Teacher Training Day

Hello!Last Friday Zhong Na and I went to the migrant worker's community (WHOA!!Ask me about that later, there's a lot to say!) where a lot of schoolteachers had come to attend a talk on how to be better primary and middleschool teachers. The people giving the talk were from Singapore and theywere introducing different "creative teaching methods," as well as "eightdifferent ways that children learn" (some kids are stronger with wordskills, number/pattern skills, bodily skills, etc). Actually, it wasinteresting from my point of view because we just played lots of gamesthat I (and I'm assuming most American, or even Western kids in general)played in kindergarten, but it seemed new and fresh to most of the Chinesein that room! I think most hadn't exerienced anything but the rotelearning, teacher-as-diseminator-of-knowledge model and seem to go bythat. Anyway, we played stuff like musical chairs and red rover and thehuman knot and then a few games and exercises more targeted to what theteacher actually wants to teach -- for example, there was one really coolexercise where one of the leaders handed out paper and told us all that wewere engineers and had to design our own airplanes. Then he produced atarget and told us to come up and try to hit it. Of course the paperplanes went all over the place, so each person was encouraged to go back,make adjustments, and get back up to try again. The point: if you want todo something, you need to be clear about your aim, but even if your targetis clear, you need to be flexible, patient, and open to try different waysof getting there if you can't get it the first time. This little groupfrom Singapore wanted to convince us how effective these teaching methodswere by using them. They also walked everyone through how to design acreative lesson plan.Anyway, Zhongna came out of that workshop full of energy. She really gota lot out of it, but probably more confidence than new ideas, actually.Hua Dan uses similar methods of teaching -- ie, games -- but a lot morerole playing and exercises for improving self expression and communicationskills. I think Zhongna felt that she could lead a similar teachertraining workshop and even take it a step farther. And Caroline saysthat's amazing because just a few months ago Zhongna was terribly shy andnervous and hated getting up in front of people. To see this girl shoutingout answers and jumping up as the first, most enthusiastic volunteer thatday, you'd hardly believe she was the same person!Saturday I tried to find some stuff on papercutting for my dissertation.It's amazing how little people know about it and the lack of informationavailable so far. Everyone I ask simply says "go online."I'm still trying to find a breakfast spot. In the past there has alwaysbeen a great little place to have breakfast. I like getting steamed rollsfrom the street and eating as I stroll, but it seems that this area --which is basically a bunch of restaurants, ironically enough -- justdoesn't do breakfast at all. So on Sunday I set off to really scope thingsout. I found a little canteen on the campus of a medical school across theroad, which is a good place to eat if I'm alone and want something quickand cheap and varied; Chinese cafeterias are great because they have tonsof different dishes in tubs (there sure are a lot of people here to makefood for!) and you can get small portions of three or four differentdishes, plus rice -- better than if you go alone to a restaurant, wherethe food is more expensive, you can't see it before you order it, and theportions are too big to get more than one thing. Never mind thatrestaurant food is generally nicer! :)The only thing about this medical school canteen is that nobody lines up!That's usual for China, but still infuriating. Yesterday I stood smack inthe middle of the counter with my order ticket held out to be taken, andsomehow it was a good ten minutes before one of the food staff took it. Iwasn't pushed out of the way, it was like I just wasn't there at all. Onegirl came up behind me and and said "to go! I want it to go!" and thrusther ticket out to the lady behind the counter, who took it. Another guybeside me fluttered his ticket in the lady's face, and when his order wasfilled, his wife came up and did the same. I thought everyone was beingreally obnoxious (I'd still feel that way even if I wasn't waiting to beserved) but I guess that's just the way things are done here.On that note, there are tons of big character posters and educationalbulletin boards in all public places which call for people to be more"civilized" -- don't spit, don't let your breath get too bad, don't pushand shove, don't litter, don't let your bags clutter a doorway so thatpeople can't get through, etc. I also saw one outlining different customsof people from different countries. It's all in effort to encourageconsideration of other people and is part of a push to get ready for theOlympics next year. There are also electronic billboards and posters thatgive a countdown. 388 days to go...I'm going back to the migrant community now for day 2 of Happy Camp. I'llwrite more about that later.Love, Leah