China 10 – 19 May 2008 - Tom Read, Assistant Principal, Carmel College
After a pleasant sixteen-hour journey from Teesside to Guangzhou via Amsterdam and Beijing Simon Hannaford, Curriculum Leader for PE, and I finally met Alex Shen, Vice Principal of the Phoenix City International School, and put a face to the countless e-mails exchanged since October.
It was a relief to discover that Alex spoke excellent English and appeared very relaxed and easy-going, not the stiff, formal official we had been expecting. We had perfected our few sentences of Mandarin and took every opportunity to use them, but we soon realized that ‘hello’, ‘thank you’, ‘goodbye’ and a spirited, Chinese version of ‘Nick Knack Paddy Whack’ would not get us very far, especially in negotiations with Jason Cheng, Principal of the school, whose English was on a par with our Mandarin.
After the official ceremony of introductions and a two-handed exchange of business cards, accompanied by bowing all round, the atmosphere relaxed over dinner and the discussions which followed the next day at the school were conducted in a very informal manner. Jason talked about the Chinese education system and Simon and I then gave a presentation about Carmel, all accompanied by the ubiquitous tea and pastries.
Simon and I did not need much persuading to discard our suit jackets as we were shown around the magnificent Phoenix School on the next day in the sweltering 26 degree heat. The school was opened in 2003 and with 1,600 pupils is not yet full to capacity. It has a primary section, a middle high and a junior high school and these pupils will soon move into the senior high school. With its airy classrooms, huge sports hall, indoor swimming pool, eight lane running track and numerous outdoor basket and volleyball courts on a vast campus, the school is mightily impressive. The sports facilities made a particular impact on Simon.
Simon also made quite an impression wherever he went, becoming a tourist attraction himself, as people rushed over to have their photo taken next to this white, foreign giant – an Olympic athlete maybe? At the school we were greeted with cries of ‘Hello teachers’ and bows, as pupils, dressed in their uniform of orange or blue tracksuits, crowded round us. They were full of waves and smiles and very keen to try out their English, which they study for an hour a day.
Teachers and pupils were very happy to chat and very keen to make us feel at home during the four days we spent in the Phoenix School. They were also very interested in life in England and asked a lot of questions about Carmel. Once they discovered the length of our school day they were even more eager to come and visit. The Phoenix day starts at 07.15 with twenty minutes’ silent reading and ends for most pupils at 20.30! In between there are eight lessons with a break after each one, exercises for all, including Tai Chi for the Junior High pupils after lesson two, five minutes of relaxing eye exercises after lesson four, lunch, a one hour afternoon nap, dinner and also time for private study - and school on Saturday morning! Some of the pupils board at the school during the week, even though they live nearby, because their parents work late and because it is easier for them to stay at school and study.
Clearly this school has benefited from private investment and is not the norm in China, although many of its characteristics, such as the longer day and the exercises, are typical. It was built by a property developer and philanthropist to serve the needs of the Phoenix City, a wealthy private residential area on the outskirts of Guangzhou, and it attracts some of the best teachers in the country. Simon and I visited some of the families who are keen to host our pupils and we were delighted with the warm welcome we received wherever we went.
The school does not yet have international partners, although some of the children have attended summer camps in England and the USA to improve their English. Jason is enthusiastic about his pupils broadening their understanding of western cultures and we agreed on proposals to develop the link between our two schools, including organizing a pupil exchange based on a joint curriculum project. We hope to confirm these arrangements when Jason and Alex visit Carmel in the autumn term.
After yet another sumptuous dinner – the food was out of this world (all one hundred and thirty dishes we tried – apart from the fish heads) – it was sad to say goodbye to our hosts, Jason, Alex and Grace, an English teacher who interpreted for us. They presented us with a beautiful scroll for the college painted by Jason, the Principal and also an expert calligrapher, and a scroll each painted by the art teacher, incorporating our names in Chinese. We look forward to seeing them again in Darlington.
We learnt a lot from our hosts, who were quite open to discussion about all sorts of topics, and we also learnt from the television news how vast and varied and flawed the country is, but also how distorted the media coverage of China in the west can be. The tragic event of the earthquake in Sichuan brought this home and hung like a shadow over the whole week we spent in China, even though we were almost a thousand miles away in the south near Hong Kong. Countless news stories illustrated the resilience and selflessness of the people and the magnificent response of the rescue services, but at the same time official news reports and internet blogs were blaming local party officials for inadequate or corrupt supervision of building work, which resulted in the catastrophic collapse of whole towns, including the terrible destruction of Beichuan Middle School while the children were having their afternoon nap. Our thoughts and prayers are with them and their families.
On our return to Beijing in the north east (almost three hours away on the plane) we took the opportunity to take in the main sights – The Forbidden City, Tiannenmen Square, the Olympic Park and the amazing Great Wall – and get a feel for the capital of almost twenty million people. Evidence of extremes of rich and poor were everywhere with huge Buicks weaving in and out of ancient bicycles towing carts piled high with cardboard or geese or cement and gigantic skyscrapers alongside the narrow, twisting alleys of the hutongs. The overall impression was of a vibrant city and frantic activity, interrupted only by Tai Chi, ping pong and tea in the parks. A visit to Beijing would also be a must for our pupils.
