Mojiang school visits
on Tina's Journal (China), 29/Nov/2009 05:21, 34 days ago
Yesterday I got back to Simao after spending a week in Mojiang county. I visited five schools to give more training, observe teachers and the team leaders of the English department in their roles. I would arrive in the evening to each school, have dinner with the teachers and school leaders, and then after dinner go and chat to the students I would teach the following day and depending on how much time there is, visit some of the other classes too. The following morning, the arrangement is to observe a teacher teach who has already received a months training in the college, I then give a model lesson to another class, then observe the team leader facilitate a meeting with the teachers to discuss both the lessons they had just observed. After this, I would then have a meeting with teachers, leaders and Education Bureau to discuss issues associated with the'new methods' and try and get some insight to how supportive the headmaster is and the other teachers about using student-centred methods. After lunch, I would then travel on to the next school which could take up to 2 hours travelling on rough roads but through some absolutely stunning scenery.I felt this trip to be relatively successful. Every school had a headmaster who was very supportive about using more communicative methods. Some of the teaching I observed was pretty awful to be honest considering all of them have been trained. Many of them just revert back to the ways they have been taught in the past, repeating what the teacher says and not letting students practise.Having said that, some of them are trying and used English much more in the classroom rather than speaking all in Chinese! I think the biggest problem is that they don't believe the students can learn by pointing to pictures, using body language and speaking in English. However, after observing the model lessons many teachers would say to me.'The children understood you, they got it!'So, you have to show that the students can think for themselves. There was only one school where the teachers were very negative though. The headmaster was supportive but the teachers said the'New methods' don't work, the children are more naughty.Of course, they are not using new methods and most of them didn't like teaching. The model lesson I gave there was very successful and the students were really active. I said I would love to spend a term based in this school just to show what a difference you can make by changing the method. Unfortunately, I am not in a position to do this and will leave China next month. In fact, one headmaster from another school offered me a job to be based in his school and train the teachers on a more permanent basis. I will now pass on to the college that this is what he wants and see if the college would be interested in getting more volunteers. I think it would be very worthwhile. The school then could become a model for that county and other teachers could go there to get more training.I was accompanied on this trip by Li Yun who works in the training school for Mojiang County. She was great and helped emphasise the importance of student-centred teaching. She also trains teachers and she said that she has learnt a great deal from the training she has received in our college and even from the visit this week.On Friday evening after all the visits had been completed I had a chance to see a bit of Mojiang Town itself. I was surprised to find that the line of the Tropic of Cancer runs through the town and there is a beautiful park dedicated to it which shows exactly where the line is. On June 22nd, the sun lies directly overhead at noon. Of course, this is very special for me because that's my birthday! The town is lovely and I was lucky to arrive on the day I did because Mojiang is celebrating its 30th anniversary this weekend, so there were lots of festivities happening.Photos: Me doing morning exercise with the kids in one school and a view of the mountains in Mojiang.