Lessons learnt.

Our time in China has proved to be a bit of a rollercoaster, both physically and emotionally, but as it draws to a close, I can’t think of any better way to have spent my half term holiday. I am sure that my colleagues will agree with me when I say that we have seen sights and sounds and had experiences that we have never seen or had before in our lives, and that we may never get the chance to experience again.

Unusual sights.

I left for China with a few pre-conceived ideas of what I would find, but most of those illusions have been blown away! The biggest difference must be the people. Everywhere we went, we were greeted with friendly, happy people that were proud to show off their country and its fantastic traditions and history. We could not have been made more welcome and I can’t put into words how much I will miss all the new friends I have made.

New friends.

I vowed before I came that I was going to try every type of food put in front of me, no matter how different it seemed or looked, and I have kept my promise. Some of the dishes were delicious, some not quite so, but at least I tried them. Several things bought out to our table were more a case of mind over matter than taste. If someone had told me before I left that I would be eating pigeon intestines in China, I would have just laughed at them, however, they actually tasted okay. At our farewell meal, one of our guides told me that I had showed great respect to our hosts by trying each food. That was good enough for me!




Unusual foods.

Sichuan hotpot - a famous dish in Chengdu!

Small birds on skewers.





During our time in school, we have watched and taught lessons, and experienced a very different environment to what we are used to in England. Some parts seemed better, some didn’t, but the one thing that did stick out a mile was that kids are kids and all teachers, no matter where in the world they are, want the best for them! It really doesn’t matter if the kids are Chinese or English, they are still children, and as such, are keen to learn, and in different ways too. When we got to teach the Chinese children, they were so keen to do well and show they had learnt, and to please their new teachers. There were no pre-conceived ideas or resentment of us because we appeared different to them and despite the language barrier, good quality teaching and learning did happen. The learning was definitely not just by the pupils either! I feel that I have gained so much from the trip and can’t wait to get back to my own class to put some of my newly gained ideas into practise. I suppose that was the whole point of the trip!

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 Mr. Golightly.




A Farewell to Remember…..
Our last day at school was truly overwhelming. We arrived at the farewell ceremony to a crowd of clapping children and parents. We were led to our seats at the front feeling like celebrities! We were entertained by a wonderful pianist who had won awards for his talents across China whilst still at the young age of 9! Whilst children demonstrated their paper cutting skills, one of the pupils played a traditional Chinese harp. We were later presented with the paper cuttings which were intricately and delicately created. Quite astounding!
The children had completed their art work over the week which they had started in Mrs Thompson and Mr Golightly’s art lesson. We have them packed in our cases to show you all at school. Both Mr Golightly and Mrs Thompson were amazed at the hard work that had been put into the pieces and gave feedback to the children as part of the ceremony.
The deputy head gave a moving farewell speech which was followed up by Miss Butler’s heartfelt vote of thanks on our behalf. One of the highlights of the ceremony had to be the brave performance by three pupils from grade 5 who like to be known as ‘Eastlife’! They sang a ‘Westlife’ love song which they delivered with passion and enjoyment. Wonderful!

Eastlife.

The teachers and children presented our group with some lovely gifts which included a traditional Chinese ornament which symbolises happiness. wealth and good luck. At the end of the ceremony I was presented with some very special wedding paper cuttings which I was overwhelmed by and have to admit that I shed a few tears at this.
Visiting China and spending time in Wuhou primary school has been a once in a lifetime experience and one that I will never forget. The staff and children of the school have fascinated me and I feel truly honoured to have spent time with them.
It has been a pleasure to have shared this experience with a wonderful team. Thank you to Miss Butler, Mrs Thompson and Mr Golightly for making this a truly special experience.
A huge ‘Thank You’ to all at Wuhou primary school and ACE for making this trip possible and the great success that it has been for both schools.

Miss Harrington







Chengdu to Shanghai


It is now 9.05am Shanghai time (1.05am British time) which means that while we are all WIDE awake you are all sleeping! Strange … but true!


We are currently flying with China Eastern Airlines north east towards Shanghai from Chengdu. This is the first step of our journey home which will take in total about 25 hours, just over one full day’s travelling time. The teachers are scattered about the plane in their seats, trying to catch up on some sleep due to their early wake up! We have just finished eating breakfast, rice with pickles and a spicy beef Chinese kebab-style cob. Quite different to the cereal and toast we eat back home.

 As we have a little time to spare we’d just like to tell you about a visit we’ve made this week to a Buddhist temple. Whilst we were there we learnt a lot about the religion of Buddhism, which is followed by many Chinese people. We travelled to Leshan to see this amazing sculpture which is called Dafu, or Great Buddha and is an incredible 71m high (about 18 mobile classrooms stacked on top of each other or about nearly three times the height of Ashby Castle) The Buddha is carved into red sandstone rock and overlooks the confluence (the merging point of 2 or more rivers) At this point the Min, the Dadu and Qingyi Rivers meet in front of the Buddha and the water swirls dangerously around here.

We learnt that the Buddha was built about 1250 years ago by a monk called Haitong who decided that he wanted to protect boats passing by on these fast moving waters. Quite an astonishing fact we learnt was that Haitong was threatened by a local official who demanded money from him for carving the Buddha, but Haitong stuck to his morals and carved the Buddha regardless. During this time, Haitong lost his sight, but incredibly with huge amounts of determination, still went on to carve the face and arms of the Buddha. After Haitong died, Wei Gao, a local Governor donated his own salary to finish off the rest of the Buddha’s body, including the legs and feet.


After an arduous climb we reached the top of the temple where you could just see the top of the Buddha’s head. The size was incredible! The Buddha’s ear droops 7m, his shoulders span 28m and his nose is 5.6m from tip to bridge! Before we began our descent to the base of the huge Buddha, we entered into the temple at the top. If you are a girl you have to enter the temple using your right foot, a boy uses their left foot first. This is a tradition in China. We all followed this custom to show respect. Once inside, there were three golden Buddha statues with soft cushioned prayer stools in front of them. Practising Buddhists would say a prayer for their parents first, then for themselves and finally, for any younger children they may have. Very large candles or lotus flowers were lit and left to burn.



After looking down, we nervously began our climb down the side of a precarious cliff face with quite a rickety handrail. Prayer flags flapped in the wind just in front of Buddha’s feet, which incredibly can fit 100 people standing up on each one of them. It was quite a calm and serene place to be.


The Shanghai Dash!



We have landed at Shanghai and have since taken off again…this time with Amsterdam as our destination! To say the least, Shanghai Airport was just a little frenetic with our teachers doing what felt like nothing short of an Olympic sprint (to break all World Records!) from Terminal 1 to 2 … and back again! Why ever not? It’s a clear sign that our teachers, whilst still in China, are getting ready for their daily exercise classes, perhaps. All luggage checked back on board and we were off again on our next flight.


At take off from Shanghai the distance to Amsterdam is just over 5,800 miles or 9,345km. Quite a way to go! As our altitude increases the clouds below look swirly and soft just like candyfloss, the sun is shining - it all is really quite magical as you look through the aeroplane windows. It fascinates me to think that the outside temperature up here above the clouds is reaching -80 degrees F. How incredible is that!


Touchdown in Amsterdam

It is now 6.45pm and here we all are at Schipol Airport in Amsterdam waiting for our final connecting flight home. We have crossed over different time zones in the air so our watches have needed adjusting by seven hours, eight when we finally reach Britain. Birmingham warmly awaits the return of your ACE teachers from China….

Miss Butler



Well, we are all back safe and sound now, but we still have loads of photos to share, as well as lots of video footage too, so we are going to take a week to gather our thoughts (and to recover) and we will all post our reflections on the trip in about a week's time. We hope you have enjoyed reading what we have done so far? We have certainly enjoyed reading your comments.

Finally, I have tried to keep many of my posts light hearted and humorous in an attempt to provide a different view in this blog. I would like to thank my excellent colleagues for putting up with this, for being good sports and great company, and for putting up with my awful jokes.

Mr. Golightly

It’s not over until……….

Looking back over the hundreds of photographs we have taken, I can hardly believe how many wonderful things we have experienced. I know that many of you are probably keen to know which of these experiences have had the most impact on us… an incredibly difficult decision!

I still find it fascinating that the children and teachers of Wuhou school have lessons in their coats and that school has no heating in winter. How they continue to concentrate during their lessons just shows how focussed they are. I know the exercise classes had a big impact on all of us and left us mesmerised for different reasons. The way that all children from grade one to grade nine, (year 1 to 9) moved in perfect time at varying speeds took our breath away. Many of the exercises appeared to be based on yoga and Tai Chi sequences – very relaxing during the school day and certainly something that year 3/4 should be prepared for.

I can’t finish this short entry this without mentioning the children and staff of Wuhou school. The teachers have been incredibly friendly and keen to share as much of their knowledge and experience as possible. We have made some wonderful new friends and have exchanged contact details to ensure that our two schools continue to develop lasting friendships. As for the children, we will all miss the frequent call of ‘Hello Teacher’. They are all so happy and keen to show off their English skills. They have loved learning about the Children of ACE, in particular looking at the photographs and we can’t wait to send them some more work and messages.

 

Finally, I know that Miss Butler and Miss Harrington will join me in saying an enormous thank you to Mr. Golightly and his son Matthew. Updating the blog has not been the easiest of tasks due to various restrictions. Without them, this epic account of the events, thoughts and experiences of the past week, as they have happened would not have been possible. A huge ‘Thank You’ to you both.

 

Mrs. Thompson.




Finally,

We have so many more experiences that we want to share with you about the incredible events of the last week, including trips to the shops, Giant Buddha and a Chinese Temple as well as the work we have done in school. We have also attended emotional farewell parties this afternoon and evening, but as we are due at the airport in a few hours, it’s Zàijiàn for now, however, keep looking in as we will add more very soon.

The Famous Four. (The dog got left at home!)

OK, let’s go!

By the TERRIFIC Trio (formally known as Miss Butler, Miss Harrington and Mrs Thompson)


Today we have learnt quite a lot about the organisation of the school day and learning at Wuhou school. There are some ways in which our schools are similar and some ways in which they are different.

In each of the primary classrooms the children sit at individual blue chunky plastic desks. There is no carpet area as the floors are completely stone tiled. If you can imagine, Wuhou School is like a small university campus with greenery and open spaces which have separate buildings that the children move between for lessons.

The school day is from 8:20am until 5:30pm with a total of 8 lessons. There are 5 lessons in the morning and a register is taken at the beginning of every lesson. Lunch is from 12:10pm until 2:30pm. After the children have eaten a traditional Chinese lunch which is quite substantial (but without dessert) they take a rest in their dormitories, as the children at Wuhou school board there from Monday to Friday. Sometimes a bell signals the end of lesson time and sometimes a little trumpet fan-fare! We all loved this! Mr Golightly included…

Most classrooms have magnetic blackboards but no real display boards. Only a few classes have access to a projector and as yet there are no interactive white boards in the classes we visited. Children carry their own equipment with them from lesson to lesson, e.g. paper (like tracing paper), pencils, rulers and crayons. All children from Grade 1 upwards move from teacher to teacher depending on the lessons that are being taught.

Each day the children always have the following lessons: English, Maths, Chinese, Piano and PE. Throughout the week, they also learn Art, Science, ICT, Chinese Traditions, Music, Body Building and Calligraphy. There are six general lessons per day. Some children have a seventh lesson; this is usually extra tuition by the teacher based on the children’s ability and what they have understood. An eighth lesson is chosen by the pupil from a range of options. Something fascinating we noticed was that in all classes the children must stand to answer a question, this shows respect to not only their teacher but to their peers too.

Children in Grades 1 to 6 have two playtimes per day which always begin with about a 20 minute exercise routine.

All children do homework every day after school and this will be Chinese, Maths and English (including Listening and Reading).

Bedtime is at 8:30pm for Grades 1-3 and 9:30pm for Grades 4-6. All children are expected to tidy their own dormitory as well as washing their own clothes. The supervisors help the youngest children with the above tasks and care for all of the children overnight.

In the morning the children have breakfast in the dining hall which consists of egg, milk, soya beans, steamed bread and fruit; sometimes noodles and fried rice.

To round off our blog entry for today, we must tell you that there is also a weekly class monitor or team leader who is chosen based on their outstanding behaviour and work. This is judged throughout the week. A stamp is given in the back of the children’s books as a reward. Each day the stamps are added up and feedback is given as to who is the best behaved. The teachers in the different lessons know which team the children are in as each child has their own logo/badge on their uniform. The primary classes are members of one of the following teams; Sunflower, Ferris Wheel, Red Apple, Golden Childhood or Bee Garden. Miss Butler would either like to be a member of Sunflower or Golden Childhood, Miss Harrington a member of Red Apple (but, ideally in charge of them all!) and Mrs Thompson a member of Bee Garden (but also likes the sound of Golden Childhood) Mr Golightly is as yet undecided…although is certain that he would not qualify for membership to the Golden Childhood team.

The Terrific Trio.

 

 

Terrific, terrible or just plain terrifying? I think I will leave that one for the reader to decide. Anyway, as the three T’s (it seemed apt!) have told you so much about the school and its routines, I thought I might start tonight’s blog with a little language test, just to make sure you have been reading carefully.

So, if Nă hăo means hello
and
Zàijiàn means goodbye,
What does this sign in the picture mean?

 

I would have thought it was obvious!

 


Wet paint!!!



 

Moving on, the traffic is no better, and with lorries carrying loads like this, it is no real surprise I suppose!

 

Going round corners was very interesting.

Finally, one last thought from me. If all adults were as accepting of differences as children are, life would be nice.

Pandas, Peppers and an earful of pandemonium!

It’s been a strange old sort of day, with so much going on that I am beginning to feel exhausted! The school part of the trip is almost a welcome return to routine, as the rest of the time, events here seem quite bizarre.

Take today for instance, I have been mugged by a rather large bamboo stalk that seemed to intrinsically attach itself to my rucksack, as I simply sat resting on a bench, (an event that the terrible trio seemed to find hilarious for some reason, and rather than rush to my aid, all rushed to get their cameras out to photograph said event!) a panda tried to claim squatters rights on my hotel room, (Miss Butler is bound to elaborate!) and a small fish that I was demonstrating my excellent chopsticks technique on at dinner, suddenly miraculously came back to life and proceeded to do double somersaults out of my bowl. (Now might be a good time to mention that Miss Harrington no longer holds the title of Chopstick Queen – her badly splashed blouse will be used as future evidence as to the reason why!) I was going to give the title to Miss Butler, but after she demonstrated her canoe technique, where she was able to dip both ends of the sticks into different bowls at the same time, I have to pass the title to Mrs. Thompson.

Talking of Miss Harrington, although she has taken on the title of Fashion reporter, she has badly neglected to mention that strange headwear seems to be in fashion in Chengdu.

 

The latest fashion as modelled by Miss Butler.



Finally, I thought I would mention that we managed to buy a couple of gifts for people back home today. I do hope Miss Harrington’s fiancée likes bright colours! (Ivan, wear some shades when she opens her bag!)

Mr. Golightly

Well the coats actually came off today as the temperature reached 18 degrees this afternoon! 

Miss Butler and I taught an English lesson today to grade one children (5 year olds).  We played the nursery rhyme DVD that my class performed.  It went very well!

After school today we were taken to Wuhou temple and to some traditional streets where local craft goods were sold.  The area was stunning and the cameras were snapping away like never before!  We even got the chance to dress up in traditional costume…..Mr Golightly particularly enjoyed this experience! 



Emperor Golightly and servants.



We learned all about the past kings and military leaders, it was fascinating!  Whilst we were walking around this area it was amazing to see the interest we caused!  I was asked to have a photo taken with a Chinese couple and we spotted a few camera lenses pointing our way!  We think it is due to the lack of westerners in Chengdu.  There have been too many new and exciting experiences to tell you about, but my first ever professional ear cleaning session is worth a mention!

Our evening meal was interesting again, of course!  I’m afraid I may have lost my ‘Master of the chopsticks title’…..Mr Golightly will embarrass me about this I’m sure!

It is great to hear all of your comments, keep them coming.  James Cresswell – I haven’t spotted Kung Fu Panda yet but came close today at the panda breeding centre…..I’ll keep looking. 

Susan Tarrant – The ladies are quite stylish here in Chengdu.  They mainly wear leggings or short skirts with leggings and shiny puffer coats.  They all seem to have lovely silky long hair!

Time to pass the laptop over now…….keep reading and commenting!  

 Miss Harrington

I’m going to put a cat amongst the pigeons and begin my blog with Miss Butlers’ increasingly famous saying this week!!! ‘It gave me the greatest pleasure’ to take all your fabulous buildings artwork into Wuhou School this morning in preparation for the lessons we were teaching today.  The children loved it and were keen to do their own paintings in the same way.  Mr Golightly and I were fortunate enough to be able teach Grade 3, the equivalent of our year 3 and caused quite a stir when we showed the children photographs of traditional buildings in and around Ashby. 

 

Sharing artwork with Chinese class.



The children found it fascinating and cheered with every new slide.  They used a variety of media and have begun their masterpieces.  The children worked with such enthusiasm and we are hoping to see some of their finished pieces of work on Friday at the farewell party.  I thoroughly enjoyed the lesson, although both the children and I had some difficulties communicating when using art related language. 

Back in my role as ‘Food Critic’, we have continued to sample a wide variety of foods and have regularly lost the feeling in our mouths due to the famous Sichuen pepper! – I must start eating with my eyes open!!  Lunch today was fantastic!  After lessons we stopped quickly in Jin Lin Street, in the grounds of the Wuhou Temple and tasted peanut noodles, wanton dumplings, sticky rice wrapped in string and uncooked vine leaf parcels with sticky rice in the centre.  Our understanding is that, as well as being eaten, these special vine leaf parcels represent the symbolic dragon and that they are thrown into the water during Dragon Boat races.

And last but not least…seeing the pandas today was certainly an experience I will never forget.  My camera was constantly clicking away and we all have pandas now as the background on our mobile phones!  The pandas were beautiful creatures and seeing them so close was breathtaking!  I can’t wait to show you all more photographs of these beautiful creatures.

Mrs. Thompson

It was an incredible experience today being able to teach at Wuhou School. I taught a lesson on Nursery Rhymes alongside Miss Harrington which was great fun! The children were all so very excited to join in with the words and the actions, myself included in this – loved it! All of the Grade 1 children could say, “Hello Teacher!” and were clearly very proud to speak to us in English. Mrs Thompson videoed the children performing their version of our Nursery Rhymes so that we can show this to you all when we get back. At the end of the lesson it was great fun when the children tried to teach Miss Harrington and myself some English rhymes they had learnt together at school. Mr Golightly ensured that the technology worked for us!





Excited children after the nursery rhymes.



Also, it was a real pleasure to talk to the Chinese Art teacher about the buildings artwork that the children at Ashby CE Primary had produced in the Art lesson today. It looked wonderful pinned up on the board. It inspired the Chinese children to begin their own artwork with great enthusiasm.

A magical moment for me today was seeing my first ever panda in real life…so much to mention to fit in here. Incredible!

During our visit, Mr Golightly caused near pandemonium when his hotel card accidentally slipped out of his pocket whilst he was busy clicking away at the pandas at the Chengdu Panda Breeding Centre. A local Chinese lady very politely pointed this out to him and we all reached over to retrieve it before it became the newest addition to panda food! The nearby sign clearly said in both Mandarin and English, “Do not feed the pandas.” Seemingly, Mr Golightly had noticed this! But…all ended well with the pandas sleeping whilst the rescue of the hotel card took place.

Thank you all for your messages which are keeping all of our teachers smiling each day reading them on the Blog.

Miss Butler

 

Almost forgot, we met a few of these things today!



 p.s. Keep the comments coming kids, and the football results Harry R.

 



Stickergate, Presentations, Paper and PE.

Well, I will never be able to watch another child receiving a Head Teacher sticker in assembly ever again, without smiling and thinking about this trip!
I know that the children in our school value them greatly, but when Miss Butler suggested that we give a few out in Wuhou School dining hall, she could never have realised that it would result in a stampede similar to the opening scenes of Rawhide! (Another one for the kids to google.) I managed to escape the melee with just a few pushes and some squashed toes, whilst Mrs. Thompson took more of a trampling, as a bunch of over-eager Chinese children clambered for one of the valued stickers. Miss Butler and Miss Harrington were not, however, quite so lucky, and disappeared completely under a mountain of enthusiastic children until sticker supplies were exhausted. Well, almost exhausted, as they did manage to save a couple for the uniformed guards on the front gate of the school! I’m not really sure who was the most pleased to receive the stickers, although I think the guards probably just edged it!
 

Start of Stickergate.



Proud guards - with stickers!



The trauma of Stickergate must have carried over to later in the day for Miss Harrington, with her possibly suffering a concussion, leading to temporary blindness, as she seemed intent on tripping over everything for the rest of the day, including a large stone ball on the path. It was only one metre high I suppose. I better not make too much fun of her, as later that day we were taken to look at some shops in town, where I almost caused havoc. It had all started as a simple trip to look at an old shopping area, but during a stop for photographs, I leant against a very imposing black lamp-post. It was one of those double suspended lights type, with decorative ironwork and a great circular base plate, about eight metres tall. Normally, those sort of things are either buried into the ground about two metres, or are securely bolted to the floor by the base. This one wasn’t! It was only a gentle lean, but more than enough to elicit a loud scream from Miss Butler as it started to fall, sending Chengdu locals scattering away in panic! Thankfully, I was able to push it back upright before I quickly walked away, red faced; to the sound of rattling light shades and chains and a bit wiser about lamp-posts.

One thing we have all tried to do since we arrived is to take as many photographs as possible. I have been videoing and snapping away at every opportunity, apart from during the road trips to and from school. For most of those, I have had my eyes closed! Mrs. Thompson has, however, been photographing constantly during the trips, so I have decided that she is either much braver than me, or just used to the unusual driving techniques we are experiencing!

I better stop writing now and give the others a chance, as well as needing to get to bed. We all need to get as much sleep as possible as we have been getting up very early each day, to be ready for collection at 8.00am. This means breakfast has been at 7.15am, although both Miss Harrington and Mrs. Thompson have each done a five to eight dash once! Perhaps it will be Miss Butler’s turn tomorrow?
The jetlag is taking its toll!

Mr. Golightly



All of our teachers felt very proud when we were asked to talk about our school to the primary aged children at Wuhou School. The children absolutely loved looking at the photos that some of our children in Year 3/4 had put together into a Powerpoint presentation. A great achievement! The children cheered so loudly when they first saw the photo of Ashby CE Primary School and also they loved the photos of the Pet Show with all the different animals and the Foundation Stage’s guinea pig, Dora. They were fascinated by our Centenary Celebration photos, especially how you all were dressed so smartly! The children at Wuhou School asked so many questions about our lunchtimes, how we celebrate Easter, the size of our school and field, too. The final question was when can they come to visit our school!
We are going to Chengdu Panda Centre tomorrow after school, so will hopefully be able to post lots of photographs of our visit.

Miss Butler.

 

“Do you eat paper?”

Since writing to you all yesterday, we have eaten several times and therefore have much to tell you! After the school day ended at 5pm yesterday, Lara and Irene, our English speaking teachers at Wuhou School, whisked us off for a special welcome dinner.  We were taken to a nearby restaurant which specialises in ‘Sichuan hotpots’.   These are famous across China as they contain the famous hot and spicy Sichuan red and green chilli peppers.  Lara and Irene ordered a selection of foods for us to try and whilst we waited they told us about the importance that Chinese people place on food.  Lara told us that they are very careful as to what they put in their bodies and that many Chinese foods have many medicinal qualities.  Large, terracotta pots were placed on gas rings in the middle of the table.  These were full of soup and meat and throughout the meal, vegetables, including the root of the lotus flower, were added for us to cook and eat.  The soup was regularly topped up using a teapot!  We all tucked in with enthusiasm, and were a little surprised when the body, feet and the head of chicken, frog and dove were ladled out into our bowls. This is part of their culture and we were happy to try it out! 
Using chopsticks were a different challenge all together!  Miss Butler settled with the stab, slide and hook technique, using her chopstick like a fork whilst Miss Harrington persevered and mastered the technique, although, she did refuse to put them down in case she forgot how to hold them!  Mr Golightly and Miss Butler were washing their clothes until the early hours of the morning due to the new speckled effect on the shirts!  Luckily, their coats were safe after the restaurant placed special chair covers over the backs of the chairs and on top of our coats!
  



Chopstick time.



As for paper…there was slight confusion on Miss Harrington’s part whilst discussing what she was able to eat being vegetarian.  “Do you eat paper?”  “Yes, of course!”  she replied politely and never wanting to disappoint! (I think Miss Harrington misheard, mistaking pepper for paper!)

It was a wonderful opportunity for us to sample some of Chengdu’s favourite dishes, certainly an experience we will never forget. 

Mrs. Thompson

Yesterday seems like so long ago as so many experiences are packed into one day!  After today’s class we were summoned to the playground for exercise by the sound of fan-fair music played over the school class speaker system.  The children were lined up in class order for their daily exercise routine.  Without any fuss at all the children began their exercise to the music played over the speakers.  It was so surprising to see that all the children were moving exactly in time without any direction at all from adults!  As fashion correspondent, it is my duty to comment on their uniform!  The younger children tend to wear their own comfortable clothes that they can easily move in for all activities including PE.  The older children wear a grey and orange tracksuit.   



PE - Chengdu style.


After being so cold yesterday, we were all so pleased that it warmed up today.  However not quite enough for us to take off our coats!!  We seem to be wearing them in every picture….apologies for this! 
After school today we were taken to a shopping area where we visited an old square which has been a shopping district for over 200 years.  We stopped for Lara to take a photograph of the four of us and were surprised to be snapped by other locals too!  We must have been very interesting to them…..or maybe it was the infamous coats again!! 

 

Photo time in Chengdu - for everyone!



Our guides, who are the English teachers at the school, have been fantastic!  They have told us so much about their school, the education system, school life and Chinese culture in general.  Their names must seem very English but this is their ‘English name’.  They all are assigned an English name as their Chinese names are very hard for English people to pronounce.

Miss Harrington

First day in school.

Leaving the hotel for our first day.

Wow! What a day. We had our first day in school today, (Monday) and it was absolutely incredible, for many reasons, not least the trip there! To say Chengdu traffic is chaotic, is probably the biggest understatement since Apollo 13 sent the message, “Houston, we have a problem!” (Kids, google it!) I think most car owners are in practice for Formula 1, and all motorbike owners are just plain crazy. Add a load of reckless Rickshaws and some suicidal pedestrians into the mix and you might just start to understand how bad it is!

Reckless Rickshaw.

We have also experienced a few technical difficulties with the blog, and technology in general, so this post will also include bits from Miss Harrington, Mrs. Thompson and Miss Butler. We have managed to get over most of the problems now, but bear with us if things are a bit slow getting through.

We also had a few problems with the cold today too, as Wuhou school has no heating! All children and staff wear their coats for lessons during the winter, and just put up with the cold! (No, I’m not joking)

Mr. Golightly.

From Miss Butler:-

A fascinating day observing lessons in our link Chinese school. All teachers loved joining in with a Calligraphy lesson, where they practised writing their names in Mandarin.

The children in the lesson were thrilled to receive a special Head Teacher’s Award each.

Miss Butler.

Miss Butler shares news with Wuhou teachers.

From Miss Harrington:-

Finally, my first blog!

After a very long journey we arrived safely in a very misty China! Jeff and Lara (teachers from Wuhou school) met us at the airport. The driving is quite scary, to say the least.

The school is very different from our school. We are so lucky to have heating, it was freezing in their school today. I will never moan about being too cold in class ever again! Everything is an experience though and I am drinking it all in.

I have been designated as fashion correspondent for the trip, so I will be commenting on new and interesting sights, so I will start with the fact that everyone wears a coat and warm clothes – even for lessons. The new fashion here is arm warmers. I have taken some photographs and will be looking to buy some – very soon!

So much more to see, but I am loving it so far!

Miss Harrington

From Mrs. Thompson:-

As the group food critic, I’ve been making a mental note of all the fabulous food we’ve had a chance to try.

We met for breakfast this morning in the hotel and were amazed by the huge variety, ranging from pastries and fruit, fish and vegetables to noodles, rice and broth.

We also had a fantastic lunch at school. The dining hall is huge and the children (and us) were served food in a metal tray. We had spiced beef and broccoli, served with butternut squash, rice and pak choi. We also had a cabbage soup that we had to drink from the bowl. The children from each class take it in turns to clear tables and our monitors were very keen, removing Mr. Golightly’s tray when he was only half finished!

Lunch - Chinese style.

We have been allocated a room at school where we can work from and also reflect on our day. A lovely selection of fruit had been left in there for us. Mr. Golightly, Miss Butler and Miss Harrington all tried a fruit called a ‘Dragon’s Eye’ and said it was delicious.

Mrs. Thompson

Arrived at last

Well we have arrived in Chengdu at last, although not without a few mishaps along the way, but nothing to serious!

The flights here were largely uneventful, apart from a bit of a scare at Beijing, when the check-in staff refused to let me board. Miss Butler had a very concerned look on her face as one of the staff told me to ‘follow them’ and walked away to another room. I had visions of being interrogated under burning spotlights for a second, but it was all undue worry, and the very friendly staff told me that part of my ticket was missing, and they needed to print me a new one.

I say uneventful, but one event that was definitely missing from the middle, long haul flight, was sleep! If it wasn’t the very uncomfortable and extremely cramped seats keeping us awake, it was the two vociferously noisy men who stood right beside us, chatting loudly for seven whole hours! It also seemed a bit strange eating breakfast on the plane when my body was telling me it was 11pm. Beef noodles is not quite what I would choose for the first meal of the day, but hey, we’re in China!

Two things that both Miss Butler and I remarked on as we came in to land in Chengdu, was how green the surroundings looked, and the vast amount of small lakes and ponds we could see. I will investigate more tomorrow. It also struck me just how busy and noisy it was as we left the airport. I was really glad we had been met by Jeff and Lara from our host school – some of the driving was crazy!

Off to bed now, ready for an early day and our first visit to the school tomorrow.

Mr. Golightly.

At Amsterdam Airport.

Unloading luggage at Chengdu.

Wuhou! China here we come!

After a week of tension and nerves building up, I think the enormity of what we are about to do hit us all today! I have been fairly calm about things but as I downloaded a few translated words earlier, a definite swell began to create a few choppy waves somewhere inside my head.


Lunchtime in the staff room saw a few strange conversations, especially as some of the staff were dressed as Snow White or the Fairy Princess, (No, it’s not normal behaviour, Key Stage 1 had held a Princess and Pirate day) but once we had finished talking about costumes, I did question the possibility of being able to play footy with the kids in China. At one point I was quite alarmed as I think golf got a mention too, well, I think it was golf, as I heard Miss Harrington mention something about wedges, although she could have been talking about shoes I suppose.


Anyway, just one more sleep and we’re off. I will try to blog as often as I can, and as you can see from the previous post, Mrs. Thompson has managed to get posting now too. I will see if I can get Miss Butler and Miss Harrington started too.


Talking of posting, it’s nice to see so many of you making comments on the blog, and even better to see we now have our first followers – and one of them is all the way from Spain too! I hope you all please keep posting, it’s great to read your comments.