Improve Quality of Teaching in Rural China

Over the past several months, RCEF has been busy promoting service learning teaching methodology amongst teachers and NGOs that work with rural children. Service learning is an educational approach that cultivates civic responsibility by integrating academic learning and personal growth with meaningful service to the community. In a typical service-learning project, students identify problems that they are concerned about in their community, research the problems and potential solutions, create and implement a plan for addressing the problem, and reflect on their learning and action throughout the process.

A new RCEF handbook on service learning presents this teaching methodology in detail along with practical examples of how RCEF teachers have applied it in rural China. Over 200 copies were distributed to participants at a national conference on rural education in December 2011 in Guangzhou, China. A RCEF teacher with over 15 years experience teaching in village schools in northern China gave a well-received presentation about the service learning projects she and RCEF developed with classes of fourth- and fifth-grade children in rural Shanxi Province. Her story was so moving that a reporter from a national education magazine profiled her and these teaching methods for a cover feature story that will come out in their February 2012 edition! 

Links:

• Article published in Solutions Journal
• Annual Report 2011

Migration from rural to urban areas is a common phenomenon in China. However, when rural adults migrate to cities to work, they often leave behind young children and elderly parents. China Daily estimates there are 20 million “left-behind children” and 20 million “left-behind elderly” in China’s rural areas. Their lives and needs were the focus of a curriculum unit for third- and fourth-graders developed with support from the Rural China Education Foundation.

You can watch a video of the teaching here: http://www.youtube.com/ruralchina#p/u/2/58iTa7dZxZE.

First, teachers in two schools in Yongji, Shanxi Province selected age-appropriate books and a short film to get students thinking about this topic from various perspectives. Then the students interviewed left-behind children and elderly people in their communities about problems that they face. Around 40% of the students are left-behind children themselves. They discussed which problems they could personally work on alleviating, settling on these 3 issues: academic difficulties faced by left-behind children whose parents aren’t home to help with homework, poor personal hygiene, and the heavy workload of the elderly who must farm the land and do household chores.

Students thought about the reason for these problems and found that there is much they can do to help. They decided to form small groups in each village matching up older students with younger students to address the problems. Each group made plans, including when and where to meet, and elected a group leader to handle coordination. Based on home visits, program teachers found that students’ guardians strongly approve of this initiative. We will continue to provide updates on the innovative teaching that this program helps to develop!

Links:

• Video of Teaching

This summer, RCEF supported summer camps for rural teachers and children in Shanxi Province. The participating teachers came from rural schools in Shanxi, Sichuan, Anhui, Yunnan, and Gansu Provinces. The goal was to expose them to RCEF's educational philosophy and teaching methods, which the teachers found fresh and thought-provoking.

Before the summer camps, staff and veteran teachers introduced the teaching framework and supporting theories. They then led the group in hands-on practice, facilitating local children from the surrounding villages to engage in a service learning project. One group of children investigated the prevalence of cigarette smoking in their communities and then put on a performance for their family members (some of whom are smokers) that included skits and art displays that incorporated what they had learned about the health effects of smoking. Another group of children investigated the reading habits and needs of their classmates and made suggestions about how to improve their school library.

In the evaluation, teachers said that this kind of hands-on training which combined theory with practice was extremely valuable. Ms. Ma Zhongyi from Sichuan Province remarked, "I've never been at a training like this before. Usually there's just some expert talking about their own experience. Sometimes the person doesn't even understand education and has never really put into practice their "expertise." This training allowed us to participate in every aspect. I moved from being confused and skeptical in the beginning to developing my own understanding of--and opinions about--service learning. I want to attend more trainings like this where I can meet people who have the same passion and exchange experiences." Teacher Bi Yunmei from Yunnan Province wrote, "We didn't just learn some teaching strategies or techniques, we learned a completely new teaching philosophy. We learned how to look at society--to explore and analyze it and then use our own actions to display our strength. I need this kind of education, which involves a whole new way of thinking and dialogue about values."