School

The Start of the New Program.

Daily Life, School One comment

While we are setting up the website, I will be posting APS updates here.

    Last week we completed a wonderful week of APS bonding. The camp theme was outdoor education, but the main focus was getting to know each other. I wanted to have a camp where I could spend time with as many of the APS students to get to know them better. It worked so much better than I thought. There were definitely times when we had communication difficulties, but as a team we worked through that. The students had fun learning about each other, making friends and trying new things. I learned how much fun it was to spend all day with them.

    Our first day we spent the day doing a lot of different activities. We made bracelets to show the students how to follow (complicated) directions, they also learned how to ask for help with this activity. We gave them maps of the school and let them explore the campus looking for things to familiarize themselves with the school grounds. We had teamwork activities in the field to help them work together. The kids had a great time, and were introduced to several of the teachers in the school.

    On our second day we went down to Fangshan. The kids were given the opportunity to kayak. For some this was a scary experience, and they did not want to do this on their own. Others were quite happy in the kayaks, scooting around the lake on their own. I spent the morning riding around with 2 (or 3) students in my kayak. Sometimes we’d have to go out and help tow a kayak out of the grass. But the kids had a wonderful morning, followed by bbq lunch. That afternoon, some of the students were given the chance to rock climb.

    This was followed by alternating days of Field trips and training at school. We went caving, (Spelunking). We entered the caves on our feet, and ended up climbing ropes, and crawling through tiny holes. The students had a great time. We saw bats, and “stone flowers”, and water dripping from the roof. I must admit, that I discovered that I still have “claustrophobia” (fear of enclosed spaces). I didn’t know that I had this, and so it was a bit hard. But In the end I did have a good time.

We also had campsite training. We learned to hunt with a bow and arrow. How to use the sun for telling time, and how to work together. There were times that I could see some of the kids did not understand what was expected, and we had to patiently show them what was needed. (Except during the hunting practice, when I had to run out and carry a student out or the firing-range, because ran out in front of other archers when they were about to shoot…)

One of the parents (Felix’s) made wonderful photo-essays of each day. And I think they are very good to share.

The beginning of a great future!

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The end of the school year is here, and we can now look back at all the great memories we made in grade 1. I had a great time this semester and I hope my students did too. We had Buggy dancing to “There’s a bug in my room”, and Mr. Finn’s River dance tutorial on St. Patrick’s Day. We had Card games, and role-plays, and children trying to hide inside desks. I really enjoyed this year.

At this point we are also granted the opportunity to look at the future, which is awesome. Students plan to go off to enjoy the adventures of summer vacation, making more great memories that we all can share with our friends at ZhongDe in the fall. Summer also bring forth in some an uncertainty about the new school year.

At the end of every year, foreign teachers in the bilingual program are asked by students and parents if they will continue to teach their child (or themselves) in the following year. This is a hard question for us to answer every year, as of course, we would love to continue working with the same children and to help them grow into wonderful people. This is not always possible.

    Every year, the foreign staff expands, and as it does so the school moves us to positions where we can be the most effective. This is very much like schools in western countries. Some of us are our most effective at certain grades, some of us are needed to be moved to other grades or subjects to help guide the new staff as they come into the school. Some of us are asked to guide new programs or activities the school is opening. This gives students the opportunity to learn more about the world they are living in, as they get to have various teachers from different places around the world.

    I loved being in grade 1 class 5, and had a great time with the kids this year. I will still be in the school: to help and watch over the kids as they grow up, and continue to learn. I will still be proud of them, and talk to them in the school. I will, however, be passing the reigns of both English and Math teacher over to one of our other great teachers. I am not 100% sure which lucky teacher it will be, but I know the students will be in for a wonderful grade 2 year.

    I, however, will be back in grade 1 again next year. The school has asked me to help guide the new American Primary School program into fruition, and help it have a successful first year. I am both excited and saddened by this posting. I am saddened because, as with each year I have worked as a Teacher, I must set my students free to fly where they will. Sometimes to watch them grow, sometimes not, as they fly off to other wonderful adventures. I am also excited at the opportunity to try and bring such a new program to a Wonderful School like ZhongDe.

    My door will be open next year, for any students that would like to visit, or need advice. My door will be open for any staff that need the same.

    Have a great summer, and let me know how it was in September.

Chad Baldwin

Education from this old man’s Point of View.

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We, as a culture, are still riding high on the thought that we are the epitome of modern educated society. I beg to differ, it’s hard enough being a child in this world, but when you have to deal with childish adults, it makes life much harder. Teachers are struggling with parents to get good habits into the children. We teach kids about good nutrition, and healthy snacks, mom and dad fill them with chocolate and fast food. We teach the kids proper etiquette, mom and dad undo that by swearing, being rude and shoving their self-importance around in front of the kids. We teach the kids that drugs are bad for their mind and body, mom and dad are toking it up at home.     We, as adults tell our children to go outside & play, to stop sitting in front of a screen (phone, tablet, computer, or TV) and yet, what do we do? We sit staring at social media on our phones, tablets, or computers, then when we switch it off WE turn on the video games, or we read on the screen. To a child, the hypocrisy is amazing. It boils down to the old adage “Do what I say, not what I do.” I want to raise my kids better than that, don’t you?

The comment “Smart phones, dumb people” comes to mind a lot lately. Adults have stopped processing information. We are supposed to be role models for our children, and yet they are the ones who are stopping to think about the whys and the hows of the world. Remember when you had to memorize your phone number and your friend’s phone numbers? Very few adults do that now. My students still do that. People don’t process what they read anymore. I have gotten so tired of seeing these “memes” of quotes from famous people or CEOs. And if you google the article it is from, the article has nothing to do with the quote. A perfect example is a picture of Peter Brabeck (CEO of Nestle) quoting that “water is not a human right,” if you read his article in The Guardian, (http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/nestle-peter-brabeck-attitude-water-change-stewardship) he’s not stating an opinion, he’s stating a fact that he feels needs to be changed. My old high school classmates are terrible for posting things like this, and I periodically go and post the article it is originally from, not the editorial that blew it out of proportion. If students see their parents grabbing 1 quote of an article and focusing on that only, why can’t they do the same for their textbooks? Or their whole school year. Boil it down to 1 sentence.

“Well Johnny, what did you learn in grade 3?”

“Flying cats are purple”

“Great job.”

This kind of attitude does come out in students once in a while in my class, but usually we talk through the activity to make sure that the article is not boiled down, but understood as a whole.

As a teacher, I have invited my students to bring and use tablets in class. My boss was against this originally, until I explained what I was doing. I give my students digital copies of the textbook if they bring their device, and we do online educational activities near the end of the class. It teaches them that these machines are not just for games. Yes I do have a couple of kids who try to play Minecraft or the like in class, but that’s just like when we used to slip comic books inside an open textbook as kids. If you monitor them and guide them, as a teacher, as a parent, as an adult, they stop trying it. They work through activities, completely, explain what they understood from the activity, and discuss it.

Most of the world views teaching and educating as a means to benefit their kids, prepare them for the future, and as an honourable profession. Did you know there is an international teacher’s day? (October 5th in Canada, Tuesday in the first full week in May, in the USA) Students and parents give gifts or cards to express their gratitude for helping raise the young, and prepare them for the future. In North America Teachers are viewed as glorified babysitters. They have to fight to get resources, or even enough pay to survive. Any difficulties with the speed a child learns, teacher’s fault. Two quotes come to mind: in Korea they say “Father, Mother, Teacher, under god.” Which means the most important people to a child are: their parents and teachers. In Canada I have heard: “Good grades: good student, Bad grades: bad teacher” In Canada it’s apparently a lose-lose for the people who are actually educating the kids. I’m not asking for gifts or praise as an educator, but as a parent, I think we should stop vilifying the educators and give them the support they need to help our children.