills.  As usual, the high school had their massive Christmas show and after the lights faded, the smoke settled and

The cast for the 2009 Xmas show

 the screaming stopped, there could be only one winner… The 3-in-1 dance extravaganza brought to stage by the mountain staff!!  Ok, there was no winner, but in our minds, we were AWESOME!!

What is experience?

Experience refers to the nature of the events someone or something has undergone.  Experience is what is happening to us all the time – as we long we exist.

Experiential Education

 

What is experiential learning?

Experiential learning has come to mean two different types of learning:
1. learning by yourself and
2. experiential education
[experiential learning through programs structured by others]

So earlier this month we decided to return to our caveman roots and start climbing trees again.  Tired of seeing the world from down low, we now wanted to see the view from up high! 

Mr. Su demonstrating

As a possible new activity for our students we had Mr. Su, the pioneer of tree climbing in Taiwan, come up to YangMing mountain to teach us some new skills.  He talked about the origins of tree climbing, the importance there of, etc etc (all in Chinese/Taiwanese, so i couldnt understand a word he said).  

Us watching and listening

He then showed us some different techniques for scaling the rope.  You could do it with a strap foot loop, by bouncing and hoisting yourself or by looping the bottom part of the rope around your shoe and stepping up.  All of these techniques were very tiring and a cold day up in the mountain turned into a hot and sweaty affair. 

Rainy day?  No problem! We have brand new greenhouses to keep everyone dry, safe and happy!  Can you still remember how bad our old greenhouses were?  When it rained it was almost wetter inside than it was outside.  Now we do not have that problem anymore, because over summer break we finished building two very big and very good greenhouses.  The new buildings are of a very high quality and no typhoon will ever be able to destroy them.

Why do we come to the Mountain Program? What is the importance of physical education? How does being physical effect our development?

Monkey Jump

         Coming to the Mountain Program is fun for everyone. You get to play games, challenge your fears and learn about your natural environment. But it also has a serious side. Here at the Mountain Program not just the students’ enjoyment is important to us, but also their own personal physical and mental development. There is so much you can learn from physical classes and activities. Not only can you improve your body, but also your mind.

Activities at the Mountain vary according to the different age groups. Kindergarten concentrate on basic motor skills. Young elementary students begin by building on these motor skills working on coordination, balance and fitness. Later they start to work on important communication, teamwork and cooperation skills, before finally moving into strategy and planning. Junior high school and later high school concentrate on teamwork, team dynamics, communication skills and challenging themselves. There are so many activities we do to challenge their physical and mental strength. Students learn that real success is possible if they believe in themselves. Students are almost always part of a team and learn important lessons about acceptance, strategizing, team dynamics, working to strengths and working together to be successful. All are very important lessons that can be taken back and applied to life.

The mountain Program is interesting and fun. Join us and learn some important new life skills.

Wego Mountain program, as most of you may know, started a brand new summer program in China at the Taihu Great Learning Center.  Our first program consisted out of three different camps, stretching from the 20^th of June, all the way to the 18^th of July.  The first two camps were for our own Wego students and the last camp were only for mainland China students.

 

The whole program had two main focus areas.  The first area focused on teaching the students about Chinese traditions, through cultural field trips, yoga, craft classes, tea class, reciting, kung fu, meditation, manners and ethics class, etc.  The second area focused on the physical activities and helping the students to learn from their experiences; like boat class, fishing, soccer, low-ropes course (and also helping to build this), orienteering, bicycle class, group games and initiatives, etc.

The outdoor and adventure business in South Africa is growing bigger and bigger every year.  There are thousands of organizations that offer you any kind of outdoor activity that you can think of, like river rafting, hiking, rappelling, treetop walks, hunting, bungee jumping, diving, walking among wild animals, etc.   

The reason for this is that South Africans love the outdoors and love adventures.  South African kids, from an early age, are encouraged to rather go play outside and actively participate in sport than to sit inside the house watching television or playing computer games.  As a result of this we now have an entire country filled with people, young and old, who loves the outdoors.