On the "lam" in China

Monday, April 18, 2011

Friday, April 15th

Today we were the students. We were the guests of the Hebei Provincial Education Department, and were greatly warmly at their spacious building. Hebei province has 900,000 staff and faculty members working in 30,000 kinds of schools. The number of students in this province, which we were told is roughly the size of the United Kingdom, is 13 millions. That's a lot of students and teachers! We were once again greeted by our host, Dr. Hou, who introduced us to each of the speakers. Shuxing Zong, a professor from the Hebei Education and Science Research Institute spoke about basic education, particularly the Compulsory Education Law of 1986. Xiaoyan Shi, professor and Deputy Dean of the Education College of Hebei University, spoke about her research into the methods of assessing teachers. Our final teacher was Qixue Chengdu, the Deputy Director of Human Resource Office of the Hebei Education Department, and an expert on teacher and principal recruitment. Except for an extended lunch in the middle of the day, we were seated in a large conference room and were able to ask questions of the Chinese, so as to gain a perspective of their education system before we begin shadowing our principals in their respective schools.

Thursday, April 14th

Chinese Exchange Initiative Group from Pennsylvania
Shijiazhuang Foreign Language School

Today we were driven to the Shijiazhuang Foreign Language School in the city. There we were greeted by the assistant principal and members of the staff, including a high school teacher who spoke English and translated for us. We were first shown a video, then were given a brief overview of the school. Started in 1994, the school has 168 classes totaling more than 10,000 students and 700 teachers. The students here receive an education in all subjects, but concentrate on the foreign languages, which are English, Japanese or Russian. In kindergarten they have bilingual classes, which are mostly English and Chinese, and in junior and senior high they have an experimental bilingual program. There are 3 kindergartens belonging to this school, 2 of them are in different locations in the city. Since this is a private school (grades k - 8), prospective kindergarten students and their parents are interviewed before being accepted. We visited a kindergarten class that was doing their morning exercises and saw their tiny beds for nap time (how adorable!). We also visited with a class of 1st graders who were very eager to speak to us in English. One cute little boy even asked us how old we were, to which the teacher replied that was a secret :)

Kindergarten

There are 31 provinces in China, but only 16 schools (this being one of them) that can recommend students directly to universities without taking the national exam. Each year 170 of their students go directly to the university, and they are very proud of this fact.

Teacher work room

After a tour of the marvelous facilities, we chatted with our colleagues at the various grade levels. We had great conversations about curriculum, teacher evaluations, and student concerns. This was a great experience. Educators around the world are not so different after all.

1st Grade

In the afternoon we visited the Shijiazhuang Art School. A contrast to the other, this school is public, and receives its support from the government. There are only 2 public art schools like it in Hebei, but many more private ones. While it is public, it is, however, selective, and students must pass academics, an interview and an audition to be accepted. The government, in order to encourage students to attend these types of vocational schools, pay the student a stipend each month. This promotes these schools to students because not all students in China can attend the universities, and after graduation they have better opportunities to find jobs. The curriculum in the school consists of academic subjects for half of the day, and the student's major for the other half. Students specialize in music, drama, or dance. There are approximately 1000 students in the school, and residency is required. Of course, if you saw their practice schedule, you would understand why. The students here range in age from 11 to 17, but all of them have such great talent! We saw the students practice dance, song and instrumental lessons, but the culminating event was a performance in the auditorium at which we were the honored guests. Afterward, we joined the students on stage for pictures. Wow!

One of the performance groups

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Tuesday, April 12th - Climbing the Great Wall

A Perspective of the Steepness

Well, it is official. I am now what our tour guide called "a Chinese hero." I climbed the Great Wall, something most people only dream about. The Wall was built by the Q'in Dynasty to protect against warring countries like Mongolia in the north, but the majority of the Wall was built by the Ming Dynasty. We visited a portion of the Wall that is only an hour or so from Beijing. When we arrived, we took a cable car to tower 14, then some of us climbed to the tower at the top - number 23. The view was spectacular! Pictures won't begin to do it justice! It was exhausting, but well worth the trip to the top.

Another view of the Wall

After yet another wonderful lunch, we traveled by bus to the Olympic Village. The site of the 2008 Summer Olympics, this complex is massive! We only had enough time to see one side of the complex, and took pictures of the Birdsnest (where the opening and closing ceremonies took place), and the Cube, the site of the swimming events. The shapes of both of these structures, square and round, was purposeful - both contribute to the feng shui of the country. We were informed that the architect of the Birdsnest is now imprisoned for his anti-government beliefs and his candid speech regarding them.

The Birdsnest - site of the 2008 Olympic Games

Another site visited this day was the Hutong. A Hutong is an area where the everyday people reside. Lined with narrow streets, the residences there consist of 4 buildings; the north building is where the older generation live because it is warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer. The south building houses the living room and kitchen. The east building is where the sons live, and the west is where the daughters live. All of the buildings surround a courtyard. In most cases there are no bathroom facilities, the people use the local public toilet and bath (described by Merry, our tour guide, as a 0 star toilet - believe me, you don't even want to use a 1, 2, or 3 star one). We visited one house in which the owner described her life as a child, and how at one time more than 50 people lived in this small compound. Amazing! She even told us that during the 2008 Olympics, she was visited by Michael Phelps, who sat in the very spot on her couch as did our very own Dr. Markley from Oley Valley. By the way, travel through this area was really tricky- we got in and out of the Hutong by rickshaw.

Connie Skipper and I ride the rickshaw through the Hutong

After another good dinner (this time the restaurant was known for its beef noodles), we returned to the hotel. Several of us, feeling adventurous, decided to take a cab to the world famous Silk Market. We asked our Hebei Provincial guides Sophie and Mayuan, to accompany us. Of course our taxi driver got lost, but we managed to get there before it closed (and refused to pay the higher fare). We bargained and bargained for pearls, and I think we were quite successful, since we all came out with something to take home. Heading back to our hotel, however, we could not find a single trustworthy cab (private ones are dangerous and need to be avoided), so we braved the Beijing subway system, then walked the rest of the way back to our Hotel. This was, by far, the longest day, and I fell into bed and was fast asleep.