The RCEF Blog 博客

While visiting the United States this summer, Sara Lam and I had the opportunity to participate in a week-long training at the Foxfire Museum and Heritage Center in Southern Appalachia. The center is located on Black Mountain in Mountain City, Georgia. Foxfire was originally the name of a class that was started in 1966 by [...]

Since the beginning of the school year, Sara Lam and I have been leading an adult English class every Tuesday and Thursday at Guan Ai Primary. The class was created because teachers at Guan Ai, English and otherwise, expressed interest in improving their English skills. From the beginning, seven teachers, or half of the teaching [...]

Guan Ai teacher Yang Li Na won the annual PuZhou township English teaching competition. The competition was held last week and included eight English teachers from other schools in the township. Teachers were required to prepare a lesson from the 4th grade Oxford English textbook and present it to a classroom of students in PuZhou. [...]

Last year, construction at Guan Ai Primary School began with the building of two new wood buildings donated by Canada Wood, a non-profit organization. The two buildings are being used as offices for the teachers and RCEF staff members so they have space to design lesson plans, attend trainings, and reflect on their teaching. This [...]

Over 300 million Chinese citizens are smokers. According to a study reported in the British Medical Journal, 75% of Chinese men smoke and nearly 50% of them will die from smoking-related illnesses if present smoking levels remain unchanged. The problem is especially pronounced in rural areas. According to Professor Teh-wei Hu at the University of [...]

Recently, 6th grade students at Guan Ai Primary began drafting their first letters to their pen pals. This is the second year this class will exchange letters with students at Trinity School in Menlo Park, California. This year the 6th graders will be writing their letters in English instead of having someone translate for them. [...]

This week’s selection from the RCEF bookshelf is Positive Discipline in the Classroom: Developing Mutual Respect, Cooperation and Responsibility in your Classroom by Jane Nelsen, Lynn Lott and Stephen Glenn. With over one million copies of this book in print, Jane Nelsen has created quite a following for her positive discipline strategies. Nelsen and her [...]

When I first arrived at Guan Ai, I was pleasantly surprised by the number of books in the library. In addition to the hundreds of books for students, there is also a significant collection of books on education and teaching methods. This year, I’ll be reading and reviewing these books and others to hopefully spark [...]

Wednesday, September 10th marked China’s 24th annual Teachers’ Day celebration. The day is set aside each year for students to show affection and gratitude for their teachers. At Guan Ai Primary School, the teachers were given the afternoon off to enjoy some much-needed rest and relaxation. During this time, RCEF staff members worked with students [...]