Birchfields Primary school and The Day School of Beijing Primary

Day 1: Friday 26.03.10

Whole School Welcome Ceremony

After a warm welcome and being presented with flowers from a child, I made a short speech about how excited I was to visit my partner school. I talked about the aims of the visit and emphasised the importance of working together and making friends now and in the future. I observed the children do their regular morning exercise and was pleasantly surprised by how quickly and orderly they went onto their next class.

Next I was taken around the school building to see the different grades, the classrooms, facilities and the different subjects taught. The learning environment was not what I had expected. Displays in classrooms were limited but I did see some beautiful work produced by children in the corridors.  (Objective 1)

At lunchtime I saw cooked food delivered to school for the children and the staff. The school does not have a canteen or kitchen. Children collected their lunch trays and ate in their classrooms. The school was very kind to have a huge tray delivered to me every day. I soon got used to the variety and the amount of food presented to me.

I had to change my lesson plan as making porridge (for Goldilocks and The Three Bears) would now be a difficult option with no kitchen in school. I did however give the ‘Quakers Oats’ to the class, which the children were very excited about.

Afternoon: Lesson preparation and introduction to PowerPoint presentation on the UK Education System.

My link teacher, Vivian and I had a meeting to formalise the schedule for the week. I was able to allocate a time for my lesson and an afternoon for my presentation of the UK Education System. I shared the contents of the lesson and the presentation with Vivian. She felt that it was important to present this to as many teachers as possible. Consequently, the Head teacher organised cover to accommodate this. (Objective 3)

Day 2: Monday 29.03.10

10:20 -11:00am: Observed a grade 5 maths lesson.

The teacher used a number line to teach equivalent fraction. The children worked independently. They sat in rows and chanted the answers collectively. I was amazed by the high standard of Maths that the children were able to do. (objective 2)

11:10 – 11:50am: Observed a Grade 2 Peking Opera class.

A specialist Opera teacher taught children to sing and dance. They sat in rows and stood up at their desks and danced with fans and scarves. I was really impressed with their performance – the children start to do Peking Opera at an early age. Beijing is renowned for this talent. (objective 4)

Afternoon: Meeting with Rei Chen (China Link coordinator), Joe Flynn (Manchester EMA Team Leader), the Beijing Primary Head Teacher and Link Teacher.

We discussed the aims of my visit and our future projects together. The head teacher, Miss Eva Haiyan Sang asked some important questions about how to sustain the link and what we can do to ensure a successful working relationship. (objective 1)

1:25pm: Observed Grade 3 English class.

This particular class were fortunate to have a class set of laptops donated to them by a company. The children were able to practice spoken English by listening to examples from a teaching programme.

2:00pm: Attended conference held at Xuanwu District Education Department

We were made very welcome. Xuanwu representatives gave a speech on how excited they were about the school links and future projects together.

In return we expressed how touched we were by their hospitality. (objective 1)

Day 3: Tuesday 30.03.10

Morning: Attended China-UK Cooperation Forum in Xu Beihong Middle School.

We observed a lesson taught by a Chinese teacher from the Middle School in China and compared it to another lesson taught by a teacher from Manchester. This enabled us all to share and exchange methods of teaching and learning. It was interesting to see the different teaching and learning styles. The Chinese teacher’s lesson was very much adult led. The English teacher’s lesson involved the pupils more – the children had to work collaboratively and they discussed their findings in pairs. (objective 3)

1:25- 2:00pm: Observed grade 2 PE class

It was interesting to see the skills that the children had acquired. The majority of the children had to keep up with the high standard of skipping and jumping performed by the PE teacher. The speed of the skipping was lightning fast! All the children did the same activity. I felt sorry for one child who struggled to keep up with the others. (objective 3)

2:00pm: Meeting with the link teacher and English teacher about how we teach Literacy in the UK. I used magnetic letters to show the teachers how we use letters and sounds to teach phonics to children. They were happy to learn to use the correct pronunciation of certain phonemes such as ‘U’. They had previously followed the American pronunciation, they would for example say cap instead of cup.

I also showed them some examples of lesson plans and explicitly explained how important it is to differentiate activities for children back in The UK. They were very surprised that we did this. (see lesson plan) (objective 3)

4:00- 5:00pm: Observed ‘after school activities’

Soft ceramic art class – children used soft clay to make interesting objects such as animals, jewellery and mirrors. They had highly developed fine motor skills.

Singing class – children were preparing for a singing competition. Their vocal skills were very impressive.

Day 4: Wednesday 31.03.10

10:20 -11:00 am: Observed grade 4 art lesson

Children used brush painting to paint pictures of fish. They were shown how to use different brush strokes to produce different lines and tones. I was able to paint a picture myself. I found the unusual paper very hardwearing. The children presented their paintings to me at the end of the lesson for me to take back to the UK. (objective 3 / 4)

I will use part of the China Activity Grant to invite a teacher from the Chinese Art Centre to teach children ‘Chinese brush painting’ at Birchfields. (objective 4)

11:10-11:50am: I taught a Literacy lesson

I used a big book – Goldilocks and The Three Bears based on the UK method of teaching. I used techniques like Talk Partners and used talking frames to retell the story. The lesson was observed by about 30 members of staff. It was also filmed for future staff development in China. (see lesson plan) (objective 3)

1:30pm: Presentation of the UK Education System

I prepared a PowerPoint presentation from the UK about Birchfields Primary School and the UK Education System. The Chinese teachers found it useful to learn about our school and how we teach in the UK. They were surprised with the resources that we have at Birchfields and how independent our children are. The staff at Beijing were very excited about coming to visit us back in Manchester. (objective 3 / 4)

I showed video clips of a Year 2 Science lesson on ‘Forces’ and a Year 3 Literacy lesson on Myths and Legends. The teachers found it interesting to see the structure and the layout of the classrooms and how children sat in a circle and in groups. They could not believe that primary school teachers in the UK have to teach so many subjects! In China Primary teachers specialise in one subject only.

I also showed video clips and photos of how we celebrated Chinese New Year at Birchfields Primary school in Febraury 2010. I showed how we have put this information on the e-languages website. (objective 4)

3:00pm: Forum with English, Maths, PE and Art teachers

This was an opportunity for the teachers to ask each other questions about how we teach in the UK and China. Gray, the art teacher gave me a lesson on Traditional Paper Cutting!

The Head Teacher wanted me to teach a Maths lesson but due to my full schedule I was unable to do that. Instead during the forum I showed a few examples of methods that we use in the UK. I made a counting stick and digit cards prior to my trip and gave them to the Maths teachers to try in China. I showed them how the counting stick could be used for learning the times tables. They were inspired by the new ideas and resources. They also thought that the place value cards were a good idea. (objective 2)

I talked about how we teach PE and other subjects differently and how I was really impressed with the children’s high standards, particularly in their fine motor skills, motivation and self discipline. Some teachers were very keen to get involved in our joint curriculum projects. We swapped email addresses and I hope that we can continue to work together in the foreseeable future. (objective 2 / 3)

Day 5: Thursday 1.04.10

10:20am: Observed grade 4 English class

Following suggestions on how we teach in the UK, the English teacher used some of the strategies that I suggested. She had the children sat in groups and encouraged a lot of talk with key vocabulary to help them. Later, we discussed how the lesson went and further ideas that she could use. I left some resources for the English department to use such as writing frames for story telling and sentence starters to encourage talk in the lesson. One of the gifts I brought from Birchfields to Beijing Day School was a collection of Traditional Stories. This resource will be very useful as part of our joint curriculum project next year. In return Vivian gave me a Chinese Tradtional Story to take back to the UK. (objective 3)

11:10-11:50 am: Observed a grade 4 maths lesson

I was impressed with the complex number sentences used by the children. The children were learning basic algebra at the age of 9 and 10.  They used fractions and decimals. The teacher used examples of children’s work on the OHP to explain their findings. Once again children followed a standard text book. They all did the same work. (objective 2)

1:30pm: Observed a grade 3 Art lesson

Traditional Chinese Brush Painting. The children followed step by step instructions from the teacher. They used lines to express their feelings. Once again I was really impressed by the wonderful work produced. (objective 3/ 4)

2:05pm: Farewell meeting with Head and Deputy Head Teachers

Gifts were exchanged and agreements were signed. We exchanged good words about my unforgettable experience at Beijing Primary Day School and how I was looking forward to receive them back at Birchfields Primary School.

2:30pm: Meeting with link teacher Vivian about joint action plan

We talked about the aims of my visit and how we had achieved them. Vivian felt very clear about what she needs to do. The action plan was then signed by the head teacher. Vivian will email completed action plan to me soon. (objective 1)

4:00 – 5:00pm: Observed ‘After school activities’

Grade 5 clay sculpture class, Grade 3 sewing class, Traditional instruments class and Science class

I was impressed by the children’s commitments to their after school clubs. They were obviously very dedicated to their interests. This was reflected in the very high standard of work produced. (objective 3 / 4)

It was sad to say goodbye to all my friends at The Day School of Beijing Primary School.

Mr Chen, the Deputy Head put me in a taxi. He apologised for not being able to drive me back to the hotel due to the restriction of certain registration number plates allowed on the road for that day.

Vivian escorted me back to the hotel and we said our goodbyes.

This was a truly an unforgettable experience which I was glad to be part of.

We can learn so much from each other. I certainly have from China!