Contents
Organizational News
RCEF Transitions to New Role as Resource Provider
RCEF will incubate a local Chinese non-profit organization to run the program we started in Yongji, Shanxi Province.
Reading Class Updates
Sharing and Growth: Qikou Rural Library Conference
RCEF curriculum developers traveled to another rural county of Shanxi to share experiences.
Starting the New Semester
Reading activities began at a new partner school in September.
Integrated Practice Class Updates
New Video: Green Campus Project
Project teacher Ws. Wang describes the process of helping students carry out a campus landscaping project.
New Video: Helping Schools in Gansu
Project teacher Ms. Zhang worked with fourth graders to plan a fundraising campaign for impoverished schools in Gansu Province.
Donor Updates
Recognition of Recent Donors
We warmly thank those who donated to RCEF from July-September 2010!
RCEF Transitions to New Role as Resource Provider
By Diane Geng, Sara Lam, Wei Ji Ma, Co-Founders
The 2009-2010 school year came to a close at the end of June. It concluded RCEF's third year running our own program to improve teaching methods in rural Shanxi Province, China. It also marked the start of the next stage in RCEF's strategy which we have worked to reach since our founding five years ago: transferring responsibility for field programs to mainland Chinese, and evolving into a resource provider that empowers and supports local education reformers. Over the summer months, the following changes have taken place:
- RCEF helped set up a local Chinese non-profit organization to run the program we started in Yongji, Shanxi Province.
- Select RCEF-trained rural teachers were promoted to full-time curriculum developers to spread RCEF's educational model to more schools.
- The program in Yongji, Shanxi Province expanded to work in two rural public primary schools with government support.
- RCEF Co-Executive Director Sara Lam began doctoral studies at the University of Wisconsin, Madison to research educational models relevant to RCEF. She leads RCEF's Research and Development from the United States and Diane Geng remains in China as sole RCEF Executive Director. RCEF staff member Zhao Junfang is now the Executive Director of the local Chinese non-profit running the program in Yongji, Shanxi.
The new 2010-2011 school year started at the beginning of September. Program managers and curriculum developers in Yongji underwent intensive training to prepare their semester plans. They will receive ongoing training, support, and evaluation throughout the year to increase their capacity to design curriculum and influence other teachers. U.S. Fulbright Scholar and Education Thought Partner Belinda Liu is playing an instrumental role in supporting the program to strengthen its management and evaluation structures.
For a detailed description of RCEF's recent developments, please read our full letter here which traces RCEF's history and evolution from 2005 to the present. We welcome your questions and feedback as we enter this new phase in RCEF's development. Please direct comments to info@ruralchina.org.
Sharing and Growth: Qikou Rural Library Conference
By Zheng Kai, Program Manager
During the summer vacation, three RCEF curriculum developers and I went to Qikou, a rural area in Shanxi Province to attend a conference on rural reading education put on by Beijing Brooks NGO and the organization Awaiting Spring. Beijing Brooks NGO had set up local libraries in Qikou for several rural primary schools. The purpose of the conference was to share experiences around the effective use of libraries for organizing reading activities and improving students' interest and abilities in reading.
Above: Rural teachers and NGO workers at the conference.
Peking University professor Wang Zidan gave a presentation on how to manage small-scale libraries. The conference attendees split into six small groups to share experiences in key factors of rural library management. These included the environment and appearance of the library, the role of the librarian, the influence of the library on family and community culture, and the ability of a rural library to advance education in the schools.
Ms. Li Ling of the Green Children's Project demonstrated some reading methods with the cooperation of ten students. These included reading aloud and facilitating silent reading. For example, each child could only choose two books at a time. The teacher only suggested to the child what to read when s/he needed assistance. She demonstrated reading picture books like Stone Soup. These methods and the theory behind literacy circles are all relatively easy to grasp and practical for trying out in the classroom.
RCEF also shared our reading class activities from last semester with the conference attendees. The RCEF curriculum developers each learned valuable things from the conference. Ms. Li Xiaochun felt the methods of library management introduced were helpful as they addressed some of the problems she had come across when managing the library at a RCEF partner school. Ms. Wang Yanzhen got new ideas for reading activities to try out in her class.
Above: RCEF Curriculum Developers shared their experiences with local teachers.
Throughout the two day conference, I saw how the RCEF curriculum developers participated actively and enthusiastically in small group discussions with other teachers. I saw how they thought about, and were attracted to, the advice given by the conference speakers. I was happy to see that they interpreted the different topics of the conference from their own perspectives and connected these to their own work in the classroom. When we talked after a conference event, they would naturally bring up how they can use what they learned in their own teaching. RCEF has continually given staff chances to go on study trips to supplement their own experience with that of others in new contexts. Through such interactions, they can be more confident about the unique aspects of their own teaching, and at the same time influence other teachers around them.
Starting the New Semester
By Zheng Kai, Program Manager
Above: Curriculum Developer Ms. Wang reads a story to students.
This semester we will begin working with a new partner school, Dong Wu Xing Primary School. It has about 130 students who live in the surrounding village. At this school there is one period a day for reading. We will use this time to teach students some effective reading strategies and methods. In out-of-class time, we will also give students more opportunities to practice meaningful reading and writing.
These are the things we did in September:
- Let students choose what books they want to read as this raises their interest in reading and writing and causes them to participate more enthusiastically in reading activities.
- Do storytelling for students and discuss with them themes that come from the story. This will help students to learn how to respond to stories and have discussion with their classmates.
- Construct a reading environment in the classroom.
From the start of October, we will go deeper in our reading curriculum. In addition to cultivating basic reading abilities, we will also emphasize reading comprehension and life skills in communication and collaboration.
INTEGRATED PRACTICE CLASS UPDATES
Integrated Practice Class is a national primary school subject which emphasizes interdisciplinary, community-based learning. RCEF is developing practical approaches for teaching this class with the goal of sharing field-tested case studies and methods with more rural schools.
Video: Green Campus Project
Students at program partner Xiaochao School began a campus landscaping project. All of the steps were carried out by the students, from choosing the topic to drawing a blueprint, to choosing plants, to planting and managing the trees. Through this activity, students exercised their cooperation skills, design skills and creativity. In this video, lead teacher Ms. Wang describes the project process and what she would do differently in the future.
Video: Helping Schools in Gansu
Fourth graders from program partner Xiaochao School made plans to fundraise for primary schools in Gansu Province to raise chickens and supplement student nutrition with eggs. The schools are located in impoverished, mountainous areas and are partly staffed by volunteer teachers. This video shows how they put their plan into action.
Donor Roll
We are grateful to all the supporters who donated to RCEF from July-September 2010! (A complete list of donors through the years is available here.)
Gold Sponsors ($5,000 to $9,999)
Global Fund for Children
Silver Sponsors ($1,000 to $4,999)
Sam Potts (New York, NY)
Anonymous
Bronze Sponsors ($100-$999)
Global Giving
Global Giving UK
Lee K. Cheng (South San Francisco)
Xue Gao (Houston, TX)*
Chuang Ren (Pittsford, NY)*
Diana Wu (San Francisco, CA)*
Dirk Bernhardt-Walther (Columbus, OH)*
Jessica Wecker (San Rafael, CA)
Lin Ling (Irvine, CA)*
Michelle Choy (Brooklyn, NY)*
Mingbo Cai (Houston, TX)*
Nancy Hsieh (Pittsford, NY)*
Naomi Weber (New York, NY)
Patrick Lockne (Beijing, China)
Pearl Chiu (Houston, TX)*
Ronald van den Berg (Houston, TX)*
Shaiyan Keshvari (Houston, TX)*
Supporting Sponsors (under $99)
Andrew Smeall (NY)*
Choon Hiang Chung (Singapore)
David Cohen-Tanugi (Somerville, MA)*
Diedie Weng (Toronto, Canada)*
Helga Mazyar (Houston, TX)*
Wouter Couzijn (The Netherlands)*
Xiao Peng (New York, NY)*
Yi Zhou (Towson, MD)*
Yifan Shi (Salt Lake City, UT)
Yuan Liu (San Diego, CA)*
Donation made in honor of the upcoming wedding of RCEF's co-founder Wei Ji Ma and long-time RCEF volunteer Ting Zhou. They met while teaching in a village in Hebei Province and are making RCEF a theme of their October wedding. Donors who contribute towards their wedding goal of raising $3000 for RCEF will receive a personal note from the couple and will also be recognized in this newsletter. To find out how to contribute and read the story behind their rural romance, click here.
The RCEF Newsletter is a monthly publication about the educational initiatives supported by RCEF in rural Yongji, Shanxi Province, China.
Contact Us
Donate
You can help rural Chinese students and teachers reach their potential! Donations 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!
See videos of RCEF's activities on our Youtube Channel!
Part 1: Egg Selling Experience
Students brought their eggs to market for the first time. See their salesmanship in action!
Click here to view.
Part 2: Egg Selling Experience
A customer gives valuable advice to students on how to promote their eggs' advantages over other eggs.
Click here to view.
Singing, Dancing Little Librarians
Students celebrate their roles as managers of the school library by creating their own song and dance.
Click here to view.
Teacher Profile: Mr. Pei
Mr. Pei Weifeng, a Guan Ai 3rd grade teacher, leads his students through a science class.
Click here to view.
Anti-Smoking Investigation
Students carried out a campaign to educate their neighbors in three villages about the harms of smoking.
From our Blogs:
"Teacher, Don't be Sad."
Ms. Wang, a reading curriculum developer, shared an example of her students' caring and empathy developed through stories they read in class.
Financial Aid for Rural High School Students
A new government policy works to close the gap in financial resources between urban and rural education.
Selling Eggs
A firsthand account of students' eye-opening lesson peddling their eggs at the city market.
Water Investigation
Fifth grade students exceeded expectations in their' water project and presented their findings to the villagers and school.
Planting and Cooking Sweet Potatoes
Project teacher Principal Sun describes the lessons learned from the last few steps in the yearlong project on sweet potatoes.
The Little Boy on the Phone
Teachers give the shyest students a chance to build up their self confidence.
Exchange with an American Librarian
Students and teachers asked a visiting American librarian many questions about how school libraries in the U.S. work.
Mashed Sweet Potatoes and Apples
Students tried out different sweet potato recipes as part of their year-long project on the history and culture of the sweet potato. You can read more about the steps of the project here.
Past Newsletters
RCEF posts monthly and quarterly newsletters on our website.
Click here to read past issues