Since June, 2016 the Chengdu Children Welfare Center has partnered with Sunshine Academy to provide progressive and child-centered education.

On his first day of Sunshine Academy classes, student Mario would get out of his chair, walk around during the classes and want to touch all of the things in the classroom. Sunshine Academy Project Manager Samantha Sun knew that before she could teach Mario some English words, she needed to help him learn to have good behavior in the classroom. So Samantha used her teaching assistant Yolanda as her example for the students. Yolanda acted as a student, sitting nicely in her chair, following the teacher. As Samantha praised Yolanda, Mario and his classmates got the idea. After just one week of Sunshine Academy, Mario learned to stand up and sit down at the appropriate times and follow his teacher.

Thanks to the strong leadership of the Chengdu Children Welfare Center and the hard work of the teaching team, Chengdu Sunshine Academy continues to enrich students’ lives.

From Jan, 2020, Sunshine Academy’s work in Chengdu is led by local center leaders who were trained by Sunshine Academy.