Today was by far the most time I've spent in the water throughout this entire project so far. As I mentioned before the third grade Chinese classes have been preparing for their "Dragon Boat Regatta". As we put the kids in the rafts twelve at a time (two for each raft) we ran into a huge problem: the kids CLEARLY did not know how to maneuver a raft through water whatsoever. It might have been one of the funniest things I'd ever seen watching the kids flail their paddles, holding them sideways upside down and backwards, in the water and seeing them spin round and round in circles making almost no progress down the pool.
Since their first time in the rafts the majority of the third graders have gotten significantly better at navigating the pool. They've had 5 separate sessions in which they have practiced holding the paddles properly, positioning themselves in the boat, and steering. There are still a few who haven't caught on yet but we decided that there are enough good kids in each third grade class that the races on Thursday should run fairly smoothly and quickly. In addition me and the pool lifeguard will be in the water during each race to help kids straighten out or get back on track if there is too much chaos.
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