Emily, UK-China Fusion Exchange Programme             

In March 2019, a group of us were lucky enough to travel to Shenzhen, China as part of the UK-China Fusion Exchange Programme. The trip involved teaching and observing in a culture very different to our own and enabled us to develop great confidence in our own teaching practice, as well as gain an insight into the Chinese way of teaching/life.

Throughout our time, we made great friends with professionals in the school, as well as the Exchange Programme leaders who made us feel comfortable as soon as we landed in Hong-Kong and made our way through the border.

The teaching in China was a great experience- the class sizes were double what they are in the UK, the expectations and routines in school differ greatly to those in England, yet, the children were just as caring, interested and enthusiastic about learning.

We adopted a Harry Potter theme within our lessons and taught maths, English and science every day for a 2-week block. To engage children, we used props (our JCR gowns), actions, chants and rhymes to ensure our lessons were as interactive as possible and created a fascination within childrenin terms of the National Curriculum. Similarly, leaving the children wanting to learn more and excited for the next lesson.

We created a huge bond with the children in our class (all 60 of them) and were gutted to have to say good bye. One of our favourite lessons was asking the children to write a post card to a pen-pal in England about their life in China. We were able to take this home and read them to our class in England who absolutely loved hearing about the culture and couldn’t believe we had really been to China. They couldn’t wait to reply and ask more questions! Being able to make links between the schools and developing relationships within teaching and learning in other countries, is massively important for the future of education. It develops children into responsible citizens and makes them aware and curious about the world around them, and just how great it really is.

I would like to say a huge thank you to Lynn Thompson, Linda Wang, Angela Gill and Sarah for organising the trip and making sure everyone was comfortable and happy. As well as, a huge thank you to the staff and children in my school in China and, finally, all of my friends on the trip who made the experience a one to remember! A huge, rewarding and memorable experience in my teaching career so far.