Rick in China: November 2008

Rick in China

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Post Script

Wow…where do you begin. What an experience...so different than my current world of northern New Hampshire. Like many trips, you usually end up like Dorothy…declaring “there’s no place like home!” But I think that’s a good thing, because you should love where you are living.
Here are some of the dominant impressions about Chinese education:
The enthusiasm of the students, teachers and staff is incredible! Everyone we observed and spoke with seemed ecstatic to be in their school.
The principals, high school students, middle school students, and elementary school students all expressed the strongest belief that they were in the best school, that they were lucky to be in the best school, and that they must take advantage of this opportunity because it is truly the key to them being successful in life. They were very appreciative that their parents worked hard to give them this opportunity and therefore they must take advantage of it.
Everyone valued education and what it can do for them…way beyond what I have ever witnessed in the US.
However, I think you really have to be careful about jumping to conclusions about the Chinese schools. They are really so different from ours, and those differences so reflect the difference in our cultures and societies. We are trying to educate the masses…that what America has always been about. Just like it says on the Statue of Liberty, “give me your poor….”
China’s schools, certainly for the one’s we saw are for the elite. There are over 1200 elementary schools in Beijing, and each has an application process. So we truly saw the crème de la crème. If you applied such a screening practice to American students you would see equally polite, well behaved, enthusiastic, hard working, and successful students. That selectivity is also what allows them to have class sizes that we would abhor! Perhaps that selectivity also allows them to have such no frills classrooms. The teachers were always standing in the front of the room, displaying Powerpoint presentations and calling on attentive and enthusiastic kids who jumped out of their seats when they responded.
Their students were delightful… just like ours. That’s the joy of working in schools; especially elementary schools.
All of us would love to see a typical school. Malcolm, the Aussie who visits China 15 times a year, stated the typical school has all the same discipline problems that we do.
We didn’t see any special education/504/remediation classes…they don’t exist in these select schools. That reflects their survival of the fittest philosophy.
Nor did we see any parents; but that’s because they’re all working. I don’t think there are many stay at home moms. I also think that the parents turn over the educational responsibility to the schools; they help with homework, and they clearly establish and reinforce the importance of education.
I think the value of the exchange programs is that it helps the kids realize that as Thomas Friedman puts it; “the world is flat”. Technology has flattened it and our students need to take advantage of that phenomena. If they don’t there will be plenty of Chinese kids that will. I think most importantly the exchanges will lead us to realize that the entire world needs to work on saving the environment; protecting the planet. One part of the world can’t do it alone and such it’s our exchanges that will lead us to working together to save the world!

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November 8, 2008

Today is my last day in China…I’m anxious to get home, but at the same time very thankful and appreciative to have had this experience.
We went to Tianamen Square and the Forbidden City this morning. The square was only a very short bus ride from our hotel. Many in our group have already walked there in the evenings.
Although it was just 8:30 AM, the square was filled with tourists, even more crowded than the Olympic venues. The square is huge. The hawkers swarmed over us like black flies in June. They were selling kites, postcards, Russian fur hats, and a variety of other items. The hawkers wouldn’t let up, and would even keep following you as you walked away. One of our group members, Richard Voltz from Springfield, Illinois, even had a man put his hand right into his pants pocket and once initially reacted he kept following Richard and smiling at the same time. I was wearing my Red Sox hat so one hawker said, “hey Boston!”
It took us about 15 minutes to walk across the square. We kept stopping to take pictures of both the Forbidden City on one side and Mao’s tomb on the other. I would have like to go in Mao’s tomb, but we didn’t have enough time.
Mao’s portrait hangs over the main entrance. According to the guides, a new portrait is put up every year on October 1^st. Each new portrait is identical to the previous. The painter is very old…don’t know what they’ll do when he dies.
The Forbidden City was overwhelming. I can only compare it to the other monarch’s palace’s that I’ve seen: Versailles, Fountainbleau, Buckingham Palace, and Windsor Castle. It was overwhelming it its size, yet it had a simplicity that I found very appealing.
We got conflicting reports on the construction details. Depending on the guide it took 14 or 40 years to build and 1 million workers were involved! I really love the painted woodwork that is underneath the roof line, and the sculptures on the corners of the roof.
The Emporer’s quarters hardly seem homey…they’re way to large to appeal to our standards…yet I’m sure that’s the intent.
The floor of one of the inner court yard’s is 50 brick’s high, yet the overall level of court yard is not noticeably higher than the rest of the city. No worry about frost heaves there.
There were multiple throne rooms, each with a specific purpose, and the buildings and inner squares just seemed to go on forever. There was also an inner moat.
We were really overwhelmed with information about the Forbidden City. All of us stated we will go home and rent the “Last Emporer” on Netflix…I’m sure everyone does that. It’s so hard to imagine what it would be like to be part of that world.
After leaving the Forbidden City, our group divided in half. One group went shopping and the other went out to lunch. I made the wrong choice and went for the meal. Those that shopped got tremendous bargains.
By the time we got back to the hotel I only had an hour to find a post office, purchase stamps, and write my cards.
11 of us hired a minibus to take us to the airport, and back to our real worlds.
We joked about having a reunion of Bus B at the Great Pyramids next year, and continue the yearly get togethers until we’ve seen the 7 wonders!

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Friday, November 7, 2008

November 7, 2008

This is my 7th day in China and I think my body is finally recovered from jet lag.
This AM we visited the Yucai School in Beijing. This school is public, however, it is operated by the national dept. of education. It is considered one of the best, if not the best, school in China. It serves 4000 students grades 1-12.
The campus of the Yucai School was beautiful; mostly 500 year old buildings, much more like a college campus than an elementary school. We started our visit with the usual large group meeting with the principal. Again this visit was thoroughly recorded by the press and witnessed by a number of officials from the Chinese Dept. of Education.
We then toured the buildings and grounds, starting with the upper grades and dorms and working our way down. Most of the students sleep at the school. That is fairly common at the better public schools, since students come from quite a distance.
The principal was very proud of the athletic accomplishments of their school. They are currently the national champions in baseball. Five of the Chinese Olympic team were graduates of their school, and the girl who won the all around gymnastics is also a student here. I wanted to see her school records to confirm her birth date, but I decided they would consider that disrespectful.
The first class we visited only had twelve students, It was a high school class. I finally thought we were seeing US size classes, but it turns out this was a special class for Korean students. Such students are declared "international students" and are exempt from their national testing program. They do that in order to prevent these students from lowering their test scores, a luxary we aren't allowed on NECAP's!
We then walked through the elementary building. The kids wore uniforms; the girls in red gym suits and the boys in blue. This informal style of uniform is common in China. As usual the classes were huge, 30-40 kids, and very well behaved. We did catch the kids in a ten minute AM break and then are allowed to walk into the halls, so we were surrounded by curious kids all of whom wanted to say "hello'. Westerners are a true curiousty to all of the Chinese. Many places they ask to take our picture!
We were invited into a 5th grade art class. The kids were making good luck charms, creating a complicated weaving that eventually is attached to a Christmas tree like ornament. Each student picked out a guest to give their ornament too. I took a picture of the little girl who gave me mine.
We left this school around 11:30 and headed back to hotel to change into our tourist/climg the Great Wall clothes.
Several of us ran across the street to the Kentucky Fried Chicken for lunch. We needed real food. It was finger licking good. We had to point at the pictures on the menu to place our order. We fed four of us for 116 RMB, which is about $17.
We got back to the hotel just in time to make the bus which stopped at a restaurant for lunch...which actually wasn't bad...wouldn't you know it.
We then proceeded to the Olympic venue to see the Bird's Nest, Water Cube, and the Gymnastics Hall.
The Bird's Nest dominates the Olympic area and it's even more beautiful and massive than TV captures. The surface on the Water Cube is best described asa translucent film that changes color with the sky.
There were thousands of tourists checking out the venue. Unfortunately we didn't have enough time to go inside either facility. That really would have been special.
Next to the athletic sites is a very tall, even by Beijing standards, hotel, the top of which is supposed to replicate the Olympic torch. On all of its four sides it has a huge video screen, four stories tall and three times as wide...and crystal clear.
After 30 minutes of snapping shots of each other in front of the venues, we boarded the bus and headed toward the Great Wall, which is only 60 miles outside of the city.
Although Beijing is very flat, the mountains are visible in the distance. It reminds me a little of Denver, although there's no snow on these peaks.
I napped on the way, waking up just in time to catch our first glimpse of The Wall. Being there and seeing it was one of those experiences, like your first trip to Fenway Park, that you can't believe is happening. Truly a thrill.
For whatever reason, our bus parked on the side of The Wall that is very steep. We were given 90 minutes to climb up as far as we could and most of us did. The part we climbed was narrower than most of the pictures I've seen...and very steep; just like climbing toward the summit of a 4000 ft. peak in the Presidentials!
Although it was cold, I worked up quite a sweat on the way up. I'm sure my legs will be sore tomorrow.
The sun was already setting below the peaks so the lighting wasn't great for pictures, but the scenery was breathtaking. The peaks are very steep, very ragged, and very gray. Not much vegetation. Again, it reminded me of Colorado or the Tetons, as opposed to the Whites.
There are lots of souvenir stands at the bottom. I tried to haggle the price down on a jade lion, but the seller wouldn't budge, nor did I, so the item still sits on the shelf.
Sweaty and sore, I welcome the bus ride back to Beijing, where we attended one more Banquet with many officials the National and Beijing departments of Education. There were lots of toasts, and of all our banquets, this had the best food....Peking Duck!
We got back to the hotel around 9 PM.
Tomorrow we visit the Forbidden City, and finally get to do some shopping!

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Thursday, November 6, 2008

Listen to the Band at the Feng Tai #5 Primary School

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November 6, 2008

Our trained arrived in Beijing at 6:45 AM. There were guides from the Beijing International Educational Exchange waiting for us as we departed the train. The Beijing station was even bigger than the one in Zangzhou. The enormity of China is constantly striking you. Outside the station there was a huge video screen…probably the size of the one in Times Square in NYC. I think I saw it during one of the Olympic broadcasts.
We all immediately noticed that the skies were blue and there was very little smog compared to Shanghai and Yangzhou, where it was forever present.
It took about 45 minutes to get to the hotel, which was spotless. Again our rooms were very nice…quite a contract to the train and the back alleys we had just experienced.
Everyone took a shower before breakfast. What a difference a good shower makes in your attitude!
After breakfast local educational dignitaries and principals arrived. We heard the required speeches from the Deputy Director of BEII and then just mingled with principals from the Beijing area. They sought us out; most of the Chinese principals were escorted by one of their English teachers who served as a translator. Many of us suspected that some of the principals could speak English, but having a translator is a status symbol, so they use them.
Every Chinese principal was on a mission to make “contact” in the form of agreeing to email and explore student and teacher exchanges between their school and ours. Establishing such contact is one of the criteria that contributes to a school’s ranking as a one, two, three, four, or five star school. These rankings mean a lot to the principals. Anyone who had a five star ranking would work that into the conversation within the first 90 seconds!
Despite the pretensions, I really enjoyed talking to two different elementary principals and their English teachers. We would be visiting one of their schools after lunch.
Our discussions continue right up to our luncheon banquet, which was mediocre. We’re all getting tired of banquets.
The first school that we visited this afternoon was the Beijing Huang Cheng General Primary School. We observed a 1^st grade Chinese class, a 4^th grade music class, several PE classes, and a calligraphy class. Again we were struck by the number of students in each class 33-40, the outstanding behavior of the students who were not even distracted by the 20 visitors in their classroom, the enthusiasm of the students and their teacher, the absence of classroom decorations, and the smallness of the classrooms. At the end of each observation, the kids would join us for a group photo…I handed out some Lakeway Leopards pencils, and made friends for life.
In the calligraphy class we were allowed to use the kids brushes and try to paint the good luck character they were practicing. After each student had completed 10-20 practice versions, the teacher gave each child a piece of red paper and the kids completed a final copy. The teacher examined each student’s and directed only the best ones to be given to us! Talk about competition. I had my picture taken with the student who gave me her’s and rewarded her with a pencil.
We completed our visit to this school with a meeting with the principal, assistant principal, and several English teachers in the room they use for faculty meetings. It was a big oval shaped table that could seat 30 people. The table and room were very similar to what you would find in a large corporation’s “board room”. I ended up thinking that such accommodations really convey a sense of importance and value to such meetings and their profession. Clearly educators are very respected and valued in China.
This school had a huge Times Square video screen in their outdoor piazza. They also had an outdoor stage, another common feature in China. Since this school was located in the middle of a very busy shopping area, there was a very sturdy accordion fence which was manned by a police man.
We then rushed to our next school, the Feng Tai No.5 Primary School.
When we arrived, their outdoor sign displayed, “welcome foreign presidents”, something was lost in the translation. Everyone took a picture of that sign.
Our visit to this school focused on martial arts, PE, band, and children’s opera performances. The students were amazing…so reminiscent of what we all witnessed during the Olympic ceremonies. We learned that some of the kids from this school participated in the opening drumming performance at the Games.
Each performing group gave us a mini lesson to the visiting presidents. I really enjoyed a chance to play an ancient guitar like instrument.
Again we all posed for pictures with the kids. The usual press corps continues to memorialize every moment of our visit.
We then met with the principals and English teachers. At this school were received gifts after the usual Q&A. I repeated my question about behavior…do the teachers spend lots of classtime establishing and reviewing behavior expectations, or do the kids arrive in 1^st grade well behaved. Answer=they arrive well behaved. The teachers only spend 5 minutes in the first few classes explain behavior expectations.
This visit closed with both a banquet at an enormous restaurant…bigger than any I have every seen. The principals and teachers were treating us. This ended up being our best Chinese food of the trip and restored my opinion about it. The Beijing duck was outstanding, as were the dumplings (Peking ravioli). Our conversations were equally rich.
A great day, and a wonderful start to our time in Beijing!

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November 5, 2008

Today we were scheduled to be
typical tourists, no workshops or school visits.
We checked out of the hotel at 7:40 AM, and boarded the bus for a ride to have a traditional Chinese breakfast. Most of us ate at the hotel’s buffet; our experience with traditional Chinese meals had taught us to take advantage of good food while you can.
Our wisdom paid off. Although some of the dumplings were good; and our definition of good is quickly changing, most of the meal was varieties of steamed vegetable and unidentifiable meats. Like our banquet room at the Yangzhou Guesthouse, the restaurant had lots of round tables that seated ten, and there was the exact same type of glass lazy Susan that enable family style sharing of each of the dishes.
We then went to Slender Lake Garden which was built several hundred years ago by the salt merchants of Yangzhou to attract the Emporer. Gardens are a very important part of Chinese life. Every garden must contain water, rock, trees and flowers. Paths, and even the bridges over the water, are frequently crooked in order to provide a constantly changing views. This garden was the premier garden of Yangzhou and was filled with other tourist groups. In addition to the obvious floral arrangements you’d find in a garden, this garden also had music piped in to various places.
We went for a 20 minute dragon boat ride. Our boat was power by a beautiful young woman who moved the boat with a single oar/tiller as she sat at the stern of the boat. One of our teachers from Manchester, James O’Dwyer, who has been to China before and provided us with constant local information, ecouraged her to sing and she did. James actually was on a dragon boat with this same woman during his previous visit and noted that they were actually on the boat when the most recent big eathquake occurred.
During out time in the garden a number of the educators in the group were receiving election results from the US via text messages from friends. When I first heard that Obama was off to a big lead and that victory was likely I was moved to tears. Word spread quickly among the Americans especially with each update. Many of the Australian and English expressed their elation for Obama’s impending victory.
We left the garden at 11:30 and head for a modern, clean large restaurant that was surrounded by beautiful gardens. As we walked into this restaurant we were greeted by a two piece musical combo that was singing a Carpenter’s song. They were actually pretty good and cover many American hits including the Eagles’ “Hotel California”. We were treated to a wonderful buffet, including cold draft beer, sushi, and espresso. Their wasabi was very hot. Like the buffets at the Yangzhou Guesthouse, they are clearly appealing to a wide range of Western tastes. I still haven’t figured out how to eat fully shelled shrimp with chop sticks. Our best meal so far.
I made a toast to our new president…everyone cheered!
Our next stop was to the Yangzhou Municipal Museum, a very large Guggenheim like structure that was probably built in the past decade. The volunteer guides from Yangzhou University that are spending the day with us did not provide much information about the displays, so we on our own to interpret what we were seeing. Unfortunately none of the displays included English.
After leaving the museum our bus took to us to first a laquerware store, and then to a jade store for some shopping. A number of people in our group bought items in one or both of these places, and many bought nothing. Even in very Western like stores, you’re expected to haggle over the price. The rule of thumb, don’t pay more than 30% of the original price.
After shopping we headed toward our dinner restaurant, but walked several back streets/alleys of downtown Zangzhou to see the real urban China. It was extremely depressing and shocking. We saw many people living in shantiess, one room homes w/out plumbing or electricity. They cook in the alley and use public toilets. They have to leave their doors open for light, so you can see right in. At first I thought these were just run down garages that people were using for a business of some sort or storage, but then it becomes clear to you that these spaces are their homes!
There were many street vendors, cooking and selling many unidentifiable items. Some smelled good and some smelled horrid. My appetite was quickly disappearing.
We did see the home of the current Chairman. It is unmarked and very modest. He does have an official residence, so this is his home prior to becoming Chairman. However, our guide says he does still use it occasionally.
Dinner was our second worst; only a bit better than what we had at the NBOFL school on Tuesday night. Lots of vegetables and unusual meats. The best course was peanuts…I’m not kidding!
Our stay in Zangzhou ended when we arrived at the train station, a mammoth modern looking building that was very crowded. Bags had to be xrayed before we could enter the station, and we boarded our train almost immediately.
The train left the station right on time…8:30 PM.
Four of us share a compartment that had already been converted into two sets of bunks with pillows and comforters on each bed. The space between the bunks was very small so we had to take turns standing in the corridor while one person got ready for bed.
Several of us went to the club car and had a Budweiser in celebration of Obama’s victory, but the beer was warm and we were all exhausted, so we turned in by 10 AM.
The bunks were hard as wood, but I slept ‘til about 3 AM before having to go to the bathroom. Those are another story…words can describe the smell…you had to be there…no…I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy.

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Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Listen to her "English"!

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1st Grade Class

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6th Grade Gym Class

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November 4, 2008 NBOFLS

The second school we visited was the New Beijing Oriental Foreign Laugage School. Again, we were greeted by the principals and several students, one who was a very pretty high school girl wearing a portable Janet Jackson style microphone. She was our student host and she directed us to walk toward their stadium. Her English was perfect and her personality was very vivacious and outgoing. She’ll be a CNN news anchor in another year on
This is a private K-12 boarding school. They have 2000 kids in grades 1-6, 1000 in grades 7-9, and 600 in their high school. The tuition to the school is approximately $4000, which is high by Chinese standards. The principal, Dr. Wong, told me that most of their parents have very good jobs.
When our bus arrived we could see in the distance several hundred uniformed students lined up on their soccer field, performing calisthenics’ in perfect unison. We all started snapping pictures, not realizing that was the first stop on our tour.
When we got to the stadium our hosts directed into the stage and then their gym teacher directed the 300 6^th graders through a routine that would make the Rockettes proud. The 7^th and 8^th graders then stepped forward and performed a number of dance steps, all in synch.
We then continued our tour, encountered some 2^nd graders walking across their campus, watched a 4^th grade science class and a 1^st grade class.
In both schools the classrooms were stark, with no decorations on the walls. The 1^st grade class contained 33 students, in a classroom half the size of most American elementary school rooms.
The teacher was also using a ceiling mounted LCD. Students did not carry back packs, and had only simple paperback texts in front of them. We were told that students buy their own books.
The 1^st graders also stood when responding to the teacher. The class responding in unison to the teacher’s cues which were rapid fire.
The NBOFLS employs some American teachers, who receive better pay than the Chinese teachers. Dr. Bob stated that some American teachers have classroom management problems since they are not as strict with the students.
The K-12 school was only 8 years old, but the building looked much, much older, and their were clear signs of lack of maintenance: very dirty floors, and crumbling plaster in ceilings.
We toured the dorm rooms which contained 4 beds per room and had no decorations other than the matching bed clothes. Students do not study in their rooms. At this school they remain in their classes until 9:30 PM!
This school’s campus was very sprawling, the classes all open to the outdoors.
We went to their auditorium and were treated to a number of performances by students of all ages. Dancing for younger students, piano solo by a high school boy, a martial arts demo by approximately 20 upper elementary kids, and then three students of elementary, middle, and high school ages played on giant laptop guitars with 15+ strings. They were better than the woman who entertained us on Sunday night at the Orchid Tea Room!
Each act was introduced by a grade level host who spoke perfect English.
The principal, Dr. Wong, and vice principal, Dr. Bob, spoke to us about how they got their start at this school.
This was truly a remarkable school. It's magnitude was overwhelming; especially for those of us who work in much smaller settings. Yet every student and staff member displayed an incredible amount of enthusiasm and they were all very proud of their school and their achievements.
We ended our visit in the school’s cafeteria and were served the meal of the evening on metal trays, no chop sticks, just a spoon. The food was terrible and most of us ate very little. We’d been eating so much on this trip that missing a meal wasn’t going to hurt any of us.
On our ride back to the Yangzhou Guest House all of us agreed that we are clearly being shown what they consider to be their best schools. Our visit has gotten a great deal of news coverage on their television and in their newspapers. Several students commented that they had seen us on TV. Every activity we’ve participated in has been documented in detail by a press corps.
Clearly they are publicly documenting that foreign educators are visiting their schools. Again, establishing international exchange programs is a clearly a very high priority that they want recognized.
We also felt that the Chinese administrators were not that interested in what we do in our schools. We asked far more questions than they did. And in retrospect, the amount of time for actual in depth dialogue among educators was very limited. Many of us have concluded that this conference was far more a PR event for the Jiagsu Education Bureau.
The Chinese schools seem to be the antithesis of No Child Left Behind. Perhaps like their gymnastics team, they do everything for their gifted, but their special needs students are ignored, and as Dr. Bob, stated: if a male child is discovered to have a handicap he is put in an orphanage, if a female child is discovered to have a handicap she rarely survives. I’m very proud of NCLB after this visit.
This was truly an eye opening, thought provoking day!

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Tuesday, November 4, 2008

November 4, 2008 AM

This AM the forum participants divided into three groups and held rountable discussions on three separate topics. My group discussed “Curriculum Focused Leadership”
Unlike Western schools were the curriculum supervision model is very dependent on the size of the school and the size of the district, Chinese schools in the Jiangsu province then to be much larger, and therefore there are usually multiple levels of curriculum supervisors.
The British schools consider that they have a lot of curriculum flexibility, but when pressed it was acknowledged that there is a national curricula that they must address; however, teachers are allowed a lot of leeway on what instructional activities/resources they use to address those standards.
Both Eastern and Western principals are trying to find the proper balance between national standards and local autonomy/needs. However, we are approaching this challenge from opposite ends of the continuum. The West is moving away from the totally autonomous individual classroom and the East is moving away from a very controlling national government. Both groups spoke to the challenge of addressing the individual needs of the community or the students.
In Chinese schools there is little flexibility; all texts and resources are chosen by the Provincial bureaus, and it was obviously a source of much comment by the Chinese princapls, however, all of their comments were not translated.
We discussed teacher evaluation. The Chinese noted that student test scores are the sole focus of a teacher’s effectiveness, and that this is a source of a great deal of pressure from parents. The Chinese viewed this focus on students test results as “not scientific”.
The roundtable discussions lasted 90 minutes and then everyone gathered together and the chairs of each group summarized their discussions.
The group that discussed “Leadership and School Management for Principals” seemed to have a great deal of common experiences. The multiple demands of the principalship seemed universal and both Eastern and Western principals agreed that they deal with the same tensions: regulations vs. autonomy, being reactive vs. proactive, visionary vs. mico-manager, loose vs. tight.
Both groups agreed that principals are no longer autocrats, but now a member of the leadership team. Principals must have a strong understanding of the traditions and culture of a school in order to build for the future. The principal is a servant for the school.
All agreed that the internal issues in all schools are very similar.
Once the summaries of the roundtables were completed, the various bureau chiefs of the municipal and provincial boards of education spoke about the importance of international exchange Clearly it is the focus of the Chinese schools and it is something that is a very high priority for all levels of their educational institutions.

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November 4, 2008 PM Yangzhou High School

This afternoon we visited two different schools and it was truly a moving experience.
The first school was Yangzhou High School, a public high school in downtown Yangzhou. To matriculate into any Chinese high school, students must pass an exam and then apply to the school. Many of the J
AC officals commented that this is the best school in the city, and of course it’s not suprising that they would want to showcase such a school. When our two buses arrived at the school we were greeted by a welcome party of their principal, vice principal, and 13 of their English language teachers. The teachers acted as our guides and walked us among the buildings, providing details about each of the buildings in this campus that serves 2000 students. Most of these teachers were students in this school.
We learned that the students day begins at 7 AM and ends at 9 PM, with a 90 minute lunch break at midday. Some students and teachers sleep at the school. For teachers it’s free housing, and for students who leave in the outskirts of the Province, it’s the only way they could attend.
I spoke at length with one of the young teachers who stated she was very happy to be a teacher, eventhough her original profession of choice was business. She says a teacher is a very respectful position, and that makes up for the lower pay.
She told me she has never had to ask a student to leave her classes due to a discipline problem and that all of her students always do their homework.
Her students call her by her first name, and she considers them friends
We observed an 11^th grade English class. There were about 50 kids in the class. They were sitting very close to each other. They stood when called upon. The teacher was using a ceiling mounted LCD projector to display images from her laptop. She was asking students to explain why the displayed objects would be helpful if you were traveling to Egypt. The students responded in detail and didn’t hesitate to insert humor into their responses.
The teacher asked the students to practice their conversational English by talking to all of us and so each visiting principal spoke with either individuals or groups of students.
I spoke to Kelly (her English name) who was 16. Her favorite subject is math and she hoped to go to college in America…Harvard was her choice. She was very talkative, speaking with a slight English accent. She was very proud to be a student of this school. She said she didn’t agree with all the practices of Chinese schools, but she understood why they existed. She does have a cell phone, but does not use it in school. She thinks that Americans favorite sport is basketball. She doesn’t have a job, she spends all her time studying!
I was amazed at how well both the teachers and the students spoke English. Many much better than the Chinese principals attending the Forum!

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Monday, November 3, 2008

November 3, 2008

I’m still having to pinch myself to realize that I am in China.
The conference is into full gear right now. There are probably 200 people in attendance at the Forum. I’m guessing 70% are from the Jiangsu Province and the rest of us our from the US, Canada, Australia, England, and Italy.
After a breakfast buffet that included fish and corn on the cobb, we had our offical group picture taken, and then spent the rest of the morning listening to 12 different speakers from all of the participating nations. Each explained why they felt it was important to be attending; the world is truly flat, and how honored they are to be able to participate.
Several speakers represented "independent" a euphemism for "private" schools. There presence isn't surprising considering how costly it is just to get here.
I've spoken with a number of educators from Manchester...Manchester, England that is.
The closing keynote speaker for the morning session was the equivalent of the commissioner of education for the Jiangsu Province which has a population of 74 million. Each Chinese province has a declared focus or speciality, and the focus for Jiangsu is education! The Commissioner identified 5 aspects of school leadership, the first of which was to stay in compliance with their federal, provincial, and municipal regulations. This focus certainly reflects the nature of their government and society; i.e. follow the rules. The second was to manage schools democratically, so they took are talking about developing collaborative cultures. He also said that the principal was the “sore of the school”, I think he meant soul!
All in all, the challenges of all schools, no matter where you live, seem to be the same. I am very anxious to tour the local schools. We won’t start that until tomorrow.
I think I’ll go for a walk and burn off all of the calories I’m consuming. I haven’t really seen Yangzhou yet other than from the window of the bus.
We listened to 4 different speakers this afternoon. Every speaker’s presentation is translated into either English or Mandarin, depending on his/her native language. So that means that we hear each speech twice.
I started to nod off during the last two…I wasn’t the only one.
I realized that there has been no one attempt at humor in any of the presentations. I realize most jokes don’t translate into another language, so I asked for the English speakers if he was cautioned about using humor and he said “no”. He did tell me however that every presentation is edited for both politics as well as commercial names, i.e, his presentation was on technology but he was asked to remove all references to specific software titles and company names.
Although each speaker was ignorant of what the others were presenting there were a number of common themes. The presentations were on school culture, leadership, and technology, and the concepts of collaboration, assessment, and shared leadership were repeated in almost every speech. PLC’s and the Dufours were even mentioned!
My favorite saying for the day was: “we can’t measure everything with one ruler.”…and this was mentioned by the president of China’s National Institute for Educational Research.
During tonight’s banquet we had assigned seats and the purposely mixed the Chinese principals with the visiting principals, as they refer to us. I was asked if principals in America influence how teachers vote and how they invest their money!
We’ve learned that almost no special needs or 504 type students go to their high schools. All students take middle school entrance exams and the middle schools, since the middle schools are very selective, they all become very homogenous, with the brightest going to specific schools. Their class sizes are very large compared to ours, but they have few discipline problems and all kids do their homework. The middle and high school entrance exams are not standardized, only their college exams are. They have nothing like NCLB and nothing like IDEA, and their citizens don’t vote on the town’s yearly budget, although the local government officials do decide how much money each school gets. I’m very anxious to visit schools which we will do on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday.
The food at the banquet was delcious. It was true Chinese food, and the food from this city, Yangzhou, is very well known for it’s quality and creativity. Fortunately, an assistant principal from Souzhou sat next to me and she explained everything that we were eating.
The Chinese do use each diners individual chop stocks to serve themselves from the common platter, so there’s a lot of “double dipping” as they say on Seinfeld. And they do not cover their mouth when they cough…so I’m probably caught SARS already.
After dinner I’ve been too exhausted to go out, jet lag is still killing me. Maybe I’ll be able to start tomorrow

¶ 12:33 PM 0 Comments

Sunday, November 2, 2008

November 2, 2008

Woke up around 3 AM, and felt wide awake. Unfortunately by body thought it was 3 PM and refused to go back to sleep, so I listened to the Mandarin lessons on my iPod.
Got out of bed around 5:15. Shaved, showered, and got dressed. That felt good. Dave and I ate breakfast: coffee and some of the German pastries we bought the night before. Dave walked me to the aprartment complex gate where a taxi was already waiting, eventhough it was only 6:30 AM.
Although the traffic was obviously extremely light since it was early Sunday, the drive was still scary as the driver wove in and out of cyclists and pedestrians at every street corner. No one seems flustered at the constantly close calls. The ride to the Panorama Hotel in Shanghai took about 30 minutes and cost 44 RMB. ($7).
The Hotel looked very nice…definitely elegant. I was the only one of our group, which numbers 24, who did not stay there last night.
I’m quickly getting to know the other principals; all seem very friendly. My first acquaintances are from Montreal, Edmonton, and Springfield, Illinois. It turns out many of us were on the same flight from Vancouver yesterday. So far it’s everyone’s first trip to China. No one, other that the tour guide (Cherie) and bus driver, was in front of the hotel when I arrived, and they were distressed that the luggage compartment on the coach was already full.
We ended up leaving about 40 minutes later than the announced 7:30 departure. Rumor had it they were getting a second bus to haul the additional luggage. My worries about being left behind were unfounded. One of my books said the Chinese were very punctual. We’ll have to see.
I’m sitting on the bus right now, right behind the driver as we leave what must be a very heavily trafficked city. I can't imagine what it must be like on a busy rush hour work day!
Driver uses his horn a lot. Dave told me minor fender benders are so common that people don’t even stop or get out of their cars for such events. Good reason not to own a car…the Coles don’t.
The weather is very much like a typical morning in Whitefield, damp and foggy. I think a lot of the fog is smog according to Dave.
The entire ride to Yangzhou reminded me a lot of driving along the NJ Turnpike near Newark, Perth Amboy, and Hoboken. We were continually passing one industrial plant after another. I quickly realized it was pollution causing the haze. The population density of China was also very evident throughout the trip. The number of high rise apartment complexes was incredible, and most of them were run down. Many appeared to be falling apart, and it was hard to tell if they were being renovated or just neglected.
Throughout the trip we saw people just waiting on the edge of the highway, but there were no noticeable bus stop signs. Interspersed throughout the high rises and factories were very small buildings that looked more like work sheds, but then you saw clotheslines and it was apparent that these too were people’s homes.
Rice fields and new trees were also omni present, as were people fishing in what must have been very polluted waterways.
I started listening to my Mandarin lessons on my iPod once I sensed the scenery was no longer demanding that I have my right hand on my camera in the ready position…I can’t believe how difficult Mandarin is!
We crossed the Yangtse on the outskirts of Yangzhou. The river was very wide, similar to the Mississippi, almost delta like, and there was a great deal of shipping traffic on it. Once across the river, the condition of the buildings immediately started to improve.
We drove right through a busy shopping district. Don’t know if it was the center of town, since the city population is around 4 million; it was hard to tell. The number of bicylists exploded and everyone on the bus kept wincing as rider after rider played “chicken” with our coach.
We arrived in Yangzhou in about 4 hours, arriving around 12:10 PM.
We pulled through a gate and into a beautiful park that included our hotel, the Yangzhou Guesthouse. I had imagined that we were going to be in a B&B, like what's a guest house. So I was really surprised to see such a beautiful complex that will be our home for the next four days.
As the bus pulled up to the hotel, we were immediately greeted by bellhops as well as official from the Jiangsu Academic Community, Rob Corchran, an Australian. He spoke to the whole bus, told us to register for the confence, (our hotel registrations would be take care of by their staff who had collected our passports), label our bags so that they could be delivered to the proper rooms, and then head to the dining room. He commented that we were late and would have to shorten our lunch time. He recommended we use knives and forks, rather than chop sticks in order to accommodate that goal.
As we walked into the hotel lobby, there were a couple of photographers snapping pictures of us, and the president of the JAC, Charlie ZHAO, personally greeted each of us, and offered his business card in the traditional handed Chinese style that Ronnie Mesural had told me about.
Lunch was an incredible buffet of Chinese dishes. Most of which were not labeled. I realized I was probably eating eals, but they were good, so I finished them. I’m going to gain a ton of weight over the next four days unless I develop some will power.
After lunch I went up to my room…it hadn’t been cleaned, so I took a walk outside, took a few pictures of the entrance to the hotel, and am now updating my log while I wait for room service to finish.
Our first workshops began at 4 PM. They took place in the Orchard Tea house. Greeen tea and a variety of nuts and dried fruits were served.We were entertained with several cultural presentations about China: a puppeteer who completed a water color, a woman who played an instrument that was a cross between a guitar and harp, and four women who sang several ancient songs. Another woman gave us a Powerpoint on five different forms of fine art in China. The lights were dim and jet lag was getting to me. I think my neck snapped a few times!
We also were given an introduction to the Jiangsu province and to the city of Yangzhou, and our last presentation was about the JESIE which included an explanation of how education is organized on the federal, municipal, and local levels.
Lastly we returned for a buffet dinner at the Guesthouse. The choices were widespread and I controlled my servings in comparison to lunch. I sat with Richard from Springfield, Illinois, two women from Alabama, and a woman from Australia. The two women from Alabama have already been in China for a week. They escorted a field trip of students and parents who toured schools around Shanghai.
After dinner I returned to my room. Got help from housekeeping to get my internet connected. Have to use a cable. They couldn’t explain why wireless isn’t working. My guess is that the wireless signals I’m picking up aren’t coming from the hotel, but that’s surprising that a hotel of this caliber wouldn’t provide wireless to it’s customers.

¶ 10:21 PM

November 1, 2008

I missed Halloween!
Plane landed in Shanghai at 4:10 PM after a 12 hour and 20 minute flight. Unfortunately I ended up with a middle seat in the middle aisle, so my ability to get up and walk around was very limited.
I ended up getting a total of 2-3 hours of sleep, saw a lot of movies: Man on a Wire, Harry Steele, Rebel w/out a cause, My Brother is an Only Child.
Two meals and a final bowl of noodles which was only served with chop sticks about an hour before landing. Nothing was very good, but you ate it because it helped pass the time.
Couldn’t see much as we landed since it was raining. Could have been landing in Iowa.
Going through the airport went very smoothly, minimal waiting time for baggage, long queue for immigation but that went quickly.
Dave was waiting for me when I got into the public area.
We boarded the very high speed magnetic train at 5 PM, which limited its top speed to 330 KPH, and took it into PuDong and then a taxi to their apartment complex.
Arrived at the Cole’s apartment complex around 6 pm. It was a beautiful gated community, very well landscaped and could have passed for any well to do US city complex.
The Coles apartment is gorgeous; it has three bedrooms, two balconies, a very large open kitchen, dining room, living room space. They brought some furniture over from the US and purchased the rest in Shanghai.
They have a nanny five days a week who cleans, shops, takes care of the kids when they get home from school. They refer to the nanny as an “IE” , they love her and consider her a part of the family. A fellow teacher sets up interviews for “IE’s” for all the new staff.
I delivered the mail, candy corn, maple syrup, and Lakeway pencils to the girls. Their Halloween costumes were still visible, as well as their trick or treat bags from the previous night.
Abigail, had come down with a feature, so Kara stayed home with the girls and David and I went out for a massage and then dinner.
The massage was heavenly…my first and the perfect way to recover from a 24 trip. I certainly could have used one of these on a daily basis in France. We spent an hour at the message place, getting neck and foot massages, for about $10 each.
Along the way we ran into the elementary principal at Dave and Kara’s school. A very nice man who was being forced to leave China due to a new law that doesn’t allow foreigners to work after age 65.
For dinner we went to a Thai restaurant…better than Stir Crazy! The neighborhood where the Cole’s live is very Western, so we were served with forks and spoons, just like home, instead of chopsticks.
We also went to a grocery store , again very Western, most of the same products we have in the US.
Dave and I returned to their apartment, inspecting some DVD vendors still on the streets eventhough it was almost 10 PM. Video sell for about $.70/disk. These are all knock offs. Dave says its so cheap that no one uses Netflix, they just buy the knock offs. We visited with Kara, she attend Tamarack Tennis camp as a kid!, shared slides of NH and France before going to bed around 11:30 PM. I was thoroughly exhausted at that point.

Labels: I missed Halloween

¶ 10:13 PM

October 31, 2008

I’m sitting in the Vancouver airport, my plane for Shanghai leaves in 40 minutes. It’s raining here, so there was no visibility when we landed. I might as well be in Indiana. The first two flights from Boston to Toronto and Toronto to Vancouver went very smoothly. So far I’ve already clocked in about six hours in the air. Have another 14+ to go. Watched the Dark Knight on Air Canada’s individual entertainment centers…not even worth a Netflix rental. Maybe it would have been better on the big screen…8” didn’t do it justice. Read the NY Times & SI. Air Canada food was non existent. Had to pay $5 for a really sad ham and egg sandwich on a muffin…at least that’s what they called it.
Exchanged $200 US for 1200 RMB at the currency exchange here.
We’re getting free internet in the airport, don’t know when I’ll be online again.

Labels: Getting There

¶ 10:11 PM

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