Xiuning Middle School

It has been over a month since we first arrived at Xiuning Middle School. We are all moved in and are beginning to call it home.

The students are quite unique in their own way, though they spend some 16 hours every day with each other, studying for most of the time. Everyday, there is a new interesting story about the students. They keep us (the four Yale-China Fellows) on our toes.

The Chinese teachers are much more strict than we are, but that might be due to the fact that it is more difficult to be very strict with students who are only a few years younger than you. I prefer to keep my classroom light and interesting, so as to encourage students to share their own ideas and to contribute to an ongoing conversation in class. It is rather difficult, at times though, because they are shy and reluctant to speak. More often than not, I have to repeat myself several times to get students to respond. Otherwise I must cold-call them; but I never liked it in school myself, so I try to avoid that method.

As we studied in training, it is important to adopt the "additive method" of teaching, which basically introduces a new language in a way that enriches the native culture and language. For example, instead of enforcing a strict English-only policy, I use Chinese occasionally to build on their existing knowledge. I don't see it as a crutch, especially since they understand me most of the time.

After the first few weeks of class and our H1N1 week off, we had an opening ceremony for the school. It was mostly to present scholarships and awards to students who scored well at the beginning of the year on some generic test. I saw several of my students receive awards and felt very proud to be teaching them. Michael missed the ceremony because he was taking his LSATs. Brendan, Zoe, and I sat on the stage you see here.


There were over 2,000 students watching.


My classroom, which was Veronica's classroom last year.


My Class 2. They look very tame, but they're actually little monsters. Just kidding. I love them. I took these pictures while they were taking our body part unit quiz.


Class 1
"Espalda" haha. Mr. Bailey used to say, "You can't say 'Estoy espalda.'" "Espalda in Spanish means "back," as in the backside of your body. But in English we say "I am back" which can be translated to "Estoy espalda," though incorrectly. Anyway, bad tangent...


For the student's "open" period (where they can choose to play on the playground or just take a break), we offer a "Library Hour" where students can chat with the four of us. Here, some of the students are putting together a puzzle of "Twilight" (暮光之城) [insert disapproval].


Michael with some students.


Zoe with students.