I hope the classes I skyped with yesterday morning enjoyed our time together. I am pleased that the students took the time to find the answers to my questions:). I miss all of you and it made me feel at home to see everyone. Maybe our connection will be better this evening (10:00 pm Beijing Time)
My Wednesday started at 5:45 am with another jog around the Forbidden City. I stayed up until 1:30 am last evening to force me to sleep through the night. It must have worked because I was awoken by my alarm. I did take my camera to post photos of sights during my morning jog. I have uploaded todays photos to photo bucket and you should see many sights I encountered today. The first photo is of a few Chinese people exercising their dogs on a small grass area next to the Forbidden City. There were the same men fishing in the moat of the Forbidden city although I have not seen them pull out any fish.
The local people clean their sidewalks and tidy up their small areas outside their residence or stores. The number of bicycles continues to amaze me. The Chinese use the bicycles for everything you can imagine from the family car (with three people on the bike) to a pick up truck loading trash from the streets.
Our agenda today was to visit two schools in Beijing. The first was one of the best public schools in the city (Beijing National Day School). The second was a migrant worker school not even funded by the Chinese government. We had to drive about an hour to each school and they were probably not more than 20 miles away. The traffic is very heavy and moves pretty slow. The schools could not have been any more different in the resources the students were exposed to, but both schools had great staff and wonderful children.
The National Day School had about 4000 students in grades 7-12 and students who attended needed to achieve great scores on the state exams. Attending this school probably ensured that the students would be accepted into a very good university. The facilities were very nice as you will see in the photos. They had everything from an Astroturf stadium to a swimming pool. We were greeted by a wonderful reception by the principal and a group of ambassador students who spoke English very well. The principal presented his vision of education for his students based on his 8 trips to the United States. This school had over 400 clubs students could join and over 33 different career focuses students could study. My ambassador was a junior and she started a giving charity club. She felt that people need to give back to others and help where they could. The school was celebrating American Day next week which meant they would participate in American customs and embrace the American culture for the day. You will see many American flags in the photos. The students were very happy to be attending this school. Many students lived in dorms and only left the school grounds to travel home when school was not in session. It was a truly amazing school.
We then traveled out of the center of Beijing to the edge of town where new construction was taking place over old portions of town. This is where the migrants from the countryside have moved to work jobs in Beijing. The living conditions were very difficult as you can see from the photos and the families and community had next to nothing. The migrant workers' children had no schools to attend so a retired business man and retired principal started their own private school. This is common in these communities. The school was very welcoming as well, but the conditions were completely opposite from the beautiful National Day School. This school received no money from the Chinese government and it was funded completely by the community and donations. The students loved to see us and speak a little English for us. They presented me with the red scarf just like they wore as part of their uniforms. You will see from the photos the poor conditions of the buildings, but see the smiles on the students faces. The children were wonderful and anxious to learn. When you see the photos realize that the school was built in 2003. I took many of my colorful office pencils and the students were very happy to receive them. Overall, another very educational day. See you tomorrow.
Questions.
Why is it important for Chinese students to do well in school and why is it so important for them to try their best in elementary school?
What is the capital city of China?
What year was the game of ping pong invented and by whom?
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