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Thoughts on Study Tour in New Zealand


n Chunyan From June 6 to 21, with the recommendation of the Chinese Association for International Understanding (CAFIU), Beijing Municipal Foreign Affair Office and Education Committee of Miyun County, I participated in a China-New Zealand Cultural Exchange Program hosted by Rotary International of Lower Hutt and conducted a 15-day field study tour in Lower Hutt, New Zealand. The program aims to elevate the professional skills of elementary and middle school English teachers in Miyun County, further friendly cooperation of schools between China and New Zealand and promote educational and cultural exchanges. Ⅰ. Learning-Oriented Educational Concept 1. Emphasizing on development of students’ thinking. In many links of the teaching process of different subjects, teachers will give students questions to think about. These questions not only help students better understand the texts, but also inspire them to think over what they have learned. It can also serve as an effective means of feedbacks for teachers to assess whether the students have fully grasped the texts. Such training manners encourage students to think actively, during which their thinking could be well exercised and they will be able to form good ways and habit of thinking. Meanwhile the teachers train and guide students to raise questions, so that their thinking could be improved. Therefore, the teaching atmosphere in New Zealand classrooms is very vibrant. The teachers are more like a guide that leads students to learn. 2. Focus on the build-up of self-management ability. The students are given more time and space to do activities in and after calsses, leading them to be able to do self-management and division of labor. In the process, what the students need to do is self-management, team cooperation, decision-making. All the teachers need to do is to assign tasks. The students can carry out all these activities in an orderly, lively manner. Though it may seem loose at the first glance, the students themselves actually have very good self-management ability. 　　 3. Putting on weight on the formation of reading habit. The school assigns students of different grades a lot of reading tasks from picture books to those that need certain levels of comprehension ability. Libraries are also venues for students to learn. Teachers often move classes to libraries. When being divided into different groups, students read consciously and feed back correspondingly. Teachers will assign students some homework like imitative writing to do after that already been finished in class so that students could use what they have learned to do a better work. 　　 4. Concerntrating on enriching curriculum of school. Most of the schools have their own curriculum. For example, St. Oran’s College set the Maori language as a compulsory subject and Spanish and French as second foreign languages and optional courses like latte-art, coffee-making and music. Drama and speech are the common courses that every school has from elementary schools to senior middle schools to practice students’ oral expression and confidence. Courses like general technique and designing aiming to cultivate students’ ability of material-searching, practice, innovation and creation are also included in the curriculum. These are the ways used to inspire students to be designers. Ⅱ. Experiencing Unique Culture Besides listening lectures, visiting schools and observing classes, what impressed me most is the culture there. 1. Experiencing the Maori culture. We song and danced with Maori students. Their respect for their own culture like costume and food looks so sacred. The worship for their roots is embodied in their cultural centers and museums, all reflecting what a confident New Zealand means. Maori teachers and students are very friendly. When visiting local schools, we taught the teachers and students Chinese. To my surprise, when I was introducing myself, many students say “Hello” to me loudly. It is not only a reflection of friendship, but also an indication of the charm of Chinese language in the minds of foreign people and the deep friendship between New Zealand people and Chinese people. 2. Homestay experience. New Zealand is very open to foreign people. During the study tour, I have stayed with two families. They are all members of Rotary Club, optimistic and hospitable, trying to make different dishes for us and helping us to understand cuisine culture. They took US to mountain climbing, trying to bridge the gap between us and we even become good friends. Mechal is a governor of a bank. He is very fond of beautifying environment. He often invited us to trim plants in the garden. I came to realize how beautiful it is to go abroad and meet different people. You can listen to them, observe and experience life that you had no chance to do in the past and discover and understand the differences, during which you can also express thoughts you had not expressed before. Ⅲ. Several Thoughts At macro level, first, we need to diversify curriculum. We could learn from courses like artistic cooking and general technique to train students’ basic living abilities like actual operation and practicing ability. Second, liberal art education should put more emphasis on students’ critical thinking and language competence. We could incorporate speech and drama into certain subjects in our daily teaching. Third, we should improve holistic education, trying to build up students’ awareness of self-confidence, innovation, cooperation and consciousness to serve the society. We should also improve our evaluation system. More attention should be paid to implement process evaluation and stage-dependent appraisal, and avoid one-xamination-determine-whole life evaluation. At micro level, as far as English teaching is concerned, first, we should improve ourselves in the selection and compilation of supplementary materials and conduct more research on school-specific textbooks and make the contents more up-to-ate, more interesting and with more options to choose. And we also need to improve our ability to deal with situations flexibly. We should design more reasonable and effective teaching links based on reality and texts, strengthening training at the thinking level and guide student to comprehend texts. Second, we should improve students’ ability to raise and answer questions. We could set up different standards based on different levels, and encourage students at different levels to communicate with each other and learn how to cooperate. Meanwhile, we should build a platform of different scenarios for students to practice English. Besides the text drama we have always been promoting, the activities to read standard English should be implemented further so as to improve students’ expression and ability to use it. The two-week study tour has come to an end. I have not only experienced the advanced educational philosophy and teaching methods, but also improved my own English during that period. I realized that a country, if it wants to grow stronger, should pay more attention to education. As an educator, it is my unshakable responsibility to help improve the teaching standard of Miyun county and China at large. I will sure take this opportunity to put into use the essence of New Zealand education into Miyun County’s educational cause while keeping our own advantage.