Creative Teaching in the New Countryside

From September 26^th to 28^th, the “International Education Exchange for Foreign Experts”, which was sponsored by the Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs of Guangdong Province and undertaken by GDUFS, was held in Chaozhou and Raoping. Elaine Martyn and Howard Martyn from Canada, foreign professors at GDUFS, were invited to carry out public teaching activities.

Elaine Martyn addressed at HANSHAN NORMAL UNIVERSITY (HSNU)

At HSNU, the two professors gave a lecture on ”Intercultural Communication in International Education” for the students from Faculty of Foreign Languages. Also they set up a teaching workshop for the teachers from English major, specially to discuss the pros and cons of the “Task-Based Language Teaching” method. The two professors made a breakthrough in the traditional lecture format: instead of simply speaking and listening, they activated the audiences through group discussion and role play.

Elaine Martyn interacted with students

A teacher involved the workshop said: “We appreciate the professors for giving us the valuable chance to learn the cutting-edge achievements in teaching, from which we benefit a lot. We sincerely hope there will be more professors to give us more precious suggestions. They really lighten our path.”

A Group Photo after Teacher Workshop

The second stop of this public teaching tour was Changbin Primary School where the two professors gave an English lesson to the students in Grade Six, who never met foreigners or had class in English before. Both professors are over 60, but in order to make this hard-won English class unforgettable to children, they tried their best to prepare for the class two weeks in advance. Combining various materials for children’s English learning, they started the class with the topic One-Day Tour in Chaozhou and interspersed nursery rhymes, words and conversations into the class. Such a vivid lesson provided a pure English education to those students who were never exposed to foreign teachers.

Professorsgave a lecture tothe grade six students

Professors interacted with the children

After class, some kids told the reporter that though they could not completely understand the teachers, they were happy. ”How fun the foreign teachers’ class are!”, a kid told the reporter excitedly. Some of the school leaders in Changbin Primary School also attended the class. They expressed great gratitude to the Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs of Guangdong Province and GDUFS for choosing Changbin Primary School, which opened an international window to the children while sowing the seeds of curiosity, openness, extroversion and study.

Professors visited Changbin Village

The two professors also visited the Changbin Village Committee and the Village Public Service Station. 20 years ago, they had been foreign teachers in Zhenjiang, Jiangsu (also in the countryside), now they came back to a village again and were deeply moved by the changes in the new socialist countryside. Knowing that the children enjoyed their class, Elaine was excited and said,” If I have another chance to teach students in Grade Six, I will re-prepare my lessons and we can have better classes!”

XUE Qing, the Deputy Director of the Management from Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs of Guangdong Province, and the staff from the Office for International Cooperation and Exchange also attended this tour.