Contents
Organizational Updates
RCEF Annual Report Available
The Annual Report 2008-2009 describes RCEF's work in rural teaching reform.
Teacher Profile
Mr. Pei’s Choice
Male teachers are rare in rural elementary schools but Mr. Pei takes pride in his vocation.
Teaching & Curriculum
Stories from Reading Time
Students’ memorable reading experiences over the past semester.
RCEF's "Community Research" curriculum leads students to investigate issues in their communities. Below are two examples of "Community Research" projects going on now at RCEF's site, Guan Ai School.
Skits Prepare Students for Community Interviews
RCEF staff used skits to prepare students for a community investigation.
Sweet Potato Investigation
A common local food teaches students about local culture and history.
Donor Updates
Donor Roll
We warmly thank those who donated to RCEF between September 2009-January 2010.
RCEF Annual Report Published
Above: The RCEF Annual Report 2008-09 (click on image above to download).
We are pleased to present RCEF's Annual Report 2008-2009. RCEF's program in grassroots "bottom up" education reform has been - and still is - a continuous learning experience for all of us. This is a report about the main efforts we made in the past year of intensive collaboration with rural teachers and students in a typical rural Chinese primary school. It is our hope that you will find it a useful window into RCEF's journey and where our learning is leading us.
Click here to download the report.
Mr. Pei’s Choice
Men under thirty teaching in rural China today are quite rare. Most educated young men see teaching in a village elementary school as a low status occupation and rural school children have few male role models in their midst. RCEF’s program site, Guan Ai Primary School, is fortunate to have a wonderful exception in Mr. Pei Weifeng, 25, a devoted young man who has taught for three years despite opportunities in more lucrative fields . Below is a post he wrote a the school’s blog, an open forum where teachers share their thoughts and experiences with each other. In it, the young Mr. Pei defends his choice to teach:
“The last time my classmates from college got together, everyone shared what they are doing now. Some are civil servants. Some are doing business. When they asked me, I truthfully said that I teach at an elementary school. At first, they remarked, “Schools are safe places to work. That’s not bad.” But then the tone changed. “Why would a man want to be a teacher? The salary is low, just several hundred a month and there are few benefits. It must be hard to find a girlfriend!” My face got red.
Each person has different preferences. Some like to be officials and feel superior. Some like to do business and have money in their hands everyday. I like is to live a peaceful life together with innocent children. I feel fulfilled each day. I like to see the pure smiles on the children’s faces. I like to see their eyes filled with the desire to learn. I like to use my knowledge to help students solve problems!
As for what my classmates said about my salary being low, that depends on one’s attitude towards work. If you like your job, you will make it your own mission. I'm not that interested in money anymore, much less benefits. As for a girlfriend? I think my classmates are wrong. Any rational girl looking for a boyfriend would pick me because I am caring, patient and loving towards children. Her future with me will be very happy. So I'm not afraid!”
You can read more about Mr. Pei’s work as a math and physical education teacher here. If you’d like to contact Mr. Pei, send an email to info@uralchina.org.
Stories from Reading Time
RCEF is experimenting with different methods of promoting free reading at our main program site, Guan Ai Primary School. In December, students visited each other's classes to talk about what they'd been reading, adults and students read together at designated times every day, and the student librarians kept the school library open during recess hours. Below, RCEF Program Manager Sun Chuanmei shares some funny and interesting things that happened during all this reading frenzy.
The Incident with Mingyue
Above: Second Grader Zhang Mingyue loves to read.
Mingyue Zhang is a pretty second grade student. When she picks up a book, she won't put it down. One day, she brought a book that she hadn't finished reading into the bathroom. As you probably know, bathrooms in rural China are pits in the ground. Since it's very cold, the children wear a lot of clothes. Squatting and then standing up again is a challenge, even when not holding a book. When Mingyue stood up, her book fell into the pit. She started crying but at first no one knew why. The other students only knew that there was a little girl crying in the bathroom who wouldn't come out. After asking her, and then looking into the pit, they understood. Word traveled fast. Several teachers went into the bathroom to persuade Mingyue to come out. When her homeroom teacher Ms. Wang finally led her out, Mingyue's face was covered in tears and she sat down, depressed, unwilling to go play. Only after RCEF staff member Zheng Kai went over and talked to her for a long time did her mood improve. The next night when the library opened, Mingyue immediately rushed in and borrowed a new book - this one of Chinese traditional stories.
Zhang Fei's "Press Meeting"
Second grader Zhang Fei was a "guest speaker" in the first grade class. He went there to tell them a story he recently read and liked. However, when he told the story, his words weren't clear enough and a lot of children didn't understand. Thankfully, Zhang Fei saved the day. He said, "If you don't understand the story, please ask questions." The first graders started to speak actively, one question after another. Zhang Fei stood at the front of the classroom answering the questions without any hint of impatience.
From my perspective at the back of the classroom, it felt like a press meeting. After the class, I thought about why Zhang Fei had such ability. It must be that in his second grade class, it is popular for students to tell stories to each other during reading period. Now that they are used to it, they have naturally started to speak like a teacher, asking, "Can you guess why? Do you understand?" This is how little teachers are cultivated!
When doing reading activities with the students, I often run into unexpected scenes like these. When I look at the expressions on the children's faces as they read, I can't help but sigh and let these feelings sink deep into my heart.
Little Librarians
Above: Students in the Guan Ai library where they are being trained as "little librarians".
At lunchtime, I often eat with a lively group of students who like to sing and dance. One day I mentioned how nice it would be if our class of little librarians had a class song. Immediately, they took on the challenge. You can see the results below. I must be very clear: they created this song and dance entirely on their own. Led by fifth grader Yani Xie, they practiced and practiced and wouldn’t let me see it until they were satisfied. I was truly amazed.
VIDEO (click to view): The little librarians created their own dance and song about the joys of reading.
Skits Prepare Students for Community Interviews
This school year, RCEF has been focused on developing curriculum in two areas: free reading and Integrative Practice Class. Integrative Practice Class is a primary school subject which emphasizes hands-on, community-based learning. It helps students learn more about the challenges and opportunities facing their rural hometowns. However, most rural schools don't actually teach this class because teachers feel that they don't have a good grasp of how to teach it. In response, RCEF staff have been developing practical methods for this class at our main program site Guan Ai Primary School. We are now starting to share these methods with other schools.
In December, RCEF staff members Zhao Junfang and Zheng Kai went to Guoyuan Primary School in a neighboring township to help teachers pilot a student investigation into garbage disposal in their community. Before heading out to do interviews with community members, the teachers used skits to help students think about how to conduct interviews. Below is an excerpt from one of the classes:
Teacher: Just now, all of you students talked about how much garbage we encounter in daily life. How much garbage exactly does our village produce in one day? How is this garbage dealt with? In the next class, we are going to go out of the classroom and interview relevant people. But before we do the interviews, please watch this skit by (RCEF staff) Ms. Zhao and Mr. Zheng.
Ms. Zhao (acting as a student): Hello! I'm a student at Guoyuan Primary school. I have a question. How much garbage does your restaurant produce every day?
Mr. Zheng (acting as the restaurant owner): Um, well, I've never calculated that before.
Ms. Zhao turned to face the students, thinking out loud, "Why is my question difficult for him to answer?"
Ms. Zhao: Well, how many guests do you have each day?
Mr. Zheng: Right now, most of the young people in the village are doing migrant work outside so usually only 20-30 people eat here per day.
Ms. Zhao: Oh. Do these guests use disposable chopsticks and paper cups?
Mr. Zheng: That's right. Every day, we waste 30-40 pairs of chopsticks and 30-40 paper cups.
Ms. Zhao: Where do you put these used chopsticks and cups?
Mr. Zheng: I throw them in the trash.
Ms. Zhao: Besides this garbage, what other kinds of garbage does your restaurant produce?
Mr. Zheng: Leftover rice, other leftover food, coal dust, things like that.
Ms. Zhao: How much money does your restaurant make in one day?
Mr. Zheng: Probably over 100 RMB. Aren't you supposed to be asking questions about garbage?
Ms. Zhao says to the students, "After watching that pretend interview, what do you think we need to pay attention to when designing interview questions?" (Students discuss)
Student 1: Be specific.
Student 2: Ask things the person can easily answer.
Student 3: I don't think asking the restaurant owner how much he makes a day is very relevant to our topic.
Ms. Zhao: You are very smart. You brought up good points. Yes, interview questions should be specific, easy for the subject to answer, and be related to the topic. (As she says this, she writes these three principles on the board.) Next, let's get into small groups and come up with what questions to ask in your interviews.
The students split into seven groups to prepare to do interviews with villagers, the cotton factory, village stores, vegetable sellers, restaurants, the school, and the church. Students design interview questions and then present them to the class. Before the students went out to interview, Ms. Zhao and Mr. Zheng performed another skit for the students, this time switching their roles.
Mr. Zheng (acting as a student): I have a question. How much garbage does your restaurant produce every day?
Ms. Zhao (acting as the restaurant cook): Look at the clock. Go over there, don't create a mess. It's noon. Can't you see I'm busy here?
Mr. Zheng is at a loss. His face shows he doesn't know what to do. After a while, Mr. Zheng looks at his watch and says, "It's three o' clock now. The restaurant is probably not so busy now. I'm going to try again."
Mr. Zheng: Hello! Mr. Cook, I'd like to ask a question. How many guests eat at your restaurant every day? Do they all use disposable chopsticks and cups?
Ms. Zhao: Ask the boss or the waitress. I'm not sure.
Mr. Zheng: Mr. Boss, Hello! I have a question. How many guests eat at your restaurant every day? Do they all use disposable chopsticks and cups?
Ms. Zhao: I haven't paid that much attention these past few days. There're usually just 30-40 people a day.
Mr. Zheng (speaking and taking down notes): Wait a second, I haven't written it down yet. Can you say it again?
Ms. Zhao: How annoying. Hurry up. I am still busy.
Teacher: Students, based on that skit, what kinds of things do you think we should pay attention to during an interview?
The students discussed enthusiastically and ended up with four main points:
- Be polite.
- Pick a good time, place, and subject for the interview.
- Ask questions using simple language.
- Learn to write quickly and write down the main points.
After this activity was over, the students went out to do their interviews and then reported their findings in drawings and oral presentations to the rest of the class.
Above: Students interview villagers about how they dispose of trash.
Sweet Potato Investigation
Above: Fifth grader Di Wei holds the sweet potato she dug up.
This semester, Guan Ai teachers and RCEF staff formed an "Integrative Practice Class" project group. Focusing on fourth and fifth grade students, they chose a topic familiar to students and could be explored through hands-on activities and investigations in the community: the history and culture of the sweet potato. Sweet potatoes are a common crop grown and eaten in rural China. Guan Ai students enjoy eating them often but know little about how they are cultivated or the important place they have in history.
The teachers planned each class together and took turns teaching. After each lesson, the teachers debriefed the group reflecting on improvements for the future. Executive Director of Programs Sara Lam led the project group teachers and gives an overview below of the activities that have taken place thus far.
Above: Teachers and students dig for sweet potatoes.
Stage One - Triggering student interest in learning about sweet potatoes
Since the topic of sweet potatoes was selected by the teachers and not the students, it was important to get students motivated and excited to learn more about it. We decided to start the project with an activity that we knew would get students hooked - eating sweet potatoes. A villager agreed to let students harvest some of his sweet potato crop. We provided students with farm tools, but we also challenged them to come up with other tools that provided equally efficient methods for harvesting without damaging the sweet potatoes in the process. One important object of this activity was for students to learn how to write clear instructions. Before the activity, students worked in small groups to jot down the steps for harvesting potatoes complete with illustrations that accompany each step in an instruction booklet.
Above: Farmers knead the potato dough
The next day, following a safety talk, each student group made a small supervised camp fire on the school's back field and baked their sweet potatoes under the guidance of their teachers. Afterwards, they wrote instruction booklets about how to start a camp fire and cook sweet potatoes.
Stage Two - Making Sweet Potato Starch
In our village, most sweet potatoes are made into starch for noodles (粉条). The whole process of making these noodles is extremely complex and we wanted students to appreciate the professional expertise and hard work that is required. Students weighed the sweet potatoes and used traditional tools borrowed from villagers to make flour out of the sweet potatoes, and then to filter the flour to get starch. After this class, the students were able to add another chapter to their instruction booklets. Below is one of the teacher's reflections on this activity:
When weighing the sweet potatoes, I discovered a huge gap between student performance in math class and their ability to use math in practice. For example, when figuring out the potatoes' weight, some groups didn't correctly subtract the weight of the basin that held the potatoes, resulting in major errors. Some students didn't know how to use the scale. Some students added the weight of the basin to their final calculation instead of subtracting it. This shows problems in our teaching. Specifically, we over-emphasize the textbook, instead of practical skills in our math classroom; we should do whatever we can to design ways for students to try out math principles in practice.
Above: Strands of noodles are removed from the water.
Stage three: Observing sweet potatoes
The purpose of this activity was for students to practice detailed observation and descriptive writing skills. Each group was given one sweet potato. The teacher guided students in the observation of various aspects of sweet potatoes and in writing descriptions about them using literary devices such as anthropomorphism and similes.
Stage four: Learning about the history of sweet potatoes
When teaching multidisciplinary units, we try to exploit any educational opportunity that would allow students to learn about a topic from different angles. We feel that a historical perspective is particularly important in studying the sweet potato because it has played such an important role during the famine in China in the late 1950's and early 1960's. The students interviewed an elderly man in the village who told them about when and from where sweet potatoes were introduced to this area, how methods of growing sweet potato have changed, and why sweet potatoes were among the few things they had to eat during the famine. He also told us how people came up with many creative ways for preparing sweet potatoes during that period. Earlier in the project, the students practiced writing instructional and descriptive text. After the interview, they learnt to organize the villager's answers into one coherent essay. Below is a fifth grade student Suqi Zhang's essay:
On Thursday, we excitedly approached the front door of Grandpa Hou's house to interview him. According to Grandpa Hou, fifty years ago, life was very hard; the weather was dry, water pumps were few and so the wheat harvest was poor. If you grew two kilos of wheat, you couldn't even harvest two kilos! The sweet potato harvest was small in that the entire village only planted twenty mu (a little over 1.2 Hectares) of sweet potato during this period.
During that time, there was nothing else to eat so all everyone ate was sweet potatoes. However, this was not enough to satisfy peoples hunger, and eating too much sweet potato causes heartburn. However, the people had no choice, otherwise they would starve. It was common for people to get into fights over sweet potato rations.
Back then, there were many ways to eat sweet potatoes. You could cut and dry them and then grind the pieces into flour to make steamed buns and you could also make bean jelly. The varieties of sweet potatoes back then were also different. There were sweet potatoes that were red inside and could keep for 12 months. There were also potatoes with white flesh but the cores were softer than the red fleshed potatoes and couldn't be stored for as long. At first, there were no sweet potato noodles. People only knew how to make noodles out of green beans. Later on, some villagers from Henan taught the other farmers how to use sweet potato to make noodles.
During that period, everybody planted and shared with each other. When Grandpa Hou came to this part, he raised his walking stick in the air. As I listened to Grandpa Hou, my heart couldn't help but cramp up. "Back then, people were so poor and now we are well fed and well clothed. If we compare life then with life now, I think our environment is very good. We should treasure our food and study hard so we can improve each day."
Above: Students observe how the noodles are dried.
Next steps:
The students learn about the process of making noodles from starch and about different varieties of sweet potatoes and agricultural methods for growing sweet potatoes. We will report more about this in future editions of this newsletter.
Donor Update
We warmly thank those who donated to RCEF between September 2009 - January 2010! To view donors’ names by month, please click here.
Grants
Chen Yet-Sen Family Foundation
Gold Sponsors ($5000-$9999)
Greg & Liz Lutz (Berkeley, CA)
Silver Sponsors ($1,000 to $4,999)
Florence A. Davis and Anthony C. Gooch (New York, NY)
Madison Dearborn Partners, LLC (Chicago, IL)
The San Francisco Foundation (San Francisco, CA)
James Tu (Hong Kong)
ZBI Employee Allocated Gift Fund (New York, NY)
Anonymous
Bruce WT Yen (Baltimore, MD)
Ivy. H. Cheng (Potomac, MD)
Jenny Lo
MDDM Fund
Teresa Poon
Bronze Sponsors ($100 to $999)
Anne Hsieh (Aiea, HI)Betty Phillips (Schaumburg, IL)
Guang Guo (San Francisco, CA)
Hua Wang (Jersey City, NJ)
Jeremy Liu (Cupertino, CA)
Richard Sterling (Berkeley, CA)
Rowena Geng (West Sacramento, CA)
Tony Tang (San Francisco, CA)
Annie Hsieh (Stanford, CA)
Chi Cheng (New York, NY)
Hongzheng Lu (Pittsburg, PA)
Microsoft Matching Gifts (Princeton, NJ)
Stephen Potter (Seattle, WA)
Winston Ko (Davis, CA)
Yingjie Li (Jersey City, NJ)
Anne Hsieh (Stanford, CA)
Kathryn Corro (San Francisco, CA)
Ray & Jia Lyn (San Jose, CA)
Ruth O’Connor (Davis, CA)
Sharon Hasslen (Menlo Park, CA)
Shirley Hung (Fountain Valley, CA)
Weiwei Li (Rockville, MD)
Alice T. Hu (San Francisco, CA)
Dylan Small (Philadelphia, PA)
Hongzheng Lu (Pittsburg, PA)
Lora Elliott (Fort Worth, TX)
Yi-Kong Keung (Clemmons, NC)
Laura Mitchelson (Shanghai, China)
Law Wing Kin (Hong Kong)
Microsoft Matching Grants (Princeton, NJ)
Rongxun Wang (Redmond, WA)
Rowena S. Geng (Sacramento, CA)
Stephen Potter (Redmond, WA)
Supporting Sponsors (under $99)
Allison Harell (Montreal, QC)
Honghai Zhu (Jersey City, CA
Xinyuan Shang (Philadelphia, PA)
Alex Da Silva (New York, NY)
Eugene Lee (New York, NY)
Irene Chow (New York, NY)
Ping Zhou (New York, NY)
Sudarshan Gururaj (New York, NY)
Yue Jiang (New York, NY)
Jifeng Cheng (Chicago, IL)
Tianwei Li (Irvine, CA)
Connie Chung (Cambridge, MA)
Eliot Dow (New York, NY)
Lily Blum (Woodside, CA)
Lisa Peasley (Livermore, CA)
Chew Fon Lamn (Malaysia)
EJH Baardman (Netherlands)
Yi Gao (Arlington, MA)
The RCEF Highlights is a quarterly publication about the educational initiatives being carried out at Guan Ai School in rural Shanxi Province, China.
Read more about RCEF's mission and program site Guan Ai Primary School.
Contact Us
Donate
You can help rural Chinese students reach their potential. Contributions are 100% tax-deductible in the U.S.
Checks payable to "Rural China Education Foundation" can be sent to:
PO Box 92424
Rochester, NY 14692-0424
Donations can also be made online!
RCEF Annual Report 2008-2009
Click here to download: [English] [Chinese]
From our Blog:
Anti-Smoking Campaign Video
Guan Ai students talk about the anti-smoking project they did in three villages.
Raising Chickens: A Community Research Project
Students voted to learn about farm animals and how to raise chickens.
Transition to Middle School
Sixth graders investigate their options for getting into middle school.
For the Love of Frog
The Frog story book series was at the center of the second grade reading class in December.
The Little Librarians of Guan Ai School
Students take enthusiastically to managing the school library.
Teaching English in Rural China
Volunteer's first experience in rural China is eye-opening.
Mother and Son Share Joy in Reading
Ms. Li re-discovered the benefits of reading through a campaign to get children and adults reading together.
Click here to read more (Chinese only)
A Semester of Reading Activities
Ms. Wang summarizes the book activities her second grade
Click here to read more (Chinese only)
Freedom in English Class
Ms. Yang describes the open, democratic learning atmosphere of her English class.
Click here to read more (Chinese only)
Collective Effort, Never Give Up
Twin brothers in third grade have different learning abilities. Their whole class pitches in to help the one who struggles more with school work.
Click here to read more (Chinese only)
Guan Ai Helps Teachers Grow
A new teacher says she feels fulfilled by the constant learning going on at Guan Ai.
Click here to read more(Chinese only)
Students' Empathy Shines Through
The principal of Guan Ai shares a story about how students showed their caring for her.
Click here to read more (Chinese only)
Past Newsletters
RCEF posts monthly and quarterly newsletters on our website.
Click here to read past issues
A Day at Guan Ai
Pictures from a day at Guan Ai Primary School that puts the sights and sounds of Guan Ai in motion.
Work for RCEF
RCEF seeks energetic individuals to join our full-time staff team in China. Staff members must be able to commit at least one academic year (September-August).