Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Day number three in Jinan involved observing three morning classes at the Jinan Middle School #12, an afternoon tour of downtown Jinan, and dinner at the home of Mr.Han.
The first class I observed was an eighth grade English class taught by Mrs. Zhuang. Students again stood and welcomed me as a special visitor and were clearly prepared for my visit. One boy presented me with a gift of eight traditional Chinese paper cuttings at the very beginning of the class. Another girl told me she wanted to present me a gift of a song, a proceeded to sing a beautiful Chinese song, accapello, in front of the entire class. Another took a picture of me, so to always remember my visit. The class eventually began, was taught in a more traditional room and in a more traditional fashion. The objective was written on the front board with chalk. It involved teaching students an English structure involving “consequences” following a sentence structure “If I am ________, I will _________.” There were approximately the forty-four students present and Mrs. Zhuang gave several written and oral examples. Then she began calling on students to create some of their own examples. Students had fun with this exercise giving examples, like: “If I am in the room without a teacher, I will talk very loudly.” The principal, who accompanied me on each of my visitations and used it as an opportunity to do formal observations, told me that the teacher was using a technique called “chain questions”. At the end of the class the teacher asked the students to state “what they had learned today”, something we would describe as “closure”. At the end of the class I was mobbed by almost every student, who wanted my autograph. I wrote “Best Wishes from the USA!” and gave my signature to almost every student.
The next class was a seventh grade music class and was taught by Ms. Deng. The class was taught in a room with an overhead LCD projector, mounted speakers, and an electronic piano. The class lesson/presentation was up there again with one of the finest music classes I have ever seen. Using a self-made PowerPoint-looking presentation, Ms. Deng had students listen to small parts of an old, Chinese folk tune, and then had them sing. At times she would play new sections of the song on the piano and sing it herself…her voice was incredible. Finally, near the end of the lesson she showed a video clip of a famous, young, Chinese female singer singing this folk song in a formal concert, in fill costume, with a full orchestra. By the end of the class the principal and other teachers who were also observing could not help but to also sing along. I tried to capture a clip of it for my blog and video taped much of it. I hope the beauty of the lesson comes out in it.
The last class observed was a seventh grade art class taught by Ms. Du. This class consisted of all boys, but only twenty-four of them. The room was rather small, about the same size as our academic classrooms at the Amity Middle School. The lesson consisted of teaching the boys how to draw, the classic, Chinese characters in black ink. Each student desk had paper, a brush, a bowel of water, and a dish of black ink. The teacher first demonstrated the strokes on the blackboard using water and pointed to several examples that she had displayed. The direction of the brush strokes were diagramed on the front board. Students had a drawing book on their desk and also referred to several large posted examples. Most of the lesson involved students practicing several Chinese characters. The teacher also insisted that I try my hand at this…and I’m glad that my work was not graded. Some of the best examples of student work were displayed by the students at the front of the room by the end of the lesson. I’m bringing my Chinese characters home.
Lunch was with three teachers from the school and we ate back at the hotel. All students and staff have a two-hour lunch break for eating and resting. I took advantage of both. At 2:00PM I was given a tour of downtown Jinan by two English teachers who served as my interpreters. Another teacher served as the driver. The temperature must have been near eighty degrees as we walked around the central square and surrounding shops. We even visited a Wal-Mart Superstore. However, there were no shorts, tee-shirts, or sandals in sight. In fact, they often had on sweaters, jackets, long pants, and sweat-suits. My guides told me that it was still spring and people don’t shed their jackets until summer, the rainy season, when temperatures regularly exceed 100 degrees. I was so hot I began to get a headache.
We returned to the hotel at 5:00PM and I had thirty minutes to get ready for dinner with Mr. Han, the Chinese teacher from the Shandong Experimental High School. I had learned from teachers at my school that this high school was the best in all of Shandong Providence, hence one of the very best in all China. It has 5,000 students and 500 staff members. That, evening, as I had dinner at Mr. Han’s very, very modest apartment. I asked him how the math curriculum at this high school compared with the high school curriculum at Amity. He said that he envied the way that Amity High School grouped students in various levels. He also said that the highest level of math at Amity exceeded what was taught at the top classes in his school. I had a lovely dinner with Mr. Han, his wife, his sister-in-law, and an English teacher colleague/friend who served as an interpreter. We laughed about Mr. Hans visit to Connecticut. I was showered with incredible gifts and hospitality.
Day number three in Jinan involved observing three morning classes at the Jinan Middle School #12, an afternoon tour of downtown Jinan, and dinner at the home of Mr.Han.
The first class I observed was an eighth grade English class taught by Mrs. Zhuang. Students again stood and welcomed me as a special visitor and were clearly prepared for my visit. One boy presented me with a gift of eight traditional Chinese paper cuttings at the very beginning of the class. Another girl told me she wanted to present me a gift of a song, a proceeded to sing a beautiful Chinese song, accapello, in front of the entire class. Another took a picture of me, so to always remember my visit. The class eventually began, was taught in a more traditional room and in a more traditional fashion. The objective was written on the front board with chalk. It involved teaching students an English structure involving “consequences” following a sentence structure “If I am ________, I will _________.” There were approximately the forty-four students present and Mrs. Zhuang gave several written and oral examples. Then she began calling on students to create some of their own examples. Students had fun with this exercise giving examples, like: “If I am in the room without a teacher, I will talk very loudly.” The principal, who accompanied me on each of my visitations and used it as an opportunity to do formal observations, told me that the teacher was using a technique called “chain questions”. At the end of the class the teacher asked the students to state “what they had learned today”, something we would describe as “closure”. At the end of the class I was mobbed by almost every student, who wanted my autograph. I wrote “Best Wishes from the USA!” and gave my signature to almost every student.
The next class was a seventh grade music class and was taught by Ms. Deng. The class was taught in a room with an overhead LCD projector, mounted speakers, and an electronic piano. The class lesson/presentation was up there again with one of the finest music classes I have ever seen. Using a self-made PowerPoint-looking presentation, Ms. Deng had students listen to small parts of an old, Chinese folk tune, and then had them sing. At times she would play new sections of the song on the piano and sing it herself…her voice was incredible. Finally, near the end of the lesson she showed a video clip of a famous, young, Chinese female singer singing this folk song in a formal concert, in fill costume, with a full orchestra. By the end of the class the principal and other teachers who were also observing could not help but to also sing along. I tried to capture a clip of it for my blog and video taped much of it. I hope the beauty of the lesson comes out in it.
The last class observed was a seventh grade art class taught by Ms. Du. This class consisted of all boys, but only twenty-four of them. The room was rather small, about the same size as our academic classrooms at the Amity Middle School. The lesson consisted of teaching the boys how to draw, the classic, Chinese characters in black ink. Each student desk had paper, a brush, a bowel of water, and a dish of black ink. The teacher first demonstrated the strokes on the blackboard using water and pointed to several examples that she had displayed. The direction of the brush strokes were diagramed on the front board. Students had a drawing book on their desk and also referred to several large posted examples. Most of the lesson involved students practicing several Chinese characters. The teacher also insisted that I try my hand at this…and I’m glad that my work was not graded. Some of the best examples of student work were displayed by the students at the front of the room by the end of the lesson. I’m bringing my Chinese characters home.
Lunch was with three teachers from the school and we ate back at the hotel. All students and staff have a two-hour lunch break for eating and resting. I took advantage of both. At 2:00PM I was given a tour of downtown Jinan by two English teachers who served as my interpreters. Another teacher served as the driver. The temperature must have been near eighty degrees as we walked around the central square and surrounding shops. We even visited a Wal-Mart Superstore. However, there were no shorts, tee-shirts, or sandals in sight. In fact, they often had on sweaters, jackets, long pants, and sweat-suits. My guides told me that it was still spring and people don’t shed their jackets until summer, the rainy season, when temperatures regularly exceed 100 degrees. I was so hot I began to get a headache.
We returned to the hotel at 5:00PM and I had thirty minutes to get ready for dinner with Mr. Han, the Chinese teacher from the Shandong Experimental High School. I had learned from teachers at my school that this high school was the best in all of Shandong Providence, hence one of the very best in all China. It has 5,000 students and 500 staff members. That, evening, as I had dinner at Mr. Han’s very, very modest apartment. I asked him how the math curriculum at this high school compared with the high school curriculum at Amity. He said that he envied the way that Amity High School grouped students in various levels. He also said that the highest level of math at Amity exceeded what was taught at the top classes in his school. I had a lovely dinner with Mr. Han, his wife, his sister-in-law, and an English teacher colleague/friend who served as an interpreter. We laughed about Mr. Hans visit to Connecticut. I was showered with incredible gifts and hospitality.
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