Tuesday, November 4, 2008
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 11th 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 su
bject 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!
