China's Olympic charm school

Time for another sing-along at this Beijing charm school for foreigners who've volunteered to help out during the Olympics.

Bursts of 'Smile Beijing' are a frequent feature of this two-day course of intensive polishing to put an indelible smile on their faces when they come up against Olympic visitors.

There are about 1, 000 foreign volunteers among China's army of 70, 000 who will help shepherd people around the city.

SOUNDBITE: Marina Petrova, volunteer from Latvia, saying (English):

"The training is going very well, especially today we learned a lot about our spirit, about organisation, about how to work like a good whole team with our Chinese colleagues like volunteers and with foreigners."

SOUNDBITE: Lilian Castera, volunteer from France, saying (English):

"All the nationalities have to work together. And I think the Chinese give some good things, the French give some good things, the Americans some good things, and at the end it's almost perfect."

Despite the smile-smile-and-keep-smiling ethos the organisers are hammering into the helpers not everybody is delighted with their volunteering role.

SOUNDBITE: Wang Xia, Chinese volunteer, saying (Mandarin):

"Before I became a volunteer I had imagined a bit about it. I thought it would be fun and interesting but now I've started, every day is the same and a bit boring. You just have to get on with it."

There's probably only one cure for any volunteers feeling a tad down in the dumps - another chorus of 'Smile Beijing', anyone?