Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Our Great Wall Journey
Tomorrow we may think the wall conquered us, today we think we conquered the wall!
Jami
Jami
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Tuesday
Ni hao!
On Tuesday we visited the Changan Middle School in Changan County. It compares with our high school. Students are ages 16-18. The school has 3600 students, most of them boarding there. There are 230 teachers, with approximately 56 students per class. Since most students live on campus, they get up at 6 a.m. and have a reading class before the 8 a.m. school day starts. They have 5 classes in the morning, 40 minutes each. 4 more classes in the afternoon until 5:30. After dinner, they have two evening classes since they are living there! Yes, quite a full day of studying. The classroom teachers move from room to room. The students stay in the same classroom all day. Students have two months vacation in the summer and one month in the winter.
We visited several classrooms and students all study English so they could ask us questions. Some of the questions:
What did you think of the Olympics?
Do we speak Chinese?
Do we teach Chinese in our schools?
How long is our school day?
Who is our favorite basketball player?
Their school has had a partnership with Lee's Summit High School in Kansas City since 2005. They are working on curriculum reform, hoping to gain ideas on how to enhance creativity in teaching and learning.
On Tuesday we visited the Changan Middle School in Changan County. It compares with our high school. Students are ages 16-18. The school has 3600 students, most of them boarding there. There are 230 teachers, with approximately 56 students per class. Since most students live on campus, they get up at 6 a.m. and have a reading class before the 8 a.m. school day starts. They have 5 classes in the morning, 40 minutes each. 4 more classes in the afternoon until 5:30. After dinner, they have two evening classes since they are living there! Yes, quite a full day of studying. The classroom teachers move from room to room. The students stay in the same classroom all day. Students have two months vacation in the summer and one month in the winter.
We visited several classrooms and students all study English so they could ask us questions. Some of the questions:
What did you think of the Olympics?
Do we speak Chinese?
Do we teach Chinese in our schools?
How long is our school day?
Who is our favorite basketball player?
Their school has had a partnership with Lee's Summit High School in Kansas City since 2005. They are working on curriculum reform, hoping to gain ideas on how to enhance creativity in teaching and learning.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Weekend Highlights From All
We started this weekend by visiting the Xi'an City Wall. They were starting a marathon when we arrived. There was much activity, with music and dance. We then visited the Muslim Quarter, an open market area filled with the sights and sounds of a busy city of 14 million residents. Sunday the ant bus delivered us to the Terra Cotta Soldiers and then on to Huaqing Pool, a gardens and hot springs region at the foot of the mountains which was the temporary residence of Chiang Kai-shek in the 1930s. We asked everyone to reflect on one highlight from the weekend:
*The detail and technology of ancient civilization.
*2,200 years is a long time.
*It was interesting and also relaxing, a chance to see what I think the local people go to see as well as tourists. (There are approximately 60,000 tourists at the Terra Cotta Warriors Museum each day). It is also interesting that the Chiang Kai-shek exhibit/palace just opened in 2005.
*The artistry and detail of the Terra Cotta Soldiers was far beyond my expectations. The detail of the sole of a general's shoe...amazing.
*Calligraphy is an art/emotion.
*Terra Cotta Soldiers were simply amazing. Surreal. It doesn't seem possible they could be preserved that long.
*Ding Ding hao
*Mao's calligraphy at the Huaqing Pool was beautiful, the translation of a lost poem.
*In awe of knowledge skills and artistry that this civilization had 2,000 years ago.
*Contrasts: we are staying in modern (technology park) section of the city and a few miles away people are living a much more primitive lifestyle.
*Libraries that are being built have always been pointed out by the tour guides. They are large buildings with beautiful architectural designs. Be still my heart!
*It's sunny!
*Amazing because of the ancient culture we experienced. We see a building in Boston from 1648 and think "Wow!" We think that it's old - no - not even close.
*How the Terra Cotta Soldiers Museum has changed since 2001 when I last saw it. Now the entrance looks like a shopping mall.
*The sights, sounds, colors and faces of the Muslim Quarter.
*The detail and technology of ancient civilization.
*2,200 years is a long time.
*It was interesting and also relaxing, a chance to see what I think the local people go to see as well as tourists. (There are approximately 60,000 tourists at the Terra Cotta Warriors Museum each day). It is also interesting that the Chiang Kai-shek exhibit/palace just opened in 2005.
*The artistry and detail of the Terra Cotta Soldiers was far beyond my expectations. The detail of the sole of a general's shoe...amazing.
*Calligraphy is an art/emotion.
*Terra Cotta Soldiers were simply amazing. Surreal. It doesn't seem possible they could be preserved that long.
*Ding Ding hao
*Mao's calligraphy at the Huaqing Pool was beautiful, the translation of a lost poem.
*In awe of knowledge skills and artistry that this civilization had 2,000 years ago.
*Contrasts: we are staying in modern (technology park) section of the city and a few miles away people are living a much more primitive lifestyle.
*Libraries that are being built have always been pointed out by the tour guides. They are large buildings with beautiful architectural designs. Be still my heart!
*It's sunny!
*Amazing because of the ancient culture we experienced. We see a building in Boston from 1648 and think "Wow!" We think that it's old - no - not even close.
*How the Terra Cotta Soldiers Museum has changed since 2001 when I last saw it. Now the entrance looks like a shopping mall.
*The sights, sounds, colors and faces of the Muslim Quarter.
Monday, November 3, 2008
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Lost in Translation
How do you do? (ni hao!)
So, what do you get when you put a group of fairly confident educators in a room, and make them students of the Chinese language? A group who giggles, looks to one another for reassurance, and feels very good, when their professor says “Excellent Chinese” (even though we think he may be fibbing just a bit).
We were a bit tardy in getting to our lesson, as our morning visiting the museum of Xi’an Jiaotong University took a bit longer than we thought. We are curious creatures, so when we see something that is new it captures our attention, like the rows upon rows of thermos waiting for hot water (as this was explained to us, students don’t have hot water in their rooms, so they need to get some for their day) and watching the badminton games were going on in the park across from the classroom. We quickly were ushered into the room, to greet an excited teacher, Mr. Zhou.
Our language lesson was a lesson in many things, mostly humility. We did try, every phrase he put to us. Mr. Zhou was patient, kind, enthusiastic (say it louder, he said over and over again) and encouraging as we went through the morning together. As a group we practiced our phrases, such as how are you doing? Are you busy? Glad to meet you? I am an American? Each time Mr. Zhou would model the phrase, break it down for us, so we could phonetically spell it out on our papers (Mary and I would check with one another numerous times…to see how to do this), repeat the phrases, ask us to recite and then practice with one another. Each time, one of us would “solo” as a group we would applaud the attempt…or laugh with one another as our mouths, lips and tongues tried to form the words which seemed to elude us. As soon as we though we had gotten the phrase or word, we would ask one another again, is that wo (tone going up) or wo (tone going down). You got called upon by Mr. Zhou, not because you raised your hand, alas, you were making eye contact (as the phrases got harder, most of our eyes, looked away). As we were leaving our class, we all commented upon how fast the time had gone, and made promises to try some of our phrases as we spent the next week and half in China.
Here are some of the things we learned…
• Chinese has 4 tones (-, \, U, /)
• Ni hao (how do you do) common greeting
• Zaoshang hao (good morning)
• Wanshang hao (good evening)
• Ni hao ma (how are you?)
• Zaijian (Good bye)
• Laoshi (teacher)
• Meiguoren (American)
• Zhongguoren (Chinese)
I am sorry, I don’t know how to put the Chinese tones above the words so here is a link for you (those who want to practice) that will help you with this…and trust me, we will be more than happy to demonstrate our mastery! It was a great day, full of learning and again, having us think about how much we don’t know and need to learn about our hosts. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_language)
Sue
So, what do you get when you put a group of fairly confident educators in a room, and make them students of the Chinese language? A group who giggles, looks to one another for reassurance, and feels very good, when their professor says “Excellent Chinese” (even though we think he may be fibbing just a bit).
We were a bit tardy in getting to our lesson, as our morning visiting the museum of Xi’an Jiaotong University took a bit longer than we thought. We are curious creatures, so when we see something that is new it captures our attention, like the rows upon rows of thermos waiting for hot water (as this was explained to us, students don’t have hot water in their rooms, so they need to get some for their day) and watching the badminton games were going on in the park across from the classroom. We quickly were ushered into the room, to greet an excited teacher, Mr. Zhou.
Our language lesson was a lesson in many things, mostly humility. We did try, every phrase he put to us. Mr. Zhou was patient, kind, enthusiastic (say it louder, he said over and over again) and encouraging as we went through the morning together. As a group we practiced our phrases, such as how are you doing? Are you busy? Glad to meet you? I am an American? Each time Mr. Zhou would model the phrase, break it down for us, so we could phonetically spell it out on our papers (Mary and I would check with one another numerous times…to see how to do this), repeat the phrases, ask us to recite and then practice with one another. Each time, one of us would “solo” as a group we would applaud the attempt…or laugh with one another as our mouths, lips and tongues tried to form the words which seemed to elude us. As soon as we though we had gotten the phrase or word, we would ask one another again, is that wo (tone going up) or wo (tone going down). You got called upon by Mr. Zhou, not because you raised your hand, alas, you were making eye contact (as the phrases got harder, most of our eyes, looked away). As we were leaving our class, we all commented upon how fast the time had gone, and made promises to try some of our phrases as we spent the next week and half in China.
Here are some of the things we learned…
• Chinese has 4 tones (-, \, U, /)
• Ni hao (how do you do) common greeting
• Zaoshang hao (good morning)
• Wanshang hao (good evening)
• Ni hao ma (how are you?)
• Zaijian (Good bye)
• Laoshi (teacher)
• Meiguoren (American)
• Zhongguoren (Chinese)
I am sorry, I don’t know how to put the Chinese tones above the words so here is a link for you (those who want to practice) that will help you with this…and trust me, we will be more than happy to demonstrate our mastery! It was a great day, full of learning and again, having us think about how much we don’t know and need to learn about our hosts. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_language)
Sue
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Happy Halloween!
Today is the day why a group of Nebraska educators feel they came to China – to visit schools, talk to teachers, learn about the Chinese education system and most importantly see classrooms with children! Today we visited four schools all affiliated with Xi’an Jiaotong University. We were guests at the kindergarten school of 1400 students. We saw and heard 5 – 6 year olds singing, dance and speak perfect English. We then went to primary school, grades 1-6, of over 1200 students. We walked into a class of 64 (count them 64) happy, smiling second graders.
We hopped on the bus again and took a 15-minute ride to the most prestigious high school in Shaanxi Providence, affiliated with Xi’an Jiaotong University. Over 2200 students, grades 10 – 12 attend this beautiful new campus that includes over 16 science labs, an under construction sports complex, and even a dormitory that houses 1000 students.
Our final school stop was the middle school. We arrived after 5 p.m. and saw their students body energetically involved in their after-school clubs, athletic teams, dance teams, ping-pong, English clubs, and robotics club. We then observed a teacher led discussion with approximately 50 8th graders. The discussion centered on decision-making and moral judgment. We even took part!
Our day concluded at a local restaurant hosted by our new friends who we met during the day. Through interpreters we had great discussions about the current state of education in our two very diverse countries and educational systems. We talked about assessment, teacher evaluation, curriculum reform, parent involvement and even the use of cell phones.
We enjoyed the interaction and realized the importance of creating strong, professional relationships in this global society. When you see us, ask us about the Fox and the Grapes…it had a very different ending in Xi’an!
Bill
We hopped on the bus again and took a 15-minute ride to the most prestigious high school in Shaanxi Providence, affiliated with Xi’an Jiaotong University. Over 2200 students, grades 10 – 12 attend this beautiful new campus that includes over 16 science labs, an under construction sports complex, and even a dormitory that houses 1000 students.
Our final school stop was the middle school. We arrived after 5 p.m. and saw their students body energetically involved in their after-school clubs, athletic teams, dance teams, ping-pong, English clubs, and robotics club. We then observed a teacher led discussion with approximately 50 8th graders. The discussion centered on decision-making and moral judgment. We even took part!
Our day concluded at a local restaurant hosted by our new friends who we met during the day. Through interpreters we had great discussions about the current state of education in our two very diverse countries and educational systems. We talked about assessment, teacher evaluation, curriculum reform, parent involvement and even the use of cell phones.
We enjoyed the interaction and realized the importance of creating strong, professional relationships in this global society. When you see us, ask us about the Fox and the Grapes…it had a very different ending in Xi’an!
Bill
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