Shijiazhuang, China and the educational reform of Hebei, April 17th

We attended a lecture with Zeng Chaomin, Director of Basic Education Division to discuss educational reform and challenges in the Hebei School system.

Today we  met with the director of the the Hebei Provincial Education Department, to gain a deeper understanding of the educational reform that has taken place in China over the last decade.  Hebei Province is located in the North of China and the nickname is called Ji, which means "A Land full of Hope".   Hebei Province has a very unique cultural background with a well developed economy.  Hebei is committed to the fast development of education with a focus on developing  educational  partnerships and exchanges with 200+ educational institutions among 30 countries.

We then enjoyed a wonderful visit to the Hebei International Basic School.  There, we attended two classes.  The first was a Chinese class, instructed to a room full of international students from Thailand, the UK, and America.  The second class was a 10th grade English class.  The entire English department also attended and observed their colleague as she taught a lesson about Canada.  Both observational experiences were  quite unique from each other.  The English teacher had taught for a year in America and has since adapted her teaching methods to a more western approach, that of a student-focused classroom.  Engagement was also a focus by this teacher.  While the Chinese teacher focused on repetition and used a more directive approach.  After the classes, we had an opportunity to discuss things that we liked and offer suggestions to the teachers.  We learned that the colleagues observing is natural for this school and that they spend a considerable amount of time collaborating as a department on lesson planning and defining a range of questions to reach all levels of learners in their classrooms.  The staff welcomed and appreciated all of our comments and we had many take-aways from the afternoon, such as the importance of the time to collaborate with colleagues as invaluable.  I am looking forward to a week of observations in a variety of school settings.  

Our lunch and dinner "banquet" was hosted by the Hebei Ministry at Peking Duck Restaurant.  Pictures will come at a later posting...with a variety of "interesting foods" that we have tried....