“A single flower does not make spring, while one hundred flowers in full bloom bring spring to the garden”. To further implement the concepts of both learning- and teaching-centred school governance, the Chinese group within SUIS Qingpu’s Primary School regularly carries out effective teaching and research activities, guides teachers to implement modifications to our curriculum, actively promotes efficient classrooms, and maintains the professional growth of teachers.
On 21 November, Assistant Principal Ms. Helen Liu Guixiang conducted an Open Class for teachers in the Primary School. For this Chinese lesson, she used “The Bridge”, a typical mini novel, to highlight the characters’ images, deepen the story’s theme, and gain a larger artistic effect. Ms. Liu focused on the setting and main characters of this novel, guiding the students to experience the noble quality of the old party branch secretary in the face of disaster, exhibiting such selflessness and conscientiousness. In the classroom, Ms. Liu used forceful, bold, and simple teaching language to create a learning field consistent with the novel “The Bridge”. She included a variety of ups and downs, as well as exciting styles, so that students found themselves immersed in the lesson, resonating with the feelings while still learning. When students understand the works of good writers, they will be infected by the power expressed through the words and in turn will become more interested in reading and creating. During this lesson, the teaching of reading aloud progressed layer by layer. Under the teacher’s demonstration and guidance, the student’s reading of the text aloud pushed the classroom atmosphere to a climax so that all students couldn’t help but be moved by the activity. With the whole class seeing small to big, the exercise simplified the complexity of the novel and helped students developed a very stylistic awareness. Using “The Bridge” as a carrier, the children learned how to read a mini novel. Ms. Liu not only recommended representative works of the world’s top three writers, who have written many short novels for children, but also encouraged them to pick up their pens and participate in the campus’ writing competition, creating their own work.
In this activity, all the Chinese teachers in the primary department participated in observing while learning. They fully appreciated the teaching style and classroom charm of Assistant Principal Ms. Liu!
Teachers compete to show their style
Guided by Assistant Principal Ms. Liu, the atmosphere of teaching and research in the Chinese group became even stronger, and teachers were eager to show off their classes.
Ms. Gu Liming provided a wonderful teaching demonstration lesson about a fairy tale to other Chinese teachers. Based on a large unit and under the guidance of the new learning model, the lesson had five major links. The first was to create a situation where the Water Mother was looking for children. Ms. Gu led students to talk about the “fog” to stimulate interest in learning. Then they searched for the “fog” and transformed themselves into a ‘fog baby’. They read “Fog” together, cooperated, and imagined fog. Next, the teacher guided students to write and consolidate their foundation of writing by learning a thank-you letter written by Water Mother. Throughout the study of the main ideas and the post-course exercises, Ms. Gu’s scenarios helped students learn how to read the tone of the “fog” and imitate the text example sentences. Ms. Gu’s instruction incorporated a multimedia presentation so that students were stimulated to take the initiative to enjoy active learning through literacy, writing, reading, imagination, and more.
Ms. Wang Luyao presented a wonderful reading demonstration lesson to the Chinese teachers. Ms. Wang taught an interesting scientific fairy tale – “Travelling in the Cow’s Belly” from the third unit of the first book for Grade 3. In the classroom, Ms. Wang took the learning situation as a guide and gradually inspired students to experience the mood of the main character with the help of ellipses, grasping the key words in the dialogue, and substituting their own feelings. Ms. Wang’s reading guidance was also very methodical. She paid attention to the combination of ‘support and release’ when reading aloud and focused on guiding students to read the dialogue of the red head in the cow’s stomach. The most outstanding part was when Ms. Wang and the children cooperated in reading the dialogue. Under the infection of the intense and exciting soundtrack, some of the children added their expressions, and some of them brought their actions to life, which directly transformed the reading into a story-like performance. Ms. Wang’s grasp of the key points of teaching was very accurate. Since the phenomenon of cow ‘rumination’ was very difficult for the children, Ms. Wang modified her strategy. Basing her instruction on the students’ completion of the traveling map and the reading of the dialogue, she explained it as popular science knowledge, which made the students’ impression deeper, introducing the “Science Fairy Tales” in a language that the children could understand. She also introduced the topic of “science fairy tales” in a language that children could understand. All in all, Ms. Wang created a student-centered and efficient reading classroom in terms of stimulating learning interests, interactions, feedback, and presentation.
The three lessons left a lasting impression on the teachers who attended them. They enjoyed the classes and provided some sincere feedback.
Teacher Yang Dongxue
Teacher Yang Dongxue commented, “I was fortunate to listen to Ms. Liu’s and Ms. Gu’s Chinese lessons. Although they seemed simple, they contained so much connotation, and strongly reflected their culture and quality, bringing each listener to such a beautiful realm. What touched me was not only their thought-provoking lessons, but also having the experience of feeling as if I was reading two thick books. My colleagues are educators who have been filled with many years of education and teaching methods, as well as love and positive energy. I believe that with their professional leadership, all Chinese teachers will move forward, not forgetting their original intentions, in this beautiful SUIS Qingpu environment.”
Teacher Guo Wenyan
Teacher Guo Wenyan expressed her appreciation for the lessons of Ms. Liu and Ms. Gu. She was impressed by their demonstration of teaching methods, and benefited a lot from their lessons, identifying three main insights. First, teachers should understand the textbook, establish clear teaching objectives, and have a well-planned teaching process. Second, teachers should learn to simplify teaching objectives. Third, the teacher’s language should have an artistic charm to grab students’ attention. Ms. Gu’s childlike tone of voice immediately ignited the children’s interest in learning, while Ms. Liu’s slow and light change of vocal tone led the students into a calm state to start the lesson. Charming language is also an indispensable skill for Chinese teachers. Role models are all around us, and we need to work harder to keep exploring and improving in the process of teaching and learning together.
Ms Xiaoxiao Wang
Teacher Wang Luyao presented us with a lively and entertaining language class using a popular science fairy tale, “Travelling in the Cow’s Belly”. The author incorporates the scientific phenomenon of regurgitation into a fairy tale so that students can harvest scientific knowledge and also feel the deep friendship between the main characters through the wonderful words. Through exquisite teaching design and interlocking classroom activities, Wang guided students to dialogue with the text. By circling the key words and phrases, she first supported and then released them, inspiring the students to summarize the changes in the moods of the protagonists, Qingtou and Hongtou, and presenting them through the emotions in the text. It must be said that Ms Wang’s class ignited the students’ enthusiasm for reading, and they were just like two little crickets, placing themselves in the characters and their moods. Some of the students couldn’t wait to explore the subsequent progress of the story, which was undoubtedly the result of a successful reading class. It is worthwhile for us to learn from and study this novel in our future Chinese teaching.
Teacher Hu Yu
