Week 15
on Tina's Journal (China), 07/Jun/2009 06:42, 34 days ago
I am back in Simao after a two week trip away visiting several middle schools. The schools were located in Jing dong county so most of the time I stayed in Jing dong town but I did have to spend a few nights away too. The last two schools I visited were in An ding and Long Jie which meant over night stays. The feed back meeting in An Ding school I found very challenging as the teachers who hadn't undergone any training were quite sceptical about using new methods. When I asked them how many students currently pass exams they said about 12-15%. For me this was proof itself that something has to change. I really hope they got something from my visit. The school in Long Jie however, where I did a joint visit with Lesley, wasa completely different story. The two teachers who had already had training were a joy to watch teaching. I have attached a photo of me with the both of them. Jane (her English name) on the left, was not very confident at all when speaking English and yet she really did some great teaching with the kids. I told her she is the best teacher I have seen since arriving here. Amy, on the right was so warm and friendly. Chinese people are not very touchy feely people, but Amy hugged me when she met me and her manner shows in the classroom. The children in the school were lovely too. So often in the schools we hear from the teachers that the kids are naughty or not very clever particularly if they are poor! It is so not true, most of them pick up things really quickly once they are given the opportunity to be responsible and think for themselves.In Long Jie we were invited to the local government offices in the evening to'exchange ideas'. Basically, talk about our country and listen to things about China. The leader was an ex PLA (Peoples Liberation Army) soldier and told us we were the third foreigners he had met. He seemed proud of this fact! We were given a power point presentation about the floods in the area last year and then two lovely ladies sang two local folk songs for us. Luckily, Lesley can play the tin whistle and so gave them a display on this. There was no way I was going to sing any more Carpenters songs!! I ended up talking a little bit about Sardinia, letting them know I am not just English, my Italian side is very prominent too. Our accommodation that evening was quite basic. Our room was OK but there was no toilet so we had to use the village loo which was one of the worst I had used since getting to China. I won't give a description of it I'm sure you don't want to know! The next morning we visited the local market which was heaving. There was a stall selling motorbikes. I didn't realise they were for sale, I thought the local bikers gang was in town. The food in Jing dong County seemed nicer than in other counties I have visited. There are different styles of cooking in different areas of the province.On the last evening the Education Bureau invited Lesley and I to a celebratory meal. It was a really relaxed evening and despite my inability to speak Chinese we communicated quite well. Lesley has been here four years so speaks Chinese quite well. After who knows how many'Gambeis' of Bai Jiu (the lethal stuff), we ended up smoking on a Yan Tong (see photo). This is a giant smoking pipe which basically reduces the amount of tobacco you inhale. It was a fun evening and we headed back to Simao the next day. The journey back started very unpleasantly as the bus driver was driving erratically and both Lesley and I wanted to get off. After being told we would get off at the next town he slowed down thank goodness, this is probably because he was worried he might lose his job. Anyway, we arrived home safe and sound, happy to still be alive.