Category Archives: China

Resources by themselves are not sufficient to improve language learning in Victorian or for that matter Australian schools?

Once again students learning another language hits the newspaper headlines: The trouble with languages in primary schools Time to mind our languages Interestingly it hits the headlines in the only state in Australia (Victoria) that mandates languages be taught in … Continue reading

Posted in Assessment, China, Chinese Language, curriculum, Sister School | 1 Comment

The Wounded Leader

Recently I recalled a book I read a few ago called The Wounded Leader by Ackerman and Maslin-Ostrowski. In the book they suggest schools have leadership resistant architecture typically “the conspiracy of busyness: where there is little time for leaders to … Continue reading

Posted in China, professional learning, reflections, school administration, Sister School, Uncategorized | 13 Comments

An authentic purpose for learning – a makers market.

Tonight our Year 1 and 2 students ran a “makers market” as their last performance for their technology based unit of learning “how do you make”. As you can see by the photo the market was well attended with hundreds … Continue reading

Posted in China, Instruction, Teaching | 3 Comments

Chinese New Year at EPS

  This morning at assembly we had the traditional “lion dance” to celebrate Chinese New Year. Its also the 3rd assembly for the new school year and one could tell from the wide eyed 4-5 year old prep students they … Continue reading

Posted in China, Chinese Language | 2 Comments

terra-cotta warriors

I stumbled upon this short clip on the Terra-Cotta Warriors yesterday which I think gives a great short overview on this natural wonder I visited last year. It’s worth a view for those interested in history.

Posted in China, history, Video Clips | 1 Comment

“I am eleven” a tremendous resource to explore intercultural understandings.

I just had to share this resource which I have just ordered for my school. I and I should say we are really just starting to get immersed into the intercultural understanding space in schools. It’s an really interesting space … Continue reading

Posted in China, Sister School, Teaching, Video Clips | 7 Comments

Mandarin the 4th most popular language in primary schools! (updated)

I woke up yesterday to read from a local newspaper that Mandarin is now the fourth most-popular choice for primary school pupils in Victoria. The article went on to say: The news comes as schools prepare for the introduction of compulsory … Continue reading

Posted in China, Chinese Language, curriculum, school | 1 Comment

A crash course in Chinese History.

As crash courses go and allowing for a few mistakes like the great wall was started by the Qin dynasty and the Ming dynasty, like the others, just expanded and fixed the Wall or that Chinese recorded history is 5000 not … Continue reading

Posted in China, Instruction, Teaching, Uncategorized, Video Clips | 1 Comment

Stop bashing public education for the tsunami effect will be big and long lasting.

I’m indebted to Greg Whitby for provoking me to write this post when he wrote on a quality education for all. Greg, I think was stirred by Prof Dinham when he recently wrote in the Age newspaper about what he perceived … Continue reading

Posted in China, Community, Instruction, Leadership, teacher efficacy, Teaching, Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Is there a mindset change needed to engage parents when using formative assessment during parent teacher interviews?

I’ve been thinking lately about our upcoming parent teacher interviews which we now hold in March and August of each year and whether we need to reset the context for both teachers and parents? Let me set a little background … Continue reading

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Bo’ai Primary School our sister school

A few months ago I visited our sister school Bo’ai Primary School, Changzhao in China. The school has 3 sites: a Year 1/2 school for about 1,500 students, an older site currently being demolished and rebuilt and a new site … Continue reading

Posted in China, Sister School, sports coaching, Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Bo’ai to Elsternwick students talk via Skype

  This week we had our second Skype session with our sister school, Bo’ai PS, in Changzhao China. The clarity of the picture was amazing considering it was on wireless network. What we tried this time was as the picture … Continue reading

Posted in China, Chinese Language, Teaching, Uncategorized | 8 Comments

Skype calls to China

  This week we had our first Skype conference call with Amy an English teacher at our sister school in China. It was a real buzz to talk in real-time with someone so far away from the comfort of my … Continue reading

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A school dragon is born.

  Late last year I was remiss in not sharing news about a project two teachers imagined – a school dragon to use when we celebrate Chinese festivals and events. The Mandarin teacher, Bec had the original idea and then another … Continue reading

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Jiangsu School Leaders Delegation

This week I was invited to meet a delegation of school leaders from the Jiangsu Province of China. After the introductions and overviews of each region or province were finished we had an opportunity to exchange views of education and … Continue reading

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