Catch Them Being Good


Yes, it's confession time.This post is really just an excuse for lots of old photos from my five years at Green Oasis School.

Why are Chinese children so completely sweet and adorable? Well, most of them were, most of the time. 

Even when one or two of the students at GOS were a little bit naughty, the parents and the school's administration were very firm and supportive. Another probable reason why GOS was such a positive place was that many Chinese schools have a reputation for being absolutely dreadful and unhappy places, so the children loved being at a happy school where the teachers wanted to be friendly and make learning fun.

When I was at Lord Wandsworth College, more years ago than I care to remember, most of my lessons were staggeringly dull, uninteresting and predictable. At GOS, I really tried hard to make my lessons "hands on", fun and different. Practical Science lessons are a headache for teachers, but the students love them and, even more importantly, they remember them. One of the most enjoyable Science lessons was one about friction and involved some of my shoes!

And of course there is nothing quite like bringing "the real world" into your classroom. Dissecting, drawing and labelling the parts of a flower is a great way to learn some practical Biology.

One of my favourite lessons was a debate with the other Year 5 class, "This House believes that having a school uniform is a bad idea". A bit subversive, yes, but also a very difficult when the speakers are only ten years old and Mandarin is their first language.  


 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Educaring, Part 2

Image
Not so long ago, I wrote a post for my blog called Educaring . Please do not misunderstand me. I really do believe that teachers, youth workers, parents (and indeed anyone involved with young people) all have a duty to protect children and teenagers, to keep them safe. As I argued in my previous posting, I also believe that the task of protecting children is becoming more and more difficult - almost impossible, in fact. Yes, the Internet has a lot to do with it, I am sure, but there is another problem that is hardly ever discussed.  In a nutshell, anyone who genuinely cares about children finds it very hard to imagine how evil and how subtle child molesters and pedophiles really are. I think that is probably why many teachers and parents just do not know when a pedophile is "grooming" a child and why they often do not believe it, even when confronted with the unpleasant truth. Michael Green at Windlesham House School I knew Michael Green when I was teaching at Windlesh...
Read more

On the Cards, Part 1

Image
Getting our new Bulgarian residency cards from the Microwave Oven Woman Rejoice! Let's celebrate. Hallelujah! At long last, the Microwave Woman has given us our new Bulgarian residency cards (BRCs). As a special treat, just in case you do not know what a BRC looks like, here is my old one.  My dear wife suggested that I should "black out" certain bits, as there are lots of evil people out there on the Internet, all gathering my personal and financial details in order to swindle me or involve me in some dreadful scandal or some such nonsense. Of course, no one who reads my blog could ever do such a nasty thing!   Getting our new BRCs means that we can go ahead with our applications for our Russian visas. Then, maybe two or three weeks later, our passports will be returned to us, with new Russian visas stuck into them. The other good news is that the insurance agent in Dragoman did not lose my car registration document. When she had finished giving me my new car ...
Read more

A Eulogy for My Old Latin Teacher, Roger Terence Davies

Image
RTD, in his later years The great Mark O'Gorman, aka the One and Only Markoi, has asked me to say a few words about Roger Davies and so, of course, I must obey. For duty, duty must be done The rule applies to everyone Though painful though that duty be To shirk the task, oh fiddledee! A much younger RTD Roger Terence Davies, RTD, the Rather Tubby  Dinosaur or dinosaurus pinguior, was my favourite teacher at Lord Wandsworth College, otherwise known as LWC, or the London Water Closet, as I usually called it when I was a student here. RTD taught Latin and double Latin with him on a Friday was the highlight of my week. Not surprisingly, I went on from GCSE O Level Latin to do Latin A level and then Classics at Oxford. Since graduating, I have been a primary teacher in one or two places around the world. I think that it is no exaggeration for me to say that Roger had more influence upon the course of my life any other person. Caecilius is very much alive! ...
Read more