The RCEF Blog 博客

Recently, I read a paper by Huhua Ouyang called One-Way Ticket: A Story of an Innovative Teacher in Mainland China (Anthropology & Education Quarterly, Dec. 2000). It chronicles the journey of “Cheng”, a highly decorated English teacher from a rural area. She received free training at an urban university aimed at raising her English skills [...]

Computer classes have been going on for a few days here at Guozhuang and things are going quite smoothly. We have ten students of varying ability, though none of which are very experienced. The plan is that this first class will go on to teach other villagers how to use computers, thereby increasing uptake (purchases) [...]

I brought lots of glass bottles to the science experiment class because I thought that plastics bottles would be easier for the students to knock over. Ron Sung watched the class and offered some suggestions for improvement. He asked me, “How do feel the class went?” I said, “Not too bad, though perhaps a little [...]

For the Guan Ai 4th graders’ lesson on masted ships, Teacher Sun decided that the best way to learn about how masted ships function, students should build their own boats and find a way to make them work. The 4th grade Chinese language text required students to know the vocabulary of a masted ship’s parts, [...]

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 [...]

Third grade social studies teacher, Sun Huiguo, recently taught a great lesson on map-making and directions, with little help from the curriculum or textbook. In a unit on “My Family”, one lesson is devoted to the geographic location of students’ homes and directions for getting there. The textbook asks students to draw and describe the [...]

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. [...]

The government launched curriculum reforms several years ago. The curriculum reform promotes more student-centered teaching in which students are supposed to play a more active role in learning. Publishers have changed the way textbooks are written to facilitate this. There is less text that directly spells out the knowledge students are supposed to learn, and [...]

I finally saw Michelle Rhee! She spoke on a panel about “Improving Quality Education” with two women from Mali and India–places that seemed worlds apart from Washington, DC but actually face very similar root problems in their schools. 50% of fifth graders surveyed by the NGO Pratham in India could not read simple sentences. The [...]

The 2008 Clinton Global Initiative starts in New York City tomorrow. For the second year, RCEF has been invited to attend, which is a big honor and unique opportunity to network with the likes of President Clinton, innovative NGOs, corporate heads, and influential people in many fields. Last year, Wei Ji Ma represented RCEF and [...]