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William Bradford Community College and Nanshan Middle School China Exchange - July 5th – 11th 2009
A group of sixth form students and staff will be visiting Nanshan School our partner school in China. This will be our second visit and follows on from the successful visit from China to our school last July. Our links with Nanshan School are now well established. We now have a strong commitment to work to sustain our partnership for the future.
For this visit our Joint Project is in the curriculum areas of Science and English and is supported by funding from the British Council.
The project is an environment study involving year 9/10 students during our Induction fortnight in June. Our aim is to monitor the environment by recording measurements from dust and pollutant indicators and share results between our Schools.. All groups will collect data following the instructional work sheet from 21st Century Science. This involves dust collection on microscope slides and then making observations of the dust particles using a microscope. We intend that the data will be analysed and shared by being uploaded onto the VLE / School Website. Students in our Partner School will also collect data for the project prior to our visit. During the exchange visit students will present, review and discuss the project and post the outcomes onto the VLE / website to share the data.
The English work will focus on discussions on the curriculum at KS4 and KS5 with a plan to develop resources to share relevant set texts.
We intend to establish an e- journal/diary to provide writings for students to share experiences of everyday life, school day and lessons with partners in both schools. There will be opportunities to discover Chinese poets and to develop work on Asian poets and Literature.
On their return the group will produce a report and poster display in the library of the visit and there will be an opportunities for the students to share the benefits of the cultural exchange with the school and community during the next term.
William Bradford and Nanshan School China Partnership Exchange July 2009
During the week 5th - 12th July ten students and their teachers visited our partner school Nanshan Middle School, in Mianyang City, Sichuan Province - China. The exchange was a great success and students had an interesting cultural experience meeting our partners. A focus during the visit was to work together on a Joint Science Project to monitor air quality. Year 9 students at William Bradford had already worked during their induction fortnight at WBCC to provide the data that was then discussed in China.
The Project was well received by both teachers and students at Nanshan School. The techniques to monitor the dust levels in the atmosphere were practiced in the science lessons and dust levels were compared. Our Chinese Partners were impressed by the active approach to we learning used Our students were impressed by the enthusiasm and commitment of the Chinese students to their studies.
Some feedback comments made by our partner Chinese students during the exchange were……
‘…I enjoy looking at my work under the microscope. That is an amazing way to see such little things…. We should try to think more about the balance between the economy and environment…'
‘After we analyze the data we should pay attention to protecting places where dust gathers most….'
‘The experience to make the slide – although this is not easy for me I really enjoy the feeling to get over the troubles….'
During the visit the group went to a science park and the famous Panda Park at Chengdu. But perhaps the most memorable and moving experience happened on the day visit to the Earthquake Epicentre Memorial at Beichuan. Here is a summary of what they felt……………
‘…Yesterday morning we went to the epicentre of the 2008 earthquake. One of the most moving experiences I have ever had. The bus drove up into the most spectacular mountains and we passed initially whole towns made of tents and portacabins, stopped off in one of them. As we got further we met a high wire fence and learned we could only go further with permission from the Communist Party, which we had. We drove through and went along a deserted motorway weaving huge boulders. Eventually we parked in a lay by and were taken to a viewpoint. Below us was a city the size of Derby in ruins and completely uninhabited. It looked like a scene from an apocalyptic movie. We were then allowed to walk into the city and along deserted and ruined streets, past the still furnished but devastated rooms. We were shown mass graves and a destroyed school. Utterly horrid but I benefitted from seeing it. Later on we went to a school ……………..'
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldclass/your_stories/20091109_beichuan.shtml
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