At 8am, I was due to observe a year 13 Biology revision lesson, but the one student didn't turn up, so I talked Biology with Mike McKensie, the only current Biology teacher, who is leaving at the end of the year. He is from Australia and is missing his young family very much, so is heading back to Melbourne.
After that, I gave a university preparation lesson to the year 13 Physicists, Clare and Charlotte. I gave them some quite tough problems that we usually use for mock interviews and UP lessons, including some challenging estimations, such as estimating the number of photons per second from a light bulb or the number of piano tuners in Shanghai. The latter may not sound like a Physics problem, but the skill of estimation is a crucial one in the physicist's tool box! They were very good at the underlying Physics, but being quite shy and rather hesitant to say or write anything when they were unsure. This is something they will need to learn to do for university, so we talked about tactics of how and where to start, how to build confidence, and the importance of having a go, even when you are not 100% sure of your ground.
Before lunch, I took a tutor group meeting with 12 year 9 students (boys and girls from several different houses), partly so I could talk to them about school. Some of them have only been here a few months, some all year and some two or more years, so a real mix. They mostly seemed to absolutely love this school and compared it very favourably to their previous schools. In particular they commented on how much they liked and appreciated the friendliness and kindness of the staff, the more open approach to learning (with more problem solving and less learning by rote) and they also relished the opportunity to be around other young people outside lesson times (most, of course, are only children). The things they didn't like are the things all students always complain about - school food, not being allowed to use mobile phones and electronic devices during the day, bedtime, and, in some cases, too much prep (although interestingly enough they all said they managed to finish prep within the 1 1/4 hr prep time each evening!). One thing they inevitably find really hard here is not being allowed to talk to each other in chinese during the school day before 8 o'clock in the evening - that must be really tough - but of course the idea is to really build their English quickly and ultimately prepare them for university in English speaking countries. (clearly they sometimes do talk chinese to each other, but they get negative house points if they are caught doing so anywhere around school!) Quite a few of them also disliked having to do so much sport (although a few loved that) - sport is not something they normally do much of at all in chinese secondary schools.
After lunch I took a revision lesson with a lower division year 10 class (most years have two divisions here currently, X and Y, based partly on ability to speak and understand English, and partly on ability in all other subjects. Next year there will be three divisions). They were a contrast to the higher divisions I have seen, partly because some of them really struggle to understand what you are saying to them with the language barrier. They were also very shy and reluctant to say much, but we revised Electricity together, concentrating on Current and Voltage, and by the end they were beginning to talk to me, so we made progress.
Yesterday evening there was the most almighty storm. Torrential rain and lightning flashes that were so bright and so frequent that the subsequent thunder claps merged into a continuous rumbling roar. You couldn't count the time between lightning and thunder to work out how far away the storm was because everything was one big blur of light and noise. It must have been very close I think. It was unlike anything I've experienced before, except perhaps high up in the Alps, and was really quite exciting. It went on all night and into this morning - huge puddles like lakes everywhere! But the wonderful thing is that it has cleared the air. Its still warm, but not as humid, stuffy and close as its been the last few days. Long may it stay like that. (Especially as I woke up to find two big mosquito bites in the middle of my face - tonight, the mosquito in my bedroom dies!!)
More pictures from around the school
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| First floor walkway between buildings |
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| Art displays inn the Theatre, Music and Arts block |
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| More students' art on display |
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| Foyer in Theatre building |
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| Sound-proof music practice room |
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