Halloween
on Tina's Journal (China), 01/Nov/2009 08:46, 34 days ago
We celebrated the end of the training yesterday with a Halloween party, the course ended on the right day! All the trainees had to come in fancy dress which they all found very strange. I think the idea of fancy dress parties isn't very well known in China. If people dress up in costume it's usually to give a show. However, they seemed to be getting the idea as they came along with crepe paper, coloured card and tinsel to make costumes out of. They all enjoyed themselves as we had a mixture of dancing, Karoke and party games to keep them all entertained. I am sure they were all relieved to finish the course as they all worked hard for a full seven days. I found this course more tiring than the last, partly because my'practical group' didn't seem to be as open minded as the group I had on the previous course and trying to get them to'think in a more student-centred' way was quite hard going. Having said that, I did see progress as the week went on and was surprised by how much they were actually taking in. I admire their commitment as many of these teachers have been teaching for many years and so changing at this stage in life is not so easy. Some people might be thinking,'Why should you get them to change?' In simple words their teaching methods do not get results. If you use a basic measure like exam results many of the students do not pass exams. Pass rates are on average 10-15%. This is not acceptable. In addition, the children get no help with basic life skills. The teachers this week were here to develop their leadership skills so that they can guide other teachers to be more student-centered in their methods. I believe it is a massive challenge for them to go back and do things differently to the'norm'. Many of them will come up against resitance. But, things take time and even something small that they might do, can have an impact. On Friday morning, I gave a model lesson at one of the local middle schools. There are 79 students in the class and I wanted to show how you can get them all involved as much as possible. I felt the lesson the be a real success as the students really participated. The photo shows the classroom layout with the observers sitting at the back. I do not like giving model lessons. I feel the pressure to get everything'right'. I am not a perfect teacher but try to keep the students interested and participate. I think this is the most important thing that the teachers need to learn. I really love the children in this class and I will try and teach them again before I leave China. We also have two visitors from the VSO Office who are here to see what we are doing. They have observed some of the training and have now gone with Lesley to visit a school in Jingu where one of the teachers recently attended the other TLT course we ran. He will now be observed doing his job as aTeam Leader Trainer. I decided not to go because I feel it is more relevant to let the other trainers from the TLT course go along as they will be continuing the work once the VSO vols have left. However, I will get to visit some of the trainees in their new role over the next couple of months.