Mr Greenwood & Mrs Farrimond's visit to Xihang No3 Primary School
The Autumn term was a busy one for our International Partnership as it saw Mr Greenwood and Mrs Farrimond travel to Xi’an in Shaanxi Province, China in September to spend time in our Chinese partner school, Xi Hang No3 Primary, as well as Chen Hong (Headteacher) and Liu XiaoJun (Teacher) spending time at Broomfields in November. These visits were focussed on ‘Developing the Partnership’ of our British Council funded ‘Connecting Classrooms’ programme and saw us embarking on joint projects as well as providing opportunities to teach in each other’s schools.
Mrs Farrimond and Mr Greenwood left Manchester Airport on Friday 19th September and after change of plane in Helsinki arrived in Xi’an at 6.30am (Chinese Time) on Saturday 20th September. After transfers to our hotel we had an early meeting with our colleagues from Xi Hang No3. The weekend was spent on cultural activities and we had the opportunity to see some of the famous sights in Xi’an hosted by our Chinese friends.
We had a delightful welcome at Xi Hang No3 Primary School from both the staff and the children.
Our week was spent in school and we had the opportunity to observe and participate in a wide range of lessons including, music, art, dance, mathematics, Chinese culture and physical education as well as seeing a wide range of extra-curricular activities. Mrs Farrimond had liaised closely with Lui XiaoJun prior to our visit to allow her to teach a class of over 50 Chinese children an English lesson focussed on formal and informal greetings.
We had considerable discussions with staff at the school about teaching styles and pedagogy as a significant element of the partnership is how we can learn from each other to further develop work in our own schools. We also exchanged gifts and we were honoured to receive this scroll which says, ‘Long distances don’t separate close friends’.
Our visit to China was a special experience and concluded with us celebrating, updating and signing our partnership agreement. Our return trip saw us arriving back in Manchester on Saturday 27th September.
The reciprocal visit from Xi Hang No 3 to Broomfields took place between 8-14 November and this allowed further opportunities for us to develop the partnership. Our Chinese friends arrived in time to take part in Remembrance Sunday and the commemorative events linked to the 100th Anniversary of the 1st World War. As when we were in China, the weekend was taken up with cultural activities. Monday was the opportunity for Broomfields Junior School to welcome Chen Hong and Liu XiaoJun from XiHang No3 together with Zhang Rong and Bai Cailing, the Headteachers of Xi’an Municipal Experiment Primary and Hou Zaimen Primary respectively.
A key element of our partnership is reflecting on each other’s teaching styles and in the same way that Mrs Farrimond taught some English to the Chinese children, Liu XiaoJun took the opportunity to teach 6JF some Chinese. The children thoroughly enjoying the experience and were extremely responsive to the opportunity to learn some Chinese.
Additionally, our Chinese friends were able to observe some other lessons during their time at Broomfields. These included mathematics, history, music and history as well as some extra-curricular activities.
We also exchanged gifts and discussed further ways in which we could embed the partnership as part of the next phase of its development.
Further British Council funded reciprocal visits are planned for September and November 2015.