For Ms. Grant's Second Grade at Browning Elementary

Dear Ms. Grant's class!

Greetings from Guiyang, Guizhou Province, China.  I am in my fifth week of student teaching at Guiyang No. 4 Experimental Primary School and things are really different here!  I created this post especially for you so you can see what it's like for students who go to school in a Chinese pubic school.

Front of the school, notice the wide open entrance and many of the windows are open

Playground/exercise area

I have to start with the food!  It's so different but very good.  Lucky for me, I love noodles and rice!!!  Breakfast is served between 7:30 - 8:00am and there are three choices...all noodles.  I like the ones on left.  Every morning we can help ourselves to a hardboiled egg and either soy milk or a rice porridge called congee.  I prefer the congee with a little sugar.

Lunch has been different everyday with some dishes overlapping.  We always have rice and a series of vegetables.  Some of the vegetables are native to this province and don't have and English translation!  And, the food is SPICY!  My favorites are a butternut squash soup and a dish with bean sprouts and vegetables.

We typically eat breakfast with chopsticks and lunch with a spoon.

For those of you who wanted to know how long it took me to get to China:  23 hours of continuous travel to Shanghai, China.  We flew from:

Missoula, MT to Seattle, WA
Seattle, WA to Seoul, South Korea - 11 hours and 40 minutes!
Seoul, South Korea to Shanghai, China - we stayed in a nice hotel that night, thank goodness!
Shanghai, China to Guiyang, China - about three hours

The plane from Missoula to Seattle was a Griz Plane!  Go Griz!!!

I know Kolton had a lot of questions about what it's like to live in a hotel.  Our hotel is really nice and I enjoy coming home to a clean room everyday!  I don't have to make my bed for 8 weeks!!!  The hotel is in an old neighborhood and we pass many merchants on our 20 minute walk to school.  We live close to a Middle School so many of the shops sell really cute school supplies.

We still have not seen another American and we often eat at the restaurants where the Middle Schoolers are because they speak some English that they learn in school.  They have been very nice and helpful.  Two girls even bought Lizzy and me a present:  the special fire-hot spice that is local to the area!

Typical classroom, very small for 50 students!

The school day is VERY different here.  For starters, it begins at 7:30am with breakfast and ends at 5pm!  Here is a typical schedule for a second grader:

7:30am Breakfast                                                                       

8:15 – 8:55 1^st Period – Reading

9:05 – 9:45 2^nd Period - Math

9:45 – 10:15 Morning Exercises

Morning Exercises Video

10:15 – 10:55 3^rd Period - Chinese

11:05 – 11:45 4^th Period - Music

11:45 – 2:30 Lunch/Recess

2:30 – 3:10 5^th Period - Science

3:10 - 3:20 - Eye strain exercise

3:20 – 4:00 6^th Period - Sports (In-line skating, running, football, basketball)

4:10 – 4:50 7^th Period - Art

Eye Strain Relief Exercises Video

Students have 10 minutes between classes for free time.  Each period is 40 minutes.  No student has EVER asked to use the restroomduring class.  Students are assigned to be hall monitors during breaks and they also rotate mopping the entire school at the end of the day.  Sometimes, they kindly mop our office which is the teachers' duty.  Things get dusty because the building is always open.

 Photos of me teaching a lesson on "-ing" words to second graders.  I teach in an auditorium so I can use a projector for my lessons.

Students stand up when they participate in class.  The teachers do not normally address thestudents by name.  Some students have aChinese name and an English name.

Different music signals the time to be in your class andready to learn.  For example, "Yankee Doodle" plays over the loud speaker giving students time to hustle to the nextclass.

Students hurrying up the stairs 

If students are late for class they stand at the door andraise their right arm (sort of a signal for hello) and wait for the teacher toallow them to take their seat.

This week, I did a special presentation for the 6th graders (I normally teach grades 2 and 3) on Montana.  I used this opportunity to have the students answer the letters you wrote earlier this year.  To keep things simple, I chose four of your questions.  Unfortunately, the students could not write letters in one class period so I had them answer with simple sentences and ask you questions!  To save time, I compiled a list of the most common questions for you, and answers from them.  Your class has about 22 students and I taught over 200 6th graders!  That would've have been a lot of letters to bring home in my suitcase!!!  I will bring a few letters back to show you their small and intricate handwriting.

I used a photo of Rae from the Graduation Matters assembly.  The students loved seeing her beaded dress and said she looked very beautiful.  There are many minorities in Guizhou Province who have similar customs of having traditional dress and dances.  Instead of beading, they wear silver and embroidery.

Here are the responses to your question:

River Blu asked, "How do you get to school?"

There are no school busses at this particular school but some students do arrive by the city bus.  Others come to school "on foot" as they said, or they walk to school, as we would say.  Some arrive by car and taxi.  At the end of the day, many of the parents and grandparents are waiting for the kids to be dismissed.

 A view from the 5th floor balcony, you can see some families in the street waiting for the kids.

Bella, Tia and Autum asked, "What do you eat?"  I asked the students to also name favorite foods and they listed coconut, ice cream, chocolate, beef, watermelon, apples, chicken, rice (of course), Chinese hot dogs, eggs, pears, oranges, milk and one student even said bacon!  One girl (English name Jenny) said her favorites are roasted duck and pumpkin pie.

Ryan asked, "What do you do after school?" Students play football (soccer), enjoy rope skipping (jumping rope), they play a traditional Chinese game with tiles called Mahjong, badminton, and piano.  Students also said they read, write, do their homework, and sleep after school.  Many of the boys said they like to play computer games!  Students also said they run, exercise, and play ping-pong.

Roylee and Kolton asked, "What's your name?"  Many students have an English name that someone has given them.  Most of the time, the English name sounds similar to the Chinese name.  Many names begin with X (in Chinese is an "S" sound so many of the girls are named Cindy).  The students wrote their names in Chinese characters and in pinyin (system used to write out Chinese characters in other languages) so you can read their names.  One interesting note, the last name, or family name, comes first.

Here are some names of the students that answered your questions:

Richard Yu

Annie Chan

Jiang zhi tāo

Gong Yu Tong

Liu De Yang

Ella

Yang Rong zhi

Du Ying Hao

Bill

GoGo

Camille

Vivian

Fei Zhen Wei

Duan Hao

Oliver

The 6th graders also had some questions for you!!!  

Many students wanted to know, Do you like KFC?  Yes, it's Kentucky Fried Chicken.  Our city has a few locations and I think the students like it because it's "western" food.

Do you like computer games?  Video games?

Do you want to visit China?

What games do you play after school?

How do you get to school?

What's your favorite ice cream flavor?

What are the special dishes in your culture?

What is the average temperature during Spring?

What special crafts and souvenirs do you have in your area?

What do you do with your friends? 

What do you know about Chinese history?

Here is a photo of me with some of the sixth graders who had questions for you!

And here's a photo of me signing autographs for the 6th graders after my presentation.

My friend Lizzy and I are the first two Americans to EVER teach in this school so we are very famous!

In other fun news, our first week here we were treated to an Exhibition (Assembly) at one of the government buildings.  Government officials gave speeches and the students performed songs and dances to the theme of the history of education in Guiyang. It was beautiful.  Here are some photos:

We also lucked out in being able to attend the Spring Field Trip!  Instead of taking a class trip or a trip for a whole grade, this school sticks together and all 1000 students and faculty go on two field trips a year; one in Spring and one in the Fall.  The field trips are organized through a touring company.  Last Friday, we boarded over 30 busses and headed to a Confucian Temple and had a picnic on the bank of a river in a very beautiful park.  The students packed their own lunches and we were surprised to learn that the children give their favorite teachers food to show their appreciation and admiration.  The students must really like my friend Lizzy and me because we ended up with 5 bags of food!!!!  WOW!!!  Here's a video of the day:

This is a photo from the Confucian temple, it's the characters for the Golden Rule which is the best rule to live by.  I'll bet you learned it in kindergarten.  

The Golden Rule:  What you do not wish for yourself, do not do to others.

Giving the presentation on Montana made me a bit homesick and miss you all!  Hope everyone is studying hard and enjoying the springtime.  Hope to see you all when I return in early June!

Please keep in touch!  I'd love to hear about what you've been learning this Spring.

Ms. Rich