The Golden Rule

Back home, we take field trips by class or grade. At Guiyang No. 4 Experimental Primary School, we stick together as a school, all 1,000+ of us. Due to the language barrier, we could not understand the buzz in the hallways or take part in the orchestration of such a large undertaking. In addition to all faculty being involved, several policemen were on hand as well. Lizzy and I were instructed to enjoy.  And we did.

    

 Lizzy and I with the cops. Don't buy their tough guy looks. They were smiling and playing with the children all day. 

This video is an overview of our day featuring photos and footage. It begins with the students getting ready to board the buses, Lizzy entertaining them with a quick lesson on how to do the "Hand Jive" and pictures from the temple and picnic. For something different, I put it to music and chose Eddie Vedder's cover of "Hard Sun" from the Into the Wild soundtrack because it was in my head all day.  Enjoy.

  

It took over 30 buses pre-arranged through a travel company to transport us from school to Kongxuetang, a Confucian Temple. We waited on the grounds for everyone to arrive while Mrs. Chen, one of the headmistresses, gave a speech that I’m guessing was about the temple and behavior expectations. Once all of the classes had ascended up the stairs, the students, under the direction of their class leader, queued up and we moved, one class at a time, swiftly through the temple.

   

Confucius (551BC – 479BC) was an educator and philosopher who valued personal relationships, morality, sincerity and justice. His most notable teaching is still taught in education systems and religions worldwide:

   

The Golden Rule: What you do not wish for yourself, do not do to others. 

Humanism is the basis of Confucianism. Five main virtues are practiced: 

Rén (Humaneness) 

Yì (Justice) 

Lĭ (Propriety) 

Zhì (Knowledge) 

Xìn (Integrity)

 

It is a blessing in disguise that Lizzy and I cannot read Chinese because we would’ve wanted to spend the entire day reading every character on the premises. Instead, we were whisked away to a picnic.

   

The picnic was on the bank of a river at a wetland park, gorgeous scenery and a large enough space to accommodate 1000 students! The school packed our lunches and the students brought their own.

   

The students took picnicking to a whole new level. We watched as the kids sat in groups of 8-10 and dumped everything they brought out of their backpacks and into the center of the circle. We’d never seen so much food! We were impressed and naturally wanted to take photos to share with folks back home for picnic inspiration.

  

Pizza?!

As we walked around, students walked up to me and gave me Hershey’s Kisses (score!) and some pieces of candy. I must have been moving too quickly, snapping photos. I turned around and noticed Lizzy with her hands full of food!

 

Once I stopped to take pictures of Lizzy, the students lined up to give us more food. It was unbelievable. Apparently, students share food with the teachers they like. I was happy to notice that the principal and headmistresses all had sizeable food piles as well! I have never experienced generosity and kindness at this level. Between the two of us, we had 5 bags of food. Fortunately, we share an office with 3 teachers so we’ll bring most of it back to share and bring some with us next weekend when we visit Xijang Miao Village and Jianhe Hot Springs

Lizzy and I found a spot to sit and enjoy our lunches, but the food parade continued. Students brought us three different types of noodles, mango sushi (my favorite), a chicken paw, homemade bread, and fruit salad (with dragon fruit and lychee) to name a few notable items.

  

Exhausted after all the excitement of learning more about Chinese history and being a part of the largest picnic either of us had ever attended, you can imagine our frustration when we found ourselves stranded on the side of the road. Of the 30+ buses, ours was the one that broke down. Thankfully, our time waiting to be rescued was brief and another bus showed up with delightful Hello Kitty upholstery and we were on our way, again. 

Guiyang No. 4 Experimental Primary School takes two field trips a year; one in spring and one in fall. For those of you coming to Guiyang next fall, I sure hope your time here coincides with the fall trip. 

Field Trip Tips:

• Dress in layers and wear comfortable shoes 
• Always carry a small umbrella 
• Bring a reusable grocery bag for the gifts of food the students will give you 
• Don't forget your camera!

Natalie

Professional Development in China

The government mandates Chinese public schools, but this does not mean that they are all exactly alike. Each school is run by a set of administrators who make daily decisions. Just like an American school, teachers have different ways of teaching and managing a class. Teachers make lesson plans and turn them into the curriculum administrator. They have the flexibility to adjust the lesson to the needs of the class.

This past week we got to experience some of the professional development that happens in our school and province. On Monday and Tuesday the English teachers held “open classes”. Any teacher in the school could come and observe the lesson, take notes, and ask questions at the end. I was pleased to see a focus on best practices.

Grade 5 student workbook

Candice reviewing weather terms with 5th grade students.

On Wednesday we started to notice a few changes going on around the school, such as extensive cleaning and arranging. We later found out that more than 100 teachers from around Guizhou Province were coming to the school the next day to observe classes, learn about our school, and watch a student performance.

Thursday morning Candice and I sat down and reviewed the 4^th grade lesson that would be observed by the visiting educators. My lesson focused on learning four new words and identifying opposites. The new words were donkey, tail, blunt, and sharp, which was a great lead into playing Put the Tail on the Donkey. I found it challenging to involve all the students in a class of 50 students, so I divided them into four teams and selected people from teams. Using the projector and a donkey tail I made with a little tape and paper- we were in business. The game was a big hit. The students were beside themselves and so were the visiting teachers.

Playing Put the Tail on the Donkey

Later in the lesson I reviewed opposite words they had already learned and introduced two new words from the workbook: blunt and sharp.

I created a PowerPoint game of memory in which students had to find opposite terms. I again broke the class into four teams. Some students cleverly took notes on the location of words and won points for their team. By the end of the game, even the adults were trying to find the winning pair: old and new. Our goal as teachers in China is to use the provided curriculum and make it fun and engaging, so that students may use language as a tool instead of purely memorization.

Natalie and I read a short story during each lesson. Reading aloud helps to train English Language Learners’ (ELL) ears to recognize the sounds and cadence of the English language. Books are also an excellent way to build background knowledge about different cultures and ideas. Good Night, Gorilla by Peggy Rathmann brought our lesson to a close. The language of the story is simple, but this encourages students to use language they already have to name the different animals and describe what is happening on each picture. We also made predictions about what will happen in the story. They laughed and laughed at the idea of a bunch of animals crawling into bed with the zookeeper and his wife. At the end of the lesson a couple teachers asked me questions about my lesson, and then we took many group photos.

Lizzy reading Good Night, Gorilla by Peggy Rathmann

After my lesson the teachers went outside to the courtyard to observe the students’ morning exercises and a special performance of many different activities, such as inline skating, feats of strength, running, jump roping, tossing scarves, balancing balls, and drumming. 

Students performing a drumming exercise in the school's courtyard

The visitors’ next watched a DVD presentation about Guiyang No. 4 Experimental Primary School and a short video of the performance we watched a couple of weeks ago when Professor Rhea was presented with an honorary position.  Our school is working hard to be leader in education in our province. Natalie and I are proud to get to work closely with the teachers in Guiyang for eight weeks. We are learning a great deal and having an incredible experience. 

Lizzy

Different Modes of Transportation

First, allow me to begin today's post by saying my first week of teaching was a lot of fun and hard work.  I have never experienced teaching the same lesson multiple times a day but just like back home, no two classes are exactly the same and with this teaching structure, I'm able to try different strategies and games to see what works and what doesn't.  We are currently enhancing the curriculum with PowerPoints and read-alouds.  I found that the students enjoy seeing pictures from the U.S. so I  incorporate them when appropriate.

The students also LOVE competing against one another.  With roughly 50 students per class, I usually break them into four teams of 10-12 and see which team is the best.  It's usually the team that's the loudest and proudest but I upped the ante by telling them that the best means they are using their "tracking finger" to follow along with what we are reading in the text.  That way, I know they are looking at the words as they speak them and not repeating.  When 50  kids are shouting at you, it's impossible to to tell who's saying what!  It's no secret that the students are fascinated by Lizzy and me but if they gaze at us while we teach and merely repeat what we way, our time here will not be as valuable.

Lizzy's previous post did an awesome job of covering the details of how the school day works so I'll move on to our weekend expeditions.

On Friday, we took our first city busy for 1CNY, roughly $0.16! The price was right and now we'll have to practice memorizing our stop's characters.  Lizzy photographed the bust stop so we have that as a reference for future bus adventures.

We're on a bus!  The characters in red are our stop on Route 30.

The bus dropped us near Yangming Temple.  Wang Yangming (1472-1529) was an educator and philosopher during the Ming Dynasty.  He is famous for being a Neo-Confucian idealist who developed the idea of Innate Knowing or the belief that everyone is born knowing the difference between good and evil and distinguishing between the two is instinctive, no rational thought required. 

The temple to honor Yangming was built long after his death and the grounds are unbelievable.  A sprawling campus of buildings housing ancient calligraphy, paintings, texts and statues; we explored every nook and cranny.

All in all, Friday was another inspiring day in Guiyang filled with beauty and mystery.



On Saturday, we rented bikes and pedaled around Huaxi Park (Flower Stream Park) in the Huaxi District of Guiyang.

This scenic area follows the Flowery River and we visited at the perfect time as many of the flowers were blooming.  The park was originally built during the Qing Dynasy (1644-1911) and rebuilt in the 1930's. 

One famous feature of the park is the Baibu Bridge (One Hundred Steps Bridge).  In summer when water levels are high, it appears that one is walking on water!

Baibu Bridge in Huaxi Park

Due to a little rainstorm, we did not get to walk across the Baibu Bridge but since we now know that Huaxi Park is only a 30 minute cab ride, we will hopefully return one day and walk on water.

As if Friday and Saturday weren't interesting enough, we decided it was time to head back to Qianling Park and take a look at the famous Hongfu Temple.  Most people hike up the mountain (and we will next time) but we only had a couple of hours and our curiosity had the best of us so we opted to take the lift up to the top.  

The lift provided stunning views of Guiyang.  

The Hongfu Temple is the most famous Buddhist Temple in Guizhou Province.  The temple, founded by Monk Chisong in 1672 (Qing Dynasty), began as a modest hut.  Monk Chisong believed the site should be developed into a treasured shrine and with his persistence, he convinced local officials to support expansion of the site. It was given the name "Hongfu," a Chinese word meaning, "To develop Buddha's spirit and to benefit mankind" or, "Good Fortune."  (I found two different translations and will ask a local which is correct, stay tuned!)  Over the years, the temple grounds have been rebuilt and restored.  Today, Hongfu Temple stands as a series of majestic halls and peaceful grounds overlooking the bustling city of Guiyang.

Buddhism is the fourth largest religion in the world. Founded in India about 2,500 years ago, it is the dominant religion in the Far East with over 360 million followers.  Buddhist beliefs can vary but all have the common themes of ending suffering, the cycle of rebirth, admiration of the figure, Buddha (the awakened one) and Karma.  

At the temple, we observed people lighting incense, bowing and praying before the magnificent statues.   Lizzy and I did not partake on this particular day.  We were short on time and I think it's appropriate to wait until we walk up the mountain to participate in the Buddhist rituals.  

A few considerations for visiting a Buddhist temple:

• As with any religious site, dress appropriately. Shoulders and knees must be covered.
• Shoes are typically removed outside the temple.  Look for a pile of shoes.
• Take care to ensure your feet are never pointed at a Buddha or relic when kneeling or sitting.
• Keep your head BELOW Buddha statues, images, honorable Monks and Nuns.
• Visitors may participate in lighting incense or other observed activities.  It is also an option to simply sit and take it all in, finding your own spiritual connection.
• Visitors are welcome to wander about the grounds but be sure to show respect for worshipers.
• Check to make sure photography is permitted within temple halls.  
• Small monetary contributions are welcomed to support the religious community.

Lizzy and I are looking forward to hiking up the mountain.  I highly recommend visiting the tranquil grounds of Hongfu Temple.  You'll find it a welcomed respite from the hustle and bustle of city life in Guiyang.

Travel tips:

• As with visiting any religious site, dress appropriately.  Shoulders and knees should be covered.
• The iPhone (or any other SmartPhone) is a valuable resource.  The camera can take photos of signs you'll need to remember and there are several Apps available for translating.  

Natalie

Teaching English in Guiyang

Natalie and I just finished our first week of full-time teaching at Guiyang No. 4 Experimental Primary School. I (Lizzy) am teaching English to all of the 4^th and 5^th graders and Natalie is teaching the 2^nd and 3^rd graders with some supplemental lessons for the 6^th grade classes.

The structure of a public Chinese school has some similarities to a public elementary school in the US. The students are grouped by age and move as a group from class to class. They study Chinese, English, math, science, art, music, and social studies. Students work in classes and sometimes have homework. They goof off, they play with friends, and they work very hard.

Drums for music class

Students walking to morning exercises

In many ways the Chinese system differs based on the sheer number of students. Lessons are not differentiated based on skill and ability. All students are mainstreamed. Children with disabilities go to a different school. Due to a large population space is at a premium, so the student desks are smaller than American student desks. Because children move from classroom to classroom they take their backpacks with them to each class and carry everything they might need during the day. At every grade level they are responsible for all of their personal belongings from books to notebooks to pencils. I was surprised that almost no personal items are left behind in classrooms.

The students are learning speed skating during PE and also participate in 30 minutes of exercises daily. Every student wears a uniform, which is useful because it helps one to recognize students when they are away from school. Twice each day students perform eye strain relief exercises. The Chinese use loudspeakers to broadcast information to everyone in the school. All schools play specific songs over the loudspeaker to signal when to end class, when to start class, when to read a daily passage, etc. 

4th grade students in English class

Teachers also regularly change classrooms, so they plan efficiently to avoid schleping many materials up and down five flights of stairs. The each classroom has desks, chairs, a chalkboard, and fluorescent lights. We are is considered a smaller size school with more than 1,000 students. Another elementary school nearby has several thousand students!

Standard Chinese elementary classroom

View of the neighborhood from the school

Natalie and I spent last week observing lessons and getting familiar with the curriculum. The government decides which curriculum schools will use so that all Chinese students learn the same information. Students prepare for standardized tests just as we do in the United States. The British curriculum is accompanied by a set of audio tapes with native English speakers, which teachers play on small tape players that they carry with them. Some teachers prefer to use a microphone when teaching so that they don’t have to shout to be heard in a room with 50 excited children. My voice was sore by the end of the week.

A typical class is started with an introduction.

“Hello! How are you today, class?”

“I’m fine. Thank you. And you?”

“I’m fine. Thank you. Today is Thursday. It is sunny and warm.”

“Yes!”

“Today we will learn English. Open your book to page six.”

Here's a special thanks to my mom for talking with me at length about teaching English as a Second Language (ESL).

Students practice both reading and speaking English. Choral reading is an effective way of having 100% participation, but it is also challenging to assess for understanding and correct pronunciation. I often break students up into table groups of about 10-12. Forty-minute lessons are focused on learning vocabulary and using vocabulary in short sentences. 

For example students learned the opposite words big/small, long/short, round/square, and red/green. They used the words in the following substitution dialogue:

“Do you want both apples, Kenny?”

“No. The green one, please.”

“Do you want both hammers, Katie?”

“No. The big one, please.”

Natalie and I are both making use of the projectors by creating supplemental PowerPoint presentations to go with the lessons. We also have many scanned books to share with the students to teach them about American culture, animals, food, etc. Our presentation about Montana was a big hit! This area gets very little snow and the kids hit the roof when they saw images of Montana in winter.

Lizzy giving a presentation about Montana

One of the goals of this blog is to help prepare future UM student teachers who will come to Guiyang in the coming semesters. Here’s some helpful information:

• You will need a VGA plug to connect a laptop to the projectors. If your computer doesn’t have a port, get an adapter.
• We have only seen two “western toilets” in Guiyang- 1 in our hotel rooms and 1 in a very very fancy restaurant. Tissues and toilet paper are sold at every corner stand and are easy to find.
• You will have planning time during the school day.
• Breakfast and lunch are provided Monday through Thursday. Only breakfast is provided Friday.
• The school day runs from 8am to 5pm. You must arrive by 7:30am for breakfast. The lunch break is from 11:45am-2:30pm, during which you may leave school. Teachers often take a nap at this time.
• Be ready to climb 5 flights of stairs many many times a day.
• Buildings are not heated or cooled. Dress in layers to adjust to changing temperatures during the day.
• You might not have easy access to a printer, copy machine, or document camera.
• Have a sense of humor and go with the flow.
• Trust your hosts. 

Standard Chinese toilet

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!

Lizzy and I had many things to celebrate today, our first day completely on our own and we did awesome!!!

First, we had a leisurely morning at our hotel.  I made us coffee and we spent some time updating our blog and making a game plan for the day.  Our main goal was to find the grocery store nearest to our hotel.  We had lunch on the way at a spot where we will become regulars.  The menu was in Chinese and we started to panic.  How on earth would we order?  There was only one other couple in the restaurant and the gal happened to be an English teacher at the High School.  Boy, were we lucky.  Her  English name was Elaine and we told her to order what was best at this particular restaurant.  We had sweet fish, rice, cucumber soup and a vegetable that translates to "good bitter."  It was no corned beef and cabbage but it was one of the best we've had yet!

As we strolled around, we noticed another cozy coffee shop and finally arrived at the grocery store.  At this point, we felt that maybe we should take our first cab back to the Hunter City Mall and do some shopping for who knows what next weekend will bring.  On the way out of the grocery store, there were several smaller stores and low and behold a yarn shop!  For 17CNY ($2.17) I was able to purchase yarn and knitting needles!

We had no trouble hailing a cab and had a new friend, Julia, write down the name of the mall in Chinese so we could simply show the cab driver.  At first we were nervous, the driver was not using the meter but when we arrived he only asked for 10CNY ($1.59) when it is typically a 12-17CNY ride.  Victory.  Lizzy and I did some shopping and had fun wandering around.

There is a Carrefour in the basement of the mall and we decided we would shop there and then take a cab back to the hotel.  Honestly, I have not had that much fun at a store in a long time.  It was fun to see what brands were the same and which were different.  There were live fish and exotic fruits and vegetables.  I could've stayed there all day!

No idea what this is!!!

After such an exhausting day (I know it sounds like all we did was go out for lunch and shop but it's very difficult to interact with the language barrier) we decided to grab some ramen that we could prepare in our rooms and some píjiŭ (beer) and have dinner on the patio.  We chose Tsingtao for it's green can.  It is St. Patrick's Day after all.

Travel tips:

• Always carry a business card for your hotel so you can simply show the cab driver where to go
• Have friends or teachers write down places you like in Chinese so you can find them on your own
• When shopping at the grocery store, make sure everything you buy has a barcode (even produce) otherwise you cannot buy it.  It is not like the U.S. where they weigh it at the check-out or do price checks.  Lizzy and I learned this the hard way.  A British man happened to be in front of us in line and was able to translate this awkward and confusing situation!  

-Natalie

English Corner and Hunter City Mall

After an eventful Friday, we spent a quiet Saturday morning at our hotel. Candice, our Chinese friend and associate picked us up and treated us to a Guiyang staple food, beef noodles. Our chopstick skills are improving and we have no difficulty eating slippery noodles and broth. As an appetizer we ate fermented daikon and cabbage, a dish I know well because I make it in Missoula.

Beef Noodles

Chinese parents are especially keen on having their children learn English because they know it can help them find good jobs. Outside of the school day, children take extra classes in language, music, sports, etc. Children work extremely hard to make their parents proud and to be recognized as one of the best in their classes. We were invited to help teach at “English Corner,” which is an informal, drop-in, 90-minute English class for elementary students. Natalie and I played games, read a couple of books, and sang “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes.”

Natalie reading Rainbow Crow at English Corner 

Door art at English Corner

Happy Bear/Beer design on a children's stool

Students enjoying a reading of No, David! at English Corner

Guiyang is a city of approximately 4.5 million people. We live in Yunyan District, one the seven districts that make up the city. Driving from one area of the city is an exhilarating experience. The infrastructure of the city is still catching up with the population growth and increase in personal vehicles. The city has regulations to help reduce traffic congestion and minimize emissions. Cars with license plates that end in a certain number cannot drive on two specified days of the week, which are posted around the city.  For example, if your license plate number ends with a 2 or 7 you cannot drive on Monday. Candice was kind to drive us to a mall in the city center to eat “American sushi.” Delicious! The Hunter City Mall was the biggest shopping mall I have ever seen, complete with a Carrefour in the basement. Carrefour is a French company similar to Walmart and is considered a hypermart due to its great size and immense variety of commodities for sale. Natalie was excited to find Uniqlo, a Japanese clothing store in Guiyang. Candice asked us if we have similar types of shopping in Montana. No, we definitely do not. 

Lizzy