Friday farewell day
We arrived at the teacher development centre and we were welcomed into the conference hall where it was set out like a meeting of United Nations country representatives! The following two hours included opening remarks by the British Chinese embassy, the British council the Suzhou education ministry and all of the UK school representatives.
I gave the following speech that I had prepared:
Ni haò
As the international school link coordinator at LSA High School, my experience in China and of my partner school, Suzhou no 1 high school has been truly outstanding. From the unforgettable people and city to the incredible work ethic and challenge that the students show.
I have been inspired and motivated to drive our partnership forward. My school coordinator Jenifer spent many hours planning and preparing for me and organised an outstanding program which was merely a snapshot of the school and how it functions and I believe there are many more things to learn. We have planned future projects such as video learning and calligraphy. The English students welcomed me and my students work and have taken the time to give quick turnaround of work to present to my students on my return .
From the incredible learning that takes places in the classroom to the futuristic equipment within the "room of wisdom" I look forward to sharing this experience of innovation, dedication structure and enjoyment with my colleagues and peers back in the UK. I am deeply grateful to be given this opportunity. A huge thank you to the British Council, Hanban the Education Ministry of Suzhou and of course Suzhou no 1 high school for making this possible for me.
Thank you
xie, xie
After lunch we headed to a few of the treasures of Suzhou. The first stop was to the humble gardens which is more than 11 a hers of Chinese style gardens. As this is the place to see in the city there were so many people it was a real tourist attraction. There was a maze of canals and bridges which made a zig zag formation and as ledgers has it it is to drive evil away!
The garden's history dates back to before 500bc and is now a UNESCO heritage site.
We had an incredible Suzhou traditional dinner as our farewell with some true delicacies of the region such as squirrel fish, stuffed duck and lotus flower. Many discuss were bearishly decorated and we had a an amazing evening. But all good things must at some point come to an end and i said my sad goodbyes to new friends and now extended family and look forward to sharing my experience of China with colleagues, students, friends and family and of. Purse begin on a journey of discover with our China Bridge partner shook incorporating our ideas and moving forward with collaboration of Chinese language and culture in the classroom.
Monday, 31 October 2016
Final day at Suzhou No1 Middle School
Thursday back in school
Fully packed day of lessons today! My first lesson observation was in Biology where students corrected homework together. The use of two screens and s visualiser made this assessment method very practical and extremely beneficial to all students' learning .
Following this lesson, I had the opportunity you to try some Chinese painting. The art teacher was fantastic and I started my painting on a Chinese fan that I will be able to take home once dry!
I attended a Chinese lesson where the students all read aloud together. Something I have never experienced before. 40 students who read a passage within a book out load together!
My guide today, Rachel took me to the junior maths lesson (13yrs) and although I do not teach maths, I found the problems quite challenging! It has been a long time since I sat in a maths class! The students came up one at a time and without much hesitation and no help from the teacher solved these problems in less that three minutes!
They were then split into two groups and were given different problems to solve and we're very eager to approach the chalkboard to write out the answers. Impressive!
Next I had another lesson in speaking Chinese and then went straight to a physics lesson. Students Usually correct their work in red pen and marking. Teachers also mark in red pen but not all teachers provide feedback however marking is done daily as they collect books to check the previous homework. Here's the catch, teachers in china last only teach 10-12 lessons a week and the rest of the time they plan, provide extra help or complete marking.
Each grade has 11 classes and there are three grades so in total over 70 different classes where the teachers move to the students not the students. Normally every teacher has two classes only. If only!
Classes have in average 40 students.
The physics lesson involved learning from an exercise book and the teacher explained the tasks then they had time to work out the exercises in the book.
Students usually receive about 3 hours a night in homework mostly from the main subjects being English, Math science and Chinese. The other subjects twice a week on average.
After lunch I had toe pleasure of watching the students perform their extra curricular English activities which included literary club dance, drama and music. Really talented group of individuals.
As you can imagine the theatre was enormous and without fault! Fantastic.
The afternoon included a geography lesson about global air temperature.
Again students repeat answers in unison!l
Following the geography lesson I attended an art lesson where the students practised shading and drawing roses. They again had a workbook or textbook to guide them along with the visual provided by the teacher.
Videos and classical music played in the background as they drew in absolute silence - concentrated learning!
At the back of the classroom pinned to the wall (as in all classrooms) are student aspirations and motto's. This one had sticky notes with their academic grades they want to achieved - there was no reference as to where they are now because it did not matter, just the end goal that they were working to attain! #ambition, #progressivelearning
I visited the future classroom which is a recording classroom where teachers can be recorded and then judged by their peers and those who are willing to record advice . The students sit in groups and each has a leader and the. Each have a touch board to work on they can arrange the seats as they like - also know. As the room of wisdom!
The government holds competitions for teachers and they can enter the teachers competition.
Behind the mirror screen is where the observing teachers sit.
Software is called starC system : benq interactive whiteboards
The day ended with a final dinner organised by the school and my lovely guide Rachel and I went to the famous shopping area to do just that! Shops are open quite late in Suzhou
Fully packed day of lessons today! My first lesson observation was in Biology where students corrected homework together. The use of two screens and s visualiser made this assessment method very practical and extremely beneficial to all students' learning .
Following this lesson, I had the opportunity you to try some Chinese painting. The art teacher was fantastic and I started my painting on a Chinese fan that I will be able to take home once dry!
I attended a Chinese lesson where the students all read aloud together. Something I have never experienced before. 40 students who read a passage within a book out load together!
My guide today, Rachel took me to the junior maths lesson (13yrs) and although I do not teach maths, I found the problems quite challenging! It has been a long time since I sat in a maths class! The students came up one at a time and without much hesitation and no help from the teacher solved these problems in less that three minutes!
They were then split into two groups and were given different problems to solve and we're very eager to approach the chalkboard to write out the answers. Impressive!
Next I had another lesson in speaking Chinese and then went straight to a physics lesson. Students Usually correct their work in red pen and marking. Teachers also mark in red pen but not all teachers provide feedback however marking is done daily as they collect books to check the previous homework. Here's the catch, teachers in china last only teach 10-12 lessons a week and the rest of the time they plan, provide extra help or complete marking.
Each grade has 11 classes and there are three grades so in total over 70 different classes where the teachers move to the students not the students. Normally every teacher has two classes only. If only!
Classes have in average 40 students.
The physics lesson involved learning from an exercise book and the teacher explained the tasks then they had time to work out the exercises in the book.
Students usually receive about 3 hours a night in homework mostly from the main subjects being English, Math science and Chinese. The other subjects twice a week on average.
After lunch I had toe pleasure of watching the students perform their extra curricular English activities which included literary club dance, drama and music. Really talented group of individuals.
As you can imagine the theatre was enormous and without fault! Fantastic.
The afternoon included a geography lesson about global air temperature.
Again students repeat answers in unison!l
Following the geography lesson I attended an art lesson where the students practised shading and drawing roses. They again had a workbook or textbook to guide them along with the visual provided by the teacher.
Videos and classical music played in the background as they drew in absolute silence - concentrated learning!
At the back of the classroom pinned to the wall (as in all classrooms) are student aspirations and motto's. This one had sticky notes with their academic grades they want to achieved - there was no reference as to where they are now because it did not matter, just the end goal that they were working to attain! #ambition, #progressivelearning
I visited the future classroom which is a recording classroom where teachers can be recorded and then judged by their peers and those who are willing to record advice . The students sit in groups and each has a leader and the. Each have a touch board to work on they can arrange the seats as they like - also know. As the room of wisdom!
The government holds competitions for teachers and they can enter the teachers competition.
Behind the mirror screen is where the observing teachers sit.
Software is called starC system : benq interactive whiteboards
The day ended with a final dinner organised by the school and my lovely guide Rachel and I went to the famous shopping area to do just that! Shops are open quite late in Suzhou
2nd Visit to Partner School
Wednesday October 26th
I Woke up to a lot of rain today but with a temperature of 21 degrees!
I was collected from the hotel and went straight to the maths lesson which was already in progress and the students had already been in school for 1 1/2 hours having started at 7:30am. The lesson was quite fast paced from what I could understand of the maths and they were working on algebra. The students were 16 and first year maths students. They will contue until they are 18 this equivalent to GCSE-A Level.
The interesting observation was that all students were expected to keep the pace and they all replied answers together in unison.
They all listened to the teacher who spoke with the assistance of a microphone and replied when needed but all took this very seriously.
The teaching and learning methodology has some similarities to the uk system but there are some big differences too.
The students at Suzhou no.1 middle school, like most high schools in china, have 9 lessons a day and last for 45 min. There are normally 40 students in each class and the students so. Or move from class to class unless they have music, art or PE rather the teacher comes to them.
They start school at 730 and finish at 530pm. This is a very long day and different to LSA and most UK schools. In their final year they go home at 6:00! Over the course of a week students have 7 lessons of maths with 70-80% going on to university while the rest will go to vocational colleges. They also have, 9 lessons a week of science (chemistry biology and physics) in their first year at the school, when they are 14-15 years old, all 1st year students talked all sciences in the 2nd year they take exams to major in two of sciences such as physics and chemistry or even geography or history.
English, maths and Chinese are compulsory subjects ante are take to the end with 6 lessons a week of each with one of these six lesson likely being a test. They will be given homework from each subject every day.
English students working on letters and school information for LSA students.
Biology lesson.
The library
Echo my students Gide on day 2 in school. The students were taking up placements at the school during thier university studies.
Teaching Chinese to foreigners :
Morning for american foreigners morning is,Listening reading writing and speaking and afternoon
Cultural including martial arts and theatre trips
Placement tests are given to see what they already know
Some facts and figures about the school:
225 teachers 1300 students.
Afternoon visit to the Suzhou museum where there were many articles from ancient times such as the quing dynasty
Following that we visited a calligraphy whole where they had magnificent brushes and and paper for writing Chinese letters.
Teachers teach only10-12 lessons a week!
Planning and tutor time for the rest of the work day but also individual time as well
7:30-500 administration
7:20-5:30 usual hours for students especially in thier final two years.
Govt covers cost to junior school students, parents cover the cost of senior which is about 100£ a semester or term.
Assessments take place at the end of each term.
Who creates the assessment ? The head of each subject and students must score 60% to pass and the province has pass mark for science such as physics and chemistry geography.
They are not allowed to take the final entrance examination- if they do not pass the March exams which are provincial exams.
What is your pass rate ? 100% here this is a select school
National exam for entrance exam at this school.
The school does have some SEN and students from disadvantaged backgrounds
School grounds
Afternoon visit to the Suzhou museum where there were many articles from ancient times such as the quing dynasty
Following that we visited a calligraphy whole where they had magnificent brushes and and paper for writing Chinese letters.
The silk factory from the leaves, worms weaving and final products.
Dinner at the teacher training centre.
Finally we visited the silk factory! This was a once in a lifetime experience where we saw the making of silk from the worm to the final product !
We had dinner at the Teacher training and development centre. Not only was the food outstanding but the facility showed that the profession is very respected and an important industry in china. The profession is inviting and the centre makes you want to thrive and be your very best with the amazing facility thief have to offer. From seating and reading areas to a state of the art lecture theatre and library the centre is designed to give the best possible training for teachers and for the teachers to feel proud and respected in their profession.
This is where the pedagogy in education takes a drivers seat in career opportunities
The meal was equally outstanding with a large variety of delicious Chinese dishes.
I am truly grateful for the opportunity to visit this wonderful country and cannot say enough how wonderful it am has been.
First Visit to Suzhou no 1 high school
Tuesday October 25th
The school buildings and grounds
The music room and stage 
The Director's office inside the administration building.
Chinese calligraphy lesson
Learning traditional songs
Tuesday was the first day in school. I arrived at Suzhou no 1 high school at 830am. Unbeknown to me the students had already been here for an hour in lessons! I had a tour of the school given by my first student guide, whose English name was Stefanie. The school looked like an beautiful holiday resort! I mean that it was full of balconies and beautiful stone buildings with Chinese garden rooftops that it shocked me that it was a high school. The school is undergoing some renovations and they plan to bulid a new canteens underground with a state of the art sports field above. The library is brand new with cafe style seating indoor and out.
The modern mixed with the classic architecture of the buildings is very charming and has a vey welcoming feel with a true sense of belonging for the students.
The lessons I observed today included English where I shared the LSA school video and all the school information that our students worked on.
The modern mixed with the classic architecture of the buildings is very charming and has a vey welcoming feel with a true sense of belonging for the students.
The lessons I observed today included English where I shared the LSA school video and all the school information that our students worked on.
My first student guide Stefani.
School rules and moots including points about the importance of education, ambition, tolerance and family.
Meeting with the leadership team. The director is to my right in my photo.
English lesson
The school shop
Music lesson
English teachers and I held a special meeting to discuss common links and learning from each other. Jack Zhou from the British council in Shanghai also attended.
LSA uniform will be on display in the school.
Music just teachers and jack from the British council
Dinner with school director, coordinator and staff from Suzhou no1 high school.
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