‘Uniting the Youth, Promoting Educational Research through Competition’ – A Memoir of the 1st “Qinghe Cup” Teaching Evaluation in SUIS Qingpu’s Primary School

The beauty of autumn lies in hope and harvest. The majesty of teaching is found in depth and substance.

This semester, our primary school division initiated the first “Qinghe Cup” teaching competition to strengthen our teaching staff and cultivate a robust teaching and research environment. We also wanted to harness the exemplary leadership role of core teachers, foster the continuous growth of young teachers, construct efficient classrooms adapted to development, and genuinely elevate the quality of our education through this significant activity.

This teaching competition unfolded comprehensively, with every teacher in the primary school participating actively and showing their strengths. Each teacher approached the task using a standards-driven curriculum, guided by textbooks, and reliant on the learning conditions. They also prepared and then refined their lessons, demonstrating their willingness to exhibit, learn, progress, and strive for excellence.

Each Showed Their Best and Presented Brilliance

In early September, each subject group launched the first phase of the teaching evaluation: a teaching presentation competition.

The participating teachers designed their presentations with logical structures and strong theoretical foundations, highlighted key points in their PowerPoint presentations, and demonstrated their ability to interpret the curriculum and plan accordingly. The presentations were natural and smooth, emphasizing student-centred teaching philosophies and earning unanimous praise from the subject-specific evaluators. Ultimately, ten teachers from the Chinese, Mathematics, and Longman English departments stood out in fierce competition.

On 22 September, the school-level teaching presentation competition took place in the school’s sunken theatre. We were honoured to have present school leaders and experts, including Assistant Principal Ms Helen, Executive Deputy-Head of Primary Ms Michelle, Mr Li Mingwei and Ms Yang Dongxue, who served as judges. Each subject group’s teaching presentation had its own distinct characteristics. The school leaders and experts affirmed the subject-specific professionalism of the participating teachers.

Refined through a thousand trials, they competed to stand out

After more than a month of intense competition and dedicated study, the second phase of the teaching evaluation took place from October 24 to 26 in Meeting Room A.

‘Sharing the Beauty of the Chinese Language’

On 24 October, the Chinese department was honoured to have Shiqing Bin, a former Jing’an District primary school Chinese research director and mentor to outstanding primary and middle school teachers, serve as a judge. Shiqing Bin highly praised the four teachers’ classes.

The four teachers, based on the new curriculum standards, focused on core competencies, allowing the evaluators and observing teachers to appreciate the beauty of reading, language, emotions, and innovation under different styles.

Mr Kimi’s class on “Climbing Tian Du Peak” focused on finding writing supports in the text, writing from the heart, and clearly expressing a subject with the support of writing structures.

Ms. Vivian’s class on “Rain in Autumn” had a clear teaching structure, interlinked and progressive, organizing students to use various forms, emphasizing reading throughout the teaching process, and helping students appreciate the beauty of text, language, and emotions.

Ms Lumi’s class on “The Destruction of the Old Summer Palace” was eye-catching. Starting from the unit, the class was student-centred, focusing on experiencing the emotions expressed in the text. The class drove student learning through a series of related innovative tasks.

Ms. Isabel’s class on “A Mother’s Deep Love” effectively integrated methods and emotions, achieving a balance between utility and humanity. The lesson not only guided students in understanding how the author expresses emotions but also enhanced students’ emotional experiences.

Counting the Best in Mathematics

On 25 October, the Mathematics department was pleased to have Qingpu District education researcher Lin Yuan serve as a judge. Lin highly praised the three teachers’ lessons observed.

The three teachers skilfully used the textbook, gradually introduced mathematical concepts and infused mathematical thinking. They guided students to observe the world from a mathematical perspective, think about the world with mathematical thoughts, and express the world in mathematical language.

Ms. Summer’s class on “Symmetric Figures” used the Intercontinental “Oceania” Carnival event as a starting point. The lesson, building on students’ existing life experiences and participation in the carnival’s mathematical activities, began by observing real-life symmetry phenomena, leading to a comprehensive understanding of the characteristics of symmetry.

Mr. Victor’s lesson on “Division with Remainders” was a critical foundation course for second-grade mathematics. The class not only expanded the scope of division skills but also laid the groundwork for future division learning.

Ms. Jennifer’s class on the “Area of Parallelograms” created a problem-based context, stimulating students’ curiosity and developing their knowledge, experience and thinking skills. It promoted students’ understanding of the essence and methods of measuring area and the concept of transformation of thought.

The “English” Blossoms

On 26 October, the English department had the honour of inviting school leaders Assistant Principal Ms. Helen Liu, Executive Deputy-Head of Primary Ms. Michelle Song, Assistant Deputy-Heads Ms. Summer Gao and Ms Sara Yu to serve as judges. Ms Helen gave high praise to the three teachers’ classes.

The three English teachers’ classes were exceptionally fascinating, focusing on creating a rich contextual atmosphere. The teaching activities were progressive, truly engaging students’ thinking.

Ms. Hillary’s class on “When I Was Little” was lively and vivid. It incorporated text teaching, video resources and student group sharing in various forms, guiding students to recall childhood experiences and employing reading strategies to help students better understand the concept of childhood experiences contributing to growth.

Ms Hazel’s class on “How to Behave in Public Places” was dynamic and fascinating, using magazine images and text as the basis as well as focusing on public rules. It combined practical demonstrations and videos to help children think and express themselves while observing pictures and videos, performing, summarizing, and presenting in poster displays. Children recognized during the lesson the importance of different rules in different public places, enriching their social experiences and developing appropriate values.

Ms Katherine’s class on “Going on a Study Tour” was connected to students’ summer vacation research experiences through related videos. This created a link to students’ life experiences, sparking their interest in the study tour. The lesson mainly revolved around preparation for the study tour with the key question, “What has Matt already done?” being the central theme. It employed jigsaw group reading and a series of related innovative tasks, fostering students’ exploration and thinking.

Incorporating Love and Promoting Teaching Through Thought

Teaching without research is shallow. Research without teaching is empty. After class, all teachers carefully listened to expert feedback and wrote about their experiences in teaching and learning.

In a fiercely competitive environment, those who strive forward lead the way. Through the “Qinghe Cup” teaching evaluation activity, we saw the dedication and solid teaching foundation of SUIS Qingpu teachers. We believe that after this event, every teacher will be empowered to continue enhancing their professional literacy and improving their teaching skills.