As a volunteer teacher, I traveled a long way to a small village school in Longzhou, Guangxi. On my way there, I thought about the village, the school and the children there. However, _ when I arrived there. It wasn't what I expected. It didn't look like a school at all! The school had only three rooms, one for Grades 1,2 and 3, and the other for Graeds 4,5 and 6. There was a third one for me. The children welcomed me warmly on my first day. They asked me a lot of questions, and I told them stories about myself and my life in Shanghai. The next day, I gave them a text to find out their level. To my surprise, thought the test was easy, over half of the students failed it, yet they all wanted to learn new things. I knew they needed me. I was busy preparing lessons, reading test papers every night. I enjoyed teaching these lovely and hard-working children, and I could see that they were making progress with my help. I have also learned a lot from them. I understand their lives better, and we are now good friends. I have worked in Longzhou for a year now. I'm very happy, and the experience has been very useful to me. I love the small village and the children. In fact, I would like to continue working here. ,. The writer found the students level was   _   she expected after the first test.
higher than shorter than lower than just as