As part of a staff development session my school took us all to Guangzhou by bus to visit some schools there. As most of the information I received about the trip was in Chinese I knew little of where I was going or what I was going to do while I was there. For me it was a bit like going on a three day mystery tour and I spent my time asking ‘What are doing now?’, ‘How long are we staying here?’ and ‘Are we nearly there yet?’
I observed a lesson which started with soothing music played through the school p.a. system while all the students went through a face massage routine. To ensure they all carried out their routine two prefects went around the room inspecting their peers carefully and reminding the occasional less diligent one how to do it properly. When the music stopped the prefects yelled at the class “Sit straight” and they all did as they were told in complete, obedient silence. My colleague and translator told me that the massage was for combating eye strain.
Then a lovely Chinese teacher began a 40 minute English lesson to her 42 Year 4 students. Her lesson could not be faulted in any way. She had everything a good language teacher should have. She covered all the skills, had a variation of activities, had their attention and got them responding to all her questions with enthusiasm and more to the point most of the answers were correct. She had movement and sounds on a power point, she had team games and role play. It was a fast paced lesson with so much packed in to a simple vocabulary lesson on the theme of farm animals. The instructions were so fast I couldn’t follow!
Her students were perfectly behaved and the discipline under which they operated made them seem robotic in their actions and responses.
The bell went and they filed out for play time. I then met with the teacher to give feedback about her lesson. I was told she had been teaching English for eleven years but it soon became apparent that she had no idea what I was saying and she could hardly answer any of my questions in English. Through a translator I was told she had prepared for the observation for three days. I strongly suspect she had rehearsed the lesson with the kids for the last three days so that they knew exactly what to do and how to respond.
Interestingly all the teachers I met wore a uniform. One school had a pale blue matching skirt and blouse the other a black suit and peach blouse, it made them look like they worked in a bank, very corporate.
The photographs were taken during a flag raising and national anthem singing ceremony which is carried out every Monday but even though it was Friday they did it all again especially for our visit. I felt like royalty when I was given flowers and the band played a fanfare upon our arrived.
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