The RCEF Blog 博客

中文翻译在英文后面。RCEF has donated books for libraries in six rural schools and communities. On July 18, teachers from two of those sites, Henan Dayang and Shandong Guozhuang Elementary Schools, gathered at Guan Ai Elementary School for a sharing meeting. Another participant, Huang Yaxiong, used his own money to start a small lending collection for his middle [...]

(中文在英文后面) Merrybelle Guo, a student at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, received a grant to travel to China and create storybooks with students and teachers at RCEF’s Guan Ai Elementary School. This is the third in a series of posts about her experience. Previous posts can be found through the following links: part 1, [...]

Merrybelle Guo, a student at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, received a grant to travel to China and create storybooks with students and teachers at RCEF’s Guan Ai Elementary School. This is the second in a series of posts about her experience. The first part can be found here. I suppose I should begin [...]

Merrybelle Guo just finished her junior year at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. She received a grant to travel to China and create storybooks with students and teachers at RCEF’s Guan Ai Elementary School. This is the first of a series of posts about her experience. The children love her and she’s been a [...]

In April, 胡永宏 (Hu Yonghong or “Henry”) began working as a teaching fellow at Guan Ai School. He is experimenting with designing English curriculum for third and sixth grades because the official textbooks are often not appropriate. Below is his summary of his first month of work. 4月23日以来，我主要参与了关爱学校的TRINITY 学校来访，英语课程设计，3、6年级的英语教学工作。 TRINITY学校的来访，让我有机会认识关爱学校，我觉得要得到正确真实的信息一定是要亲自去看，亲历亲闻。其实，想关爱学校的这种状况，以前在洛南并不少见。从基础设施来看，关爱学校的情况并不是很好。但去过寨子小学、恒道垣小学，西文学小学之后，我才发现这里的基础设施，生源状况都差不多是半斤八两。关爱小学的特点在于学生活跃，师生关系近，老师教学方法新，素质教育走在先。TRINITY学校的老师、家长和孩子们一定会有许多收获，因为他们来到一个全新的地方，虽然语言不通，但熟悉的音乐帮助我们架起友谊的桥梁。对于关爱学校的学生和老师而言，这也是让我们学习除英语之外的其他很多东西的机会，譬如美国人的爱心，敬业精神，美国小孩的环保意识等。 在教材设计的过程中，我觉得把自己的想法能够写出来也是很有意义的工作。起初，我觉得很茫然，不清楚自己在做的事情是否有用，孩子们是否会喜欢我所设计的内容，但我有很好的机会，那就是我可以边设计，边实践。我几乎已经完全放弃了教科书的束缚。

Last week, I talked to an 8th-grade social science teacher from Staten Island, New York. She had been teaching for 25 years, but when I asked her whether she still enjoyed it, the answer was a curt no. Why not, I asked. “Because teachers are not allowed to teach anymore. I am not allowed to [...]

再得知要办校报这个任务之后，我就和老师们商量，决定将此重任交给最稳重的六年级。于是，从昨天开始，孩子们开始了开创之旅。在我的“威逼利诱”（十分钟的时间想出给所有版块起让我感到最奇怪最好笑的名字）之下，孩子们的小组讨论成果不错，“不笑我跟你急”，“脑子抽筋”，“芝麻开脑门”,“校园互联网”，等等等等版块的名字，连我都感到很惊奇。昨天已经将所有的板块内容划定，今天他们将开始版块设计。之后我会将版面转为电子版，之后打印出来。再让他们画上些装饰，最后复印出来，成为正式报纸。 孩子们已经开始经历了采访、甄选稿件、小组讨论、学习参考其它已有资源、组长会议沟通、排版、简单编辑等等，相信这段经历会对他们的能力有所加强。以后整个六年级将会是关爱学校的校报报社，成为他们所有人的一个看得见摸得着的成果。

我们在关爱小学所作的阅读项目应该算是一种尝试。在农村一线的这段时间，我们发现仅在乡村小学建立图书馆，而不辅以相对应的措施与学校的配合，则几乎会是一种无用功。问题在于农村儿童由于经济状况、家庭培养，社区氛围等原因，极少数会有读书的习惯与能力。与其说读书的习惯与能力，不如说能不能坐下读一页书的能力，答案是几乎没有。大多数的学生对书的渴求完全来自于好奇心与“好玩”，所以借阅制度是小问题；而能不能让学生们真正去读进去一本书才是真正的困难，也只有克服这个关卡，随后相关的制度等延伸问题才变得有意义。那么如何解决这个问题我们做了相应的尝试： 第一， 最重要的一点，就是要选择适合该年龄阶段儿童的读物。我们发现有些学校里本身有的读物根本就不适合孩子们阅读。我们有几个选择的标准，比如说：很大的画，较少的字；故事内容吸引人；带拼音；低年级的书要很薄，等等。只有这样，才能为孩子们阅读能力从0到1打下基础。

When Ding Yi, a volunteer from the RCEF Materials Design committee, visited Guan Ai School in Shanxi (one of RCEF’s experimental sites) last week, she transformed classroom blackboards into colorful “story maps” using drawings made by students. The first step was for students to draw one object of their choice. There were no restrictions on [...]