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Above: Kym Hunter, Barb Williams and
Brian Marshall with the Huang Guo Shu
Waterfalls in the background.
During the April Holidays, Principal
Brian Marshall, teacher Barb Williams
and ex Happy Valley teacher, Kym Hunter
were very privileged to be part of a 15
member delegation of Principals and
teachers that visited schools in south
western China.
Above: The official delegation with
some of their hosts
The
following account was written for the
School Newsletter by Brian and Barb on
their return from China.
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"Our aim
was to develop friendships
with Chinese schools and
their teachers; initially
leading to greater links
between our students and
perhaps paving the way for
staff visits and high school
student exchanges.
Right: Barb Williams with
some of the Chinese students
she met. |
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Above:
A typical High School
classroom.....60 students in
an English class in Guiyang. |
We were
warmly welcomed into schools
and felt honoured to be
representatives of our
education system. Chinese
schools are changing and
their government is keen for
their educators to learn how
to create classrooms like
ours; ones that are more
child centred with programs
that develop caring citizens
as much as scholars. One
thing is for certain; China
is developing rapidly, and
its enormous economic growth
will impact on all nations
within this decade. |
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The China
we saw is an amazing place
of contrasts – old and
modern, enormous new
buildings next to decaying
shells, wealth and poverty,
people in dirty ragged
clothes selling food and
wares on the streets and
smartly dressed executives.
Never seen so many mobile
phones…. |
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Above: Over 1000 bicycles in
this school yard in Kunming
..... and not a lock in
sight! |
For
us, this trip opened the way for our
students to communicate with Chinese
students. We are hoping to develop a
‘sister school’ relationship with
Chuncheng Primary School in Kunming. It
also highlighted the need for
Australians to really value the learning
of a second language. We wish to
develop greater links with schools in
Germany, to strengthen the valuable
program we run in this school. The
experience also made us think about how
multicultural Australian society is and
how much richer our lives can be because
of that."
Above: 2000
students at No. 18 Middle School in
Guiyang doing their morning exercises.
More
amazing photographs of China
Back to
2000 Highlights |
