In March 2019 I travelled to Shenzhen in China as part of the Fusion Teaching Exchange Programme partnership between Durham University School of Education and Full Circle International Education Group. As part of this programme I taught for two weeks within a Primary school situated within the Yantian district of Shenzhen. The aim of the trip was to learn about the education system in China and in particular their portrayal and implementation of the mastery of mathematics initiative. Whilst in China we also hoped to teach Chinese practitioners about the cross-curricular styles we commonly use with success in the UK. Therefore, we taught all of our lessons around the topic of Harry Potter due to its universal nature and its close links with Durham. During the trip I was completely immersed within the Chinese education system and culture and conscious that I was representing Durham University within my time at school and additional conferences which included the signing of an agreement between Yantian District and Durham University.
The funds you kindly provided me with contributed towards the payment of the flights to and from Hong Kong. This money enabled me to make the most of my time within Shenzhen in order to gain as Zhen and increased my confidence of teaching within this area of education.
Similarly, this trip has opened my eyes to the requirements of the mastery of mathematics initiative and I am now more aware of how this initiative must be implemented and sustained within English Primary schools in order to achieve optimum success. I believe this information will be incredibly beneficial when I hopefully begin to work in a primary school in September and will in turn increase my ability and confidence to teach effectively within this area of education and mathematics. In terms of personal development this experience has allowed me to appreciate the benefits of working abroad and its rewarding nature. It has allowed me to begin to reflect on how this may impact on my future teaching and has caused me to strongly consider working abroad full time in the future. This trip also allowed me to forge close links with a Chinese school and its teachers and I hope to uphold these links for the future in order to teach English students within my classroom about Chinese culture. I also hope to use these links to continue to learn from experienced Chinese practitioners who are part of an exceptional education system.