Visit to China: by Mr Rees

China has always been a country that has fascinated me, I love the idea of a country where the culture and values are completely different to our own and where the Western world has had a limited impact. It was therefore some what of a surprise, when I left the Arrivals lounge in Beijing airport to be confronted by McDonalds, Starbucks and KFC! Maybe my perceptions were wrong?
View pictures of my visit

The aim of my visit was to establish a link with a school in China which would be sustainable (I just have to squeeze in these geographical words!), meaning a link that would be long lasting and could be used in a variety of ways.

I arrived in China on Saturday 17th of May 2008 very excited, but slightly tired due to the 7 hour time difference. The weekend was packed full of sight seeing, visiting the main tourist attractions such as Tienman Square, The Forbidden City, The Summer Palace and The Temple of Heaven, concluding with a visit to the Beijing opera on the Sunday evening.

On the Monday morning we were all up early, ready for the journey to our partner school. Our school Number 17 Middle School, Bao Ding, is situated about a two hours drive from Beijing and two hours from the provincial capital of Hebei, Shijiazhuang. It was to my shock however, when I realised that I was the only person being left in Bao Ding as everyone else's school was based in Shijiazhuang. I was therefore abandoned at the side of the road, with my suitcase, into the care of 3 people from our partner school. Feeling very apprehensive I was taken for dinner in a local restaurant where the speciality was Donkey Burgers! and wanting to make the best first impression possible, I felt obliged to tuck in. After lunch I visited the school which has a population of about 6000 students! (About the size of Saltburn) and met the Headmistress.

On the day I arrived at the school it was the start of the 3 days national mourning, as a result of the devastating earthquake, which I am sure you all saw on the TV. I therefore joined in the three minutes silence and donated money to the relief fund. The afternoon was spent discussing different teaching methods with the Chinese English department, well half of them, but that was still 33! After the meeting was finished I was invited to watch a lecture called 'Crazy English' This was a lecture in which 4000 students attended in the School Yard and verbally repeated English phrases faster and faster each time.

The following day was the biggest shock, as I had been asked to teach a lesson to two English classes (120 students at a time). One of the lessons was geography based and the other about sports. I have to say that the Chinese students behaviour was exemplary.

On the whole the lessons went well but I was relieved they were over. Next up was diner in the school canteen, which happened to be twice the size of the Mugga!

That afternoon I was lucky enough to spend a few hours answering some of the students questions about life in England and what school was like here. The day finished with a meeting with the headmistress to discuss what we hoped to achieve in the future, and a game of ping pong with some students. (No surprises, but I lost!).

After my time spent in school the rest of the visit was spent visiting different cultural sites, including the Ming Tombs and the Great Wall.

I believe that the visit was a huge success, and that there will be many opportunities for the two schools to work closely together in the future. Some of our students are already in the process of setting up an email exchange, and the headmistress from Number 17 Middle school visited us this January to help develop the partnership further.

As a result of this meeting we will be hosting a visit by students from Number 17 in July and 18 of our students and 3 members of staff will be visiting China in May 2010.

Finally I think it is important to say how wonderfully friendly everyone I met in China was. They were curious to find out more about me, and rather than to laugh and make jokes because I was different to them, took the opportunity to learn more about another culture. I hope that if nothing else this visit makes you think about ways in which you respond to people from different cultures and that you take every opportunity offered to learn more about the world in which we live and the people we share it with.

My visit in pictures

Click on a photograph to view a larger version.