Follow up to visit

Grantown

 

Grammar School

–

Xinying

 

Middle School

Partnership

Visit to

Xinying

 

Middle School April 2007

Introduction

Xinying

 

Middle School

has 1700 students and 117 staff. The students are divided into year groups known as Junior 1, 2 and 3 and Senior 1, 2 and 3.  There are about 50-70 students in a class. Each student has their own small desk and chair and they are arranged in rows. The uniform consists of a white tracksuit with blue stripes for the older students or orange stripes for the younger students.

School day

The school day starts at

7.40am

and finishes at

5.30pm

. For the senior students there are lessons every night from

5.30-7.30pm

. There are 8 classes a day each lasting about 1 hour and it is the teachers that move classrooms rather than the students. There are 3 breaks during the morning. One break lasts 15 minutes and is for group exercises outside. All the students line up in rows in their classes and perform stretches to music. They have another break for eye exercises to stimulate their concentration. Lunch is a 2 hour break and students can eat in the school canteen, go home for lunch or buy food from the shops and stalls outside school. During lunch most students either complete homework or have a nap at their desk. In the afternoon there are 2 ten minute breaks. The students have several hours of homework every day and work very hard as they have exams every week in at least one subject and have very important exams at the end of each of the 2 terms. It is very important to perform well in the exams as students in the top 60% of the year pay less for their school fees. This motivates the students to work hard. At the end of Junior 3 and Senior 3 the students have extremely important exams to enable them to get into the next stage of education, as they may choose to change schools.

Year Schedule

There are 2 terms – September to the end of January, and March to the end of June. In February students have 3 weeks off school to celebrate the Chinese New Year. They also have a week off in May. And they have 8 weeks off in the summer.

Lessons

Students study Chemistry, Biology, Physics, Computing, Maths, English, Chinese, Art, Sport, Music and Social subjects. Lessons vary greatly in terms of teaching style, but are generally based around a key text book which ensures that all the necessary material for the exams is covered.  Some teachers have a good knowledge of ICT and use it well to deliver lessons. Students work alone, in pairs and in small groups at times. In some lessons due to the large classes, the teacher has to present the lesson. The students seem very engaged with their studies and eager to learn. They clearly respect their teachers and stand up to greet them as they enter and bow to them. The students work hard and complete all work to a high standard. The students participate well in lessons and always stand up to volunteer an answer. Whilst I was visiting the school, I observed an Art lesson where students were doing paper cutting, a Music lesson where students learnt a traditional folk song and an English lesson where students prepared short dialogues. They were all excellent.

English

The level of English was very good and the students were very keen to practice it whilst I was visiting. They seemed fairly confident and not afraid to speak to me. They prepared their questions in advance by writing them down.  The students have 9 to 12 lessons a week of English, whereas they only have 2 or 3 lessons a week of other subjects. English is considered very important as it seen as vital to finding a job and being successful. The students are very keen to come to

Scotland

and visit other English speaking countries to practice their English.

Extra Curricular activities

Every year there are two competitions to celebrate Chinese culture: dancing in May and singing in December. All the students participate and each class prepares a song or dance.

The students play table tennis, football and basketball. There are school teams for swimming, basketball and shooting with national competitions every year. There are 3 basketball teams in the district and

Xinying

 

Middle School

competes against them in local competitions.

Location

Students travel to school from all over

Kunming

and many cycle, walk, are driven by parents in cars or on motorbikes or electric mopeds. The students do not necessarily live close to the school as students can attend any secondary school in

Kunming

that they choose, as they have to pay fees. It costs about 800-1000 Yuan a year, which is about £50-65, if students are in the top 60% of their year in terms of their exam results. However for all other students, the fees are 6-8000 Yuan a year, which is about £400-540. Most secondary schools in

China

are fee paying.

The school is situated in the north of

Kunming

and is very much a city school. It is a courtyard style building on 5 floors with ponds, plants and trees in the central area. There is also a large sandy pitch, a running track and a basketball court. It has a pleasant atmosphere and is very light and bright.

Kunming

Kunming

is a beautiful city. It has 4 million people and feels very busy with lots of rickshaws, bikes, cars, electric mopeds, motorbikes and people walking. It feels very modern and has some lovely interesting architecture, as well as some older buildings. There is a pedestrianised shopping area with cafes, restaurants, and market stalls. The city has a historical centre with pagodas and typical Chinese gates. There are beautiful bhuddist and Taoist temples and mosques. There is a range of hills surrounding

Kunming

where there is a temple complex, as well as an enormous lake called

Dianchi

 

Lake

. The city is called the ‘

Eternal

 

Spring

 

City

’ as the temperature is about 20°C all year round with a generally blue sky. The city also has lots of trees, green parks and beautifully colourful flowers lining the roads. People sit outside everywhere and play cards, mahjong, local instruments, croquet, sing and even give massages.

Kunming

is in

Yunnan

province in southwest

China

and is home to 26 of the 50 ethnic groups in

China

. In

Kunming

there is a nationalities village which celebrates these different groups with typical buildings, dances, costumes, music and food. There is also a fantastic stage production called Dynamic Yunnan which brings together the musical and dancing traditions in an impressive display. The local people are very proud of their heritage and ethnic background and want to share it.

The food of the area is delicious as it is not too spicy but is very flavourful and light. Cross bridge noodles is the traditional dish which consists of a bowl of hot broth in which you put a selection of raw ingredients such as chicken, noodles and vegetables. Other specialities include

Yunnan

pancakes made from rice flour, goats cheese that can either be lightly fried or dried and then deep fried to resemble crisps. Meat and vegetable dishes are not generally combined and in a restaurant you typically order 4 or 5 dishes for 2 people consisting of: rice, soup, a vegetable dish such as cabbage or aubergine, a chicken or beef dish and a fish dish. They also use local wild flowers and hundreds of varieties of mushrooms.

Yunnan

is a diverse province with the high altitude Tibetan plateau in the north at about 3000m with yaks roaming freely in a very barren and mountainous area. In the south there are lush green rice fields with intensive subsistence farming to produce all sorts of vegetables and fruit including strawberries. Further south still, there is the rainforest.