China and Beyond

Here's is Evangeline's response to my question about reactions to the recent North Korean nuclear test.

Dear Mr.Downs:

Well, you must have heard enough words from the Chinese Government about what happened in N.Korea .So,maybe it's better to show you some hard-to-find opinions,which widely exists in China,espeacially in big cities like Xi'an.

Americans and westerners often consider China, N.Korea and Vietnam to be similar not only because the Chinese government helped them in two wars many years ago,but also because we all have the Communist Party which is quite different from yours. So, people will be easily reminded of China as soon as the other two countries are mentioned.

It was true that our 3 countries often took the same steps in the period of Chairman Mao .Yet a revolution took place in China in 1978 and after that we clearly understood that it was a world for development, not for wars or conflicts. Even though our so-called destination and yours are not the same, we can still work together to make the people have better lives. From then on, China, N.Korea and Vietnam separated in different ways.

Today, we Chinese, especially teenagers in big cities, have already regarded ourselves as part of the world. The news we read everyday and the study methods we have today are getting closer and closer to that in those countries like yours. Our way of development is getting farther and farther from what a so-called communist-Party country should be, and so do the government's policies.

To you Americans, the opinion above can be sort of ridiculous----How can a Chinese say his country is no longer like a communist-Party country! But it's true. If you keep an eye on the Chinese government's policies recent years, you may easily find how different they are from those of N.Korea.

Nowadays, a few American media blame China, for it seems that China hasn't made a contribution to the Parley and even have a little predilection for N.Korea. In fact,we are now trying to coax N.Korea back to the table because of the reality that N.Korea is becoming the menace to China!

Nobody can promise N.Korea and China can be friendly forever, there's no forever friendship between countries! For instance,China and Vietnam had a war together fighting against other countries in 1960's, yet quickly in about ten years,w e had a 'crazy' war ourselves(from 1978 on)and the relationship between us broke up.This caused quite a lot of little conflicts on the border.

Now,our Chinese are afraid that if N.Korea, whose leader is a little bit crazy, gets the nuke, It'll certainly do harm the Chinese' safety. Perhaps the Chinese development of economy will be prevented in a certain extent.

Now you can understand why China would like N.Korea to come back to the table----Because we must! The parley is a way to protect our people,and maybe the best way to solve the nuke problem in N.Korea. It's only a personal view on the N.Korea problem, but I promise it's the most applauded view in our class.

I can't appreciate myself with this E-mail for I haven't tried to write such a political article before. If you want some information more,you can connect to this website: www.phoenixtv.com It is not a website from the government but is enjoyed by lots of Chinese people, for it gives us the reality and is more free to talk about the current affairs.

Yours Sincerely,

Evangeline

Posted by Mike Downs at 12:04 PM | Permalink

Throughout the summer, following my trip to China to hire Wang Tian, our trans-Pacific emails often passed in the night. Now she and I often pass in the halls at MPA, each of us in a hurry somewhere.

She has taken on a daunting challenge with tremendous spirit and enthusiasm, and gives the impression of one who is completely at home - already! It seems amazing to me that it was only three weeks ago that she arrived at the airport. I asked her how things have been going so far:

MD: How well are you adjusting to life in America? What are the biggest differences between here and China?

WT: I think I got used to the life here very quickly. Most of the food here is tasty. People here are kind to me, which makes me feel at home. In China, there are many cars, buses and cabs in the street. Besides, many people walk. But most of the people here drive their own cars. People here prefer to stay at home after work, and stores are closed very early, but in China after work, people like to go out and spend some time outside. We Chinese prefer to sit together and have dinner in restaurants. Some people even talk business when having dinner.

MPA Mandarin teacher Want Tian gives first graders their own Chinese name

MD: You are working with all ages here. How do you manage to adjust your teaching style to go from lower school to upper school all in one day?

WT: This is only one standard for my teaching—enthusiastic, honest and fair. It works for all ages. There may be some difference of teaching methods among them. When teaching lower school students, I sing, play, and act with the kids. For middle school students, there should be more chances for them to think and ask. I just try to guide. For upper school students, they are quite independent. I would like to listen to their ideas and give them more challenges. It is easy to communicate with them.

MD: How are our MPA students different that students in China?

WT: Because of the different educational system, students in China have more homework and more examinations, which reduces their interest. Here, students are happy to learn what they are interested in. It is more free here. I didn’t have the experience to sit with the kids to teach, and it is fun. I feel I am a story teller and tell them interesting stories about China and the language.

MD: What did you think of Homecoming? What will you remember most from that day?

WT: Homecoming is new to me. In China, alumni also go back to visit school, but not every year. I think students here are excited about Homecoming and they are important part of it. I can feel their love for the school.

Members of the class of 2007 bring Homecoming Spirit to the class of 2020 (Pre-K)

I also had a good time on that day. Meeting kids’ parents and watching games was interesting. I still remember different colors on people’s hair and those girls running and playing soccer. They are great!

MD: Is there anything you would like the MPA community to know about you or about your experiences here so far?

WT: I am happy to be here and I get along well with my host family and people in MPA. I love the students here, with different colors of skin and hair. I hope they like Chinese.

To listen to Mike Downs' WCCO radio interview from Beijing, click here.

Or click here to read the summer blog "China and Beyond".

Posted by Mike Downs at 12:02 PM | Permalink

After a twelve hour train ride from home town to Beijing, a thirteen hour plane ride from Beijing to O'Hare in Chicago, a four hour layover followed by an hour flight to Minneapolis/St.Paul, Wang Tian insists that she is, "not tired!" I can't seem to get that message, nor can the others who've arrived to meet her. We keep asking and she keeps insisting that she's not tired.

It is Tuesday night, August 29 and as we leave the airport to go off in separate directions - my wife and I back home, host parent Jon Cotner with Tina to the home in North Oaks where she will stay - I assure her that she need not feel obligated to come in to school Wednesday. Jon has offered to bring her in when and if she is ready.

Greeting party for Wang Tian, Tuesday night, August 29 - Minneapolis/St. Paul airport.

But it has become clear in those first few minutes that Tina is indeed not tired, running on the pure adrenaline and excitement of this grand experiment, and will likely be at school for the start of the day about ten hours later.

Sure enough, at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday morning (9:30 p.m. Wednesday Beijing time) Jon, kindergartner Stella and a very alert and ready Wang Tian make their way through the south entrance, finally launching the official start of the Chinese language and culture program at MPA.

Welcome to MPA, Wang Tian!

Posted by Mike Downs at 10:27 AM | Permalink

Tina writes of good news about her trip to the US embassy yesterday:

"It must be my lucky day! I was the second one in line. The lady in
front me is my friend who is also from Hubei and will go to Friends’ School.
When she was being interviewed, the official just let her take out one
document and asked her the earning in the place in the U.S and she passed. And then, it was my turn. I was ready to show the official every document I have. To my surprise, the official took a glance at the letter from IIE and asked whether it was the same program as my friend and the city I was going to. I couldn't believe when I got the pink note which means I passed. It was soooooo quick and simple. It was funny for me to be so nervous about it.

"This morning the training session began. I met some experts about teaching
Chinese to foreigners, including Hope Staab. Ioana Suciu also came. And Jeff
Bissell from School Year Abroad, Andrew Corcoran from Chinese American
International School, Feng Ye from Punahou School.

"I just finished training today. I am a little tired, but I am feeling
great. I should told you about it yesterday, but I couldn't get access to
the internet and too tired, so… I am sorry. Hope it is not late."

Not too late at all, TIna!

Arrival information will be posted here as soon as it becomes available.

Posted by Mike Downs at 7:30 AM | Permalink

Smoke rose up from the west several times during our recent stay in Grand Marais. Resulting from the Cavity Lake fire in the Boundary Waters, it was oddly reminiscent of my first few days in Beijing. Our North Shore trips are occasions for hiking, shopping, drinking morning coffee on the pebbled beaches of the harbor and reading.

I carried two books with me to China and made virtually no progress on either while there - too busy writing blog entries! Companion books of a sort, they are River Town and Oracle Bones, both by Peter Hessler. Readers of this blog who are interested in learning more about contemporary China will find these two books highly readable and informative.

I know this now because the North Shore provided the time to finally encounter them both. River Town traces the author's experiences during two years as a Peace Corp volunteer teaching English in the town of Fuling. Oracle Bones picks up the story as Hessler becomes a more established journalist, seeking out and publishing stories in, among others, National Geographic, the Wall Street Journal and finally as the Beijing correspondent for The New Yorker.

Having learned another language while living and working abroad for seven years, I found River Town to convey accurately the sense of a second personality that emerges when living through a new language.

From the book jacket of Oracle Bones: "In a narrative that gracefully moves between the ancient and the present, the East and the West, Hessler captures the soul of a country that is undergoing a momentous change before our eyes." Especially interesting to me in the context of MPA's Mandarin initiative is his exploration of the earliest writing, preserved on the Oracle Bones of the title and the implications for the development of language in China.

Back from the cooling breezes of Lake superior to the tropical climate of the Twin Cities, I open my email to find a note from Wang Tian announcing that she has an appointment, through HANBAN, with the US consulate for a visa interview on August 8th. Training for all the NAIS/HANBAN teachers will be conducted in China from August 10-15 after which all teachers will board commercial jets for their posts in the US.

Watch this space for details!

Posted by Mike Downs at 10:12 AM | Permalink

After daily entries stretching back to June 13, China blog will take a break for a trip north. Check this site later in July and into August for updates on the Mandarin program and Wang Tian's arrival. Special thanks to Theresa and Jay for helping to maintain this blog.

Artist's Point - Grand Marais, MN

Posted by Mike Downs at 3:24 PM | Permalink

I am standing in a small windowless room rubbing a stone cat - lion actually - and it has something to do with Feng Shui and, no, this is not a dream; it is actually happening, and I am not alone, there are others. They are lining up to rub the stone lion.

“First, behind the ears,” the woman instructs, “ then the chest...now the front paws...now the sides...now the big butt.”

And it all means something important, especially the rubbing of the big butt, but I can’t remember what now. I dutifully rub as commanded. Amazing what one will do in a group on tour in a faraway land if the guide is convincing enough.

We have escaped from the punishing mid-day heat on the walls of the old city of Xi’an and moved into an exhibit room that our guide claims is only open 72 days of the year and how lucky we are to be here on this day. Lucky most are those who discover the AC unit in the corner pumping out wonderfully chilled air.

This infrequently open exhibit with the lucky rubbing lion shows pictures of buildings whose feng shui is good and some not. I have no pictures to prove this because the taking of photos is forbidden. Not sure why, but there it is.

According to Wikipedia, Feng Shui was the reason the Chinese invented the compass. “It has foundation texts, core theories and methods, and an impressive past based on archæological discoveries and the work of archæoastronomers.”

But the exhibit room is connected to a small store which, I suspect, is actually open more than 72 days a year, but I can’t confirm that. Buy any of a number of different sized and colored jade lions, each to bring a different good thing to its owner.

This is just one of the three or four times on our trip that we are taken to what appears to be a legitimate factory or exhibit that is - surprise! - fortuitously connected to a retail establishment selling products related to the exhibit. Buy a full sized terra cotta warrior at the factory that makes them (see photo under July 1 entry "Ghengis Can"). Or buy a silk comforter at the silk factory (OK - I did!)

The more cynical in our group assume that the "factory workers" are all part of a front, extensions of the retail operation. Perhaps. But everyone rubbed lion butt. Just in case....

Posted by Mike Downs at 5:36 PM | Permalink

"Yesterday, my eighty-year-old grandpa called me," writes Tina. "He told me he looked at the map to find out where Minnesota is. I was surprised that he knew it was cold in winter there. He said, 'It is like Harbin.'

"Harbin is a northern city of China. He once lived there and some of my relatives were born there, including my parents. Then because of the work, they moved to Hubei province, central part of China. Although I was born in Hubei, I am a northerner.

"In northern part, people can speak mandarin better than other parts. That's why my mandarin is good. And it seems that my grandpa is very happy to know I can live in a place similar to Harbin."

Back in May when our team of teachers and administrators began helping me to prepare for the hiring trip to China, I was encouraged to try and identify candidates who spoke Putōnghuà (Standard Mandarin). It sounded like a good idea, although I wasn't sure how I would be able to establish that, short of simply asking candidates and trusting in their answer.

The thinking was that since there are so many different dialects in China and natives of different provinces can be virtually unintelligible to each other when speaking local dialects, it would be important to hire someone who would teach the standard language.

Visit Wikipedia (the first coherent piece on this subject my Google search turned up) and read more about this.

But Tina's note got me thinking about regional influences and the underlying social, political and cultural forces at play in the evolution of a common language. I am certain there are thoughtful works of considerable depth and breadth on the subject. Perhaps Evangeline will uncover something about this during her offline humanities studies.

There is something of a parallel in this country, if on a less extreme scale. While Maine natives can certainly get along with their Arkansas cousins, the accents can be quite different, especially to the ear of a foreigner.

We didn’t talk like most people in Baltimore, where I grew up. With grandparents from Ohio, Illinois, Kansas/Colorado and upstate New York, my linguistic lineage was decidedly Midwestern, home of standard broadcast American English - our version of Putōnghuà.

Posted by Mike Downs at 2:37 PM | Permalink

Mr.Downs:

After my final-term exam, the school divided us into science part and humanities part. Do you Americans also do this? I hope not!

A few days ago, we formed a new class. Unfortunately, the students in science part, like me, will not have history, politics or geography classes any more, while the students in humanities part will never have the chance of learning science lessons. I don't think it is good for us, for what we need is not only scores. It was true I chose science. That's because I want to make some contribution in Physics. But it never means I'll give up humanities lessons or even never touch them! IT IS UNFAIR, I think. I want to know the world more completely.

It's the reality in China and I can not change it. Yet I still want it to be better. At least let me get some lessons about humanity. Or, maybe I can do it by myself

By the way, what do you think about the things that happened in North Korea these days?

Sincerely Evangeline

*************************

Dear Evangeline,

I understand that you are disappointed about the fact that your choices for studying subjects in school will be more limited from now on. I realize that school systems throughout the world do things differently. The system you describe seems to put a high value on spending as much time as possible learning all that you can about a few specific areas, rather than trying to learn some things about a lot of different areas.

We have some schools in this country that really try and specialize in the way you describe. I think that can be very effective if you know exactly what you want to study and what you intend to do with it when you graduate.

Our school and probably most schools in America tend to expect students to study a lot of different things throughout their grade school years. This means that our students’ options to choose an area of focus remain open longer.

I am reminded of a former student of ours named David Siegel. David was the student at our school who first inspired me to keep a “blog”. He is working this summer for Google and is studying computer science AND philosophy at the University of Pennsylvania. I am not sure what David would have chosen if we at MPA had required him to focus exclusively on one thing, as you are being expected to do.

But thanks to the internet, there is much that you can learn on your own about the humanities that will not be a part of your school program. And if you would like to communicate by email with some of our students here at MPA, I would be happy to introduce you to some who would be glad to be an email friend of yours.

Beyond that, perhaps you would be interested in seeing if your school would like to participate in a program called Challenge 20/20. You can read about that program at www.nais.org. It brings a school from the US together with a school from another country to try and develop solutions to some of the big problems facing us all.

Like the situation with North Korea. If you are asking me what I think, I would have to say that I worry about what North Korea is doing. Perhaps the missile testing is just a tactic to send some kind of message to neighboring countries and the US. I am afraid that the leaders of North Korea have closed themselves off from the rest of the world and do not necessarily see things as clearly as they should. Sometimes, ignorance can create a sense of fear.

On this subject, I think it is very good what is happening in your country now. There seems to be a real effort to reach out to the rest of the world and to try and work together. This is a very good thing, in my opinion. I am not sure that you are aware of why I came to your school, but our group was in China to meet and hire teachers who will come to our schools to teach the Chinese language to our students. Our trip was sponsored by a Chinese organization working for your government.

So your government wants to help our people learn your language so we can communicate with each other better. And when people can communicate better, they way you and I are right now, we can learn to understand and appreciate each other more easily. Then, perhaps, instead of sending messages with missile tests, we send them with emails. Or better still, in face to face meetings. Just like that nice talk we had at your school.

I hope to see you there again some day, or you here!

Sincerely,

Mike Downs

Posted by Mike Downs at 2:19 PM | Permalink

"Mum and I" - Wang Tian(right) and Liu Lijie
"I called my parents after I got the result. They were quite supportive. My mother told me although I am a good teacher in China, it doesn’t mean I can be the same in America, I must make preparations and try my best, and don’t make the one who chose you disappointed. I bear this in mind, and I believe I can undertake this job!" (from June 27 entry "email from Tina")

Posted by Mike Downs at 2:33 PM | Permalink

It was a TV commercial for some kind of home decor product - a special wood-like floor covering. Youngish couple on the new floor and child playing happily near them - a typically warm and appealing domestic scene designed to sell a product.

I was channel surfing in the Beijing hotel, bored with CNN Asia, uninterested in whatever HBO was running and out of English language options. Watching CCTV (Chinese Central Television Network) was a temporarily amusing puzzle, trying to divine what the content was.

It wasn’t until after the 30 second commercial ended that I realized what was different. One child. A comparable spot on American TV would have had two children, and probably a dog.

Naturally, the commercial spots reflect an idealized reality for potential consumers. And that reality can only include one child in China.

As I write this, the annual fourth of July neighborhood parade has just passed by our south Minneapolis home. It always starts with a fire truck from the local fire house and passes by in the late morning. As it appeared, I happened to be doing a google search on the One Child Policy in China (this obsession will pass, I feel sure of it...) so I was particularly aware, as I watched from the front step, of the ratio of young children to adults in this all-American scene.

And I wondered again what must be the unintended consequences of essentially mandating that the country be populated by only children, as has been the case in China since 1979. I thought particularly of the schools and the impact on the community of children in schools all across urban China, where the rule applies.

Now, some of my favorite people are only children, including our 21 year-old son. But any experienced school person can tell you that, if nothing else, the only children in the class tend to arrive, by definition, with a higher-stakes burden. They generally mean, literally, everything to their parents. This can make it more difficult, on occasion, for parents of "onlys" to see the normal trials and tribulations of growing up in the context of the long term learning process.

Perhaps the very fact that all are from the same experience base in this regard would have a kind of moderating effect. Or not. (see June 18 entry Sorting it Out for one Beijing principal’s perspective on the effects of the policy.)

Posted by Mike Downs at 12:19 PM | Permalink

Bilingual sign - ZhaBei Primary School, Shanghai

Posted by Mike Downs at 3:17 PM | Permalink

“Perhaps you know of the American Fourth of July holiday?” I find myself writing to Tina. “It is our Independence Day, celebrating the day we declared our independence from the British in the year 1776. Our revolutionary war followed.”

I am explaining why something will not be available to me at school until this Wednesday, the 5th. I have no idea whether or not this is something educated Chinese like Wang Tian know as a matter of course. And if they do, how they view this particular period in our relatively short history.

If her sense of early American history is as limited as mine is of early Chinese history, it is quite possible that this holiday is unknown to her. One of the added benefits of having this visitor in our midst will be the opportunity to learn more about how we and our history are viewed and understood from the outside.

“The war of resistance against America and support for Korea,” is what author Peter Hessler tells us is the Chinese name for what we call the Korean War. In his book “Oracle Bones” he writes of visiting the Chinese town of Dandong on the border with North Korea.

At the bookstore in the Shanghai Museum, among the treasures I found for our teachers’ use this coming year was a fascinating book I ultimately decided not to buy. Now I regret it. But I had a good reason at the time.

It was a book of photographs essentially cataloging the dark side of China’s Cultural Revolution. These were very strong black and white images with an underground feel to them, certainly not what the official government-approved accounting of that period would have included. I took it as an encouraging sign that this volume was published and available in such a public institution.

But I worried that interested consumers of this book among, perhaps, some of our older students might see it as an opening to confront our new visitor, armed as they would be with the particular view through the lens of this photographer. I thought about what it means to be a welcoming host and what it means to be alone in a foreign country. I imagined what it might feel like to have my hosts in a foreign land confront me with some of the more difficult truths of my country.

But I underestimate our remarkable students whose capacity for respect and understanding across cultures is quite developed. And I underestimate our MPA teachers’ ability to properly contextualize such a cross cultural discussion. And I suspect I underestimate our visitor and her readiness to experience the freedom of thought and opinion which are founding values of the country whose independence we celebrate on Tuesday.

Posted by Mike Downs at 2:17 PM | Permalink

During the sometimes lengthy bus rides from place to place in China, we often had time to ponder the mysteries of Chinese history and culture - like the implications of the theory that Genghis Khan might have had as many as 20,000 offspring.

With NAIS delegation members from some of the older schools.

Posted by Mike Downs at 2:19 PM | Permalink

I continue to sort through the images of the China trip, both literally and figuratively, and I keep coming back to the meeting of cultures.

Helping Hand

Crossing generations, crossing cultures, Shanghai fifth graders and American heads of school meet on the stairs, travelling the same path for a short while.

Meeting on the Stairs - Shanghai

China blog will continue the sorting through the summer, sharing various images and observations as we approach the arrival of our visitor and launch of our Mandarin program, an outgrowth of MPA's Global Advantage Stragetic Goal.

Posted by Mike Downs at 9:40 AM | Permalink

Readers will remember Evangeline from from the entry ”12 girls band “. She’s finally gotten through exams and a broken computer to respond to my request to publish her note. So here’s her first email, dated by the world cup match she was looking forward to at the time:

Evangeline (center) and Rosie

Mr Downs:

How are you?It's honor for me to chat with you that afternoon.Rosie and I really had a good time talking with you.However,since my spoken English is poor, sometimes I couldn't express myself well.

well,how long will you stay in China?And will you come to our school again?If you will,please tell me.Then I can give you a CD from "12 girls band". for there's maybe a little bit difficulty finding this album.So please let me know if you'll come to our school.

Do you like the World Cup?And which team do you like best?My favourate is Argentina.And the match between Holland and Argentina will start at 3:00am tonight according to Beijing time.I'm thrill when I'm waiting for it.And I'm anxious to see them get the Cup...You know,the Chinese team is a little disappointing,so most of the Chinese turn to foreign teams to enjoy the fun of football.

I hope you'll enjoy your trip!

yours sincerely Evangeline

Posted by Mike Downs at 5:05 PM | Permalink

My first post-China walk around Lake Harriet in South Minneapolis brings me back to Bamboo Park. But the experience of this lovely upper-mid western municipal park is more linear. And only the dogs bark here.

Every fifty feet or so along the trails of Bamboo Park in Beijing are invitations to step off the trail into a secluded area for meditation, stretching, tai chi or tap dancing. The walk around Lake Harriet in Minneapolis is continuous and unbroken, except for the flower garden, the band shell and the occasional dock.

Perhaps I am reading too much into the layout of the parks. Perhaps it is more about the return to the linear routine of life and work as opposed to the random experience of travel. Two weeks and a hundred years ago tomorrow, I found my way to Bamboo Park for the first time.

As I rounded a bend in the trail that first morning in Beijing, the path opened out to a vista of the lake ahead. And then I heard the sound of a human voice, but not as I’ve heard it in any park in the US. It was more like a bark. As I listened more closely, I heard the sounds of multiple voices traveling across the calm early morning waters of the lake. Some were making barking sounds, others more long tones, like chanting or singing.

Member of the delegation in Beijing by the calm morning waters of Bamboo Park.

I used to teach voice for the actor – releasing and strengthening the voice through a variety of exercises. Something like this barking in the park is not unfamiliar to me, but always in the studio, rehearsal hall or on stage. Through the work, I came to believe that the physical act of exercising the voice not only prepares the instrument for use on stage, but also immediately connects the actor (or teacher or public speaker) to what might be called an emotional center. Like the eyes, the voice is a window to the soul.

It was oddly comforting to hear the barking and chanting and singing from the patrons of Bamboo Park. Strange, but comforting. It was attention paid to a particular set of muscles with a startling effect on the auditory landscape. And what clearly seemed so foreign, yet familiar to me, was as normal as breathing to these park visitors. Two elderly gents were walking towards me later that morning in the park and mid conversation one of them barked then continued along in conversation. I wanted to bark back but then I could see myself, hear myself doing it and it was just too strange.

So I’ll settle for the bark of the dogs at Lake Harriet. Soon enough, the lake will again be a refuge for me, a change of pace from work.

Posted by Mike Downs at 1:54 PM | Permalink

Dear Mike,

This afternoon, I arrived in Wuhan, the city where I work. It was a long journey, because the train had been later for 4hrs. However, I am not tired at all. Now I am still watching World Cup!

The first thing I did after entering my room was turned on my computer to browse OUR school, and I read your blog. I was very excited when reading it. I was thinking about what happened to me on the interview day. Now I can tell you, in the morning I didn't think you were interested in me. Then in the afternoon, it seemed I was waiting for the result of a bet, and the stake was everything. Haha, a little exaggerated. When the lady read out my number and you walked to me, I was so excited!!

I think you are a very good observer, allow me to say so. In your blog, you talked about my smile. In my college, the students evaluate teachers every semester. They grade teachers and comment on them. The most words my students use are "Miss Wang's smile is warm and sincere." which are similar to yours. I was also surprised I left such a good impression. Because when I was waiting outside, I overheard the girl before me sang Beijing Opera, while I didn't do it. I put too much emphasis on teaching. Anyhow, thank you! BTW, I asked my friend to read your blog, she said you wrote wonderful and she also said I did a very good job. I was so proud of myself(still modest, hehe).

I called my parents after I got the result. They were quite supportive. My mother told me although I am a good teacher in China, it doesn't mean I can be the same in America, I must make preparations and try my best, and don't make the one who chose you disappointed. I bear this in mind, and I believe I can undertake this job!

Tomorrow, my students will take final exams, I will be the examiner. This semester is almost over, and I am looking forward to the brand-new world!!!!

Thank you again for giving me the chanceand !!! I'll email you if necessary.

Best wishes to u and ur family!
Tina

PS: You are going to my boss, so that morning when we met each other again, I was a little quiet. In China inferiors are sometimes cautious before superiors. It didn't mean I was not enthusiastic. It was a kind of politeness and respect. I think after we get familiar, you will find I am talkative. :-)

Ur offering me the job is the best birthday present I have ever had!!!!!! THX

Posted by Mike Downs at 1:43 AM | Permalink

Salmon on the grill, fresh salad with oil and vinegar, French bread and a glass of red wine - all possible in a few hours. I am somewhere over the Pacific approaching the coast of Alaska and this last off-shore travel entry is the bookend to my first one.

I consider myself to be a relatively adventurous eater and the food in China was indeed a happy adventure - for the first four or five days. But it is amazing how much food can spell home and comfort. I think about this especially as I consider ways to make sure our new teacher is made to feel "at home" so far away from hers.

Our lunches and dinners were routinely something of a celebration with our various hosts outdoing themselves to put on a good spread. The standard is a large round table with a massive lazy susan in the middle. Different dishes are presented fast and furiously as the susan spins arond, giving everyone a chance at everything.

Mei Yehong of HANBAN hosts our first meal together.

Often the dish was unidentifiable in composition, and translations were not always easy (or accurate) for our hosts. The flavors were unique and the quality generally quite high. The Peking Duck at a 150-year-old family owned restaurant in Beijing was fabulous. Individual slices of the roast meat are served in a kind of small white crepe with a garnish of something like fresh spring onions and a rich dark sauce.

The specialty in Xi'an is dumplings and our hosts there were quick to point out that the best dumplings in China are from their region. Round after round of steamed, boiled and fried variations on the theme were delivered and immediately speared from the bamboo containers. Our chopstick technique was improving. Duck soup with small dumplings boiled in a large cauldron over a live fire in the center of our table. It was fabulous.

Duck soup boils over a live fire in Xi'an.

But we hit the wall in Shanghai. Perhaps it was the killer schedule that had us going all day then flying to Shanghai with a hotel arrival at 1:00 a.m. Perhaps it was the slightly lower quality of the restaurant that first evening. But the Susan was spinning very slowly and many of the dishes remained untouched.

"I just want steak and a baked potato," sighed one of our group. Two days later, he caved and bought a Big Mac and fries at 10:00 in the morning in downtown Shanghai.

Around a lazy susan in Shanghai.

So we've all gone our separate ways, headed back to home and familiar foods. The experience made me aware again of the importance of creating a welcoming environment for our new teacher. And it can start with the food.

Interested readers can return to this blog site over the coming days to find additional entries as I add various trip-related items, including wonderful emails from some of those featured in these stories and some additional images.

Posted by Mike Downs at 8:47 AM | Permalink

Hear more about the China trip from Mike Downs, Thursday, June 29th, noon-1:30 on campus.

Posted by Mike Downs at 1:09 AM | Permalink

The view from my hotel in Beijing.

Posted by Mike Downs at 1:06 AM | Permalink

With five floors, each the size of a city block, this is one big bookstore. I've taken a cab at the instructions of the Beijing hotel concierge who told me where I could find CDs. Still looking for the best selection and the best deals, I have a short window of two hours on my last afternoon in China.

Located a short distance west of Tiananmen Square, it has to be one of the largest bookstores in the world. And it is packed with people.

A conservative guess would put the number of people per floor at around 500. There is barely any elbow room in the rows and rows of stacks. The escalators are perpetually full with lines at the bottom waiting to get on, and the check out lines snake around the available space.

The set-up is reminiscent of the textbook sections of university bookstores in the states. The displays are minimal and essentially utilitarian. There is clearly no need to market these materials because they are flying off the shelves.

I already know that I'll never have enough time in this playground. The map section alone could pass an easy hour. I leave there with three 20" x 30" 3D topographical relief maps of China-one per division.

I toy with the idea of tracking down some posters, but the bulk would be prohibitive. As it is, I've decided to buy a backpack from a small luggage section of the store to manage the additional materials coming home with me. Not to mention the shipment I've already sent from the Shanghai museum-incredible prices on books for all ages about China and the language. (My favorite is a massive full color book called "Propaganda Posters from 1921-1971.")

One whole section is devoted to books on various technology applications with section headings like "C++" and "Building Web Pages" and dozens of others I'm sure our MPA tech staff would have recognized immediately. (The MPA tech crew, by the way, has been tireless in their support of this blog. It was their initiative to find and include Chinese characters to accompany the text where appropriate. Thank you Theresa and Jay!)

Leaning against the shelves, seated in the aisles, packed closely together were the hordes of eager shoppers, pouring through these hundreds of thousands of books on every subject. I did not look for nor come across titles in English, but I did buy several popular magazines in Chinese with lots of pictures for the middle and upper school-Golf (TW on the cover), Tennis (Sharapova), Soccer (Ronaldo), and fashion.

What was amazing about it all was the scale of the consumption of information. This was a Saturday afternoon, so perhaps the numbers were inflated with weekend shoppers. But this party made the Christmas rush in any US department store seem like a walk in Bamboo Park.

Amidst a sea of pedestrians back outside on the street, I hailed a cab and squeezed into the back seat with my new maps, magazines, backpack and 12 Girls Band CDs. (Another member of our group caught part of a CNN special on the 12 Girls Band the evening after my encounter with Evangeline. They are apparently heating up on the world stage. See 女子十二楽坊 or 12 Girls Band entry.)

After inching along in stop and go traffic for about 20 minutes, the driver pulled out of her lane to get a better angle and was promptly rear-ended. I waited a few minutes while she got out and angrily berated the other driver, then I got out, gave her ten yuan and caught another cab. But I didn't care. I'd found gold at the biggest bookstore in the world.

Posted by Mike Downs at 12:52 AM | Permalink

Wang Tian and Mike Downs

We sat together drinking tea in the hotel restaurant the morning after the long day of interviews. I had invited Wang Tian (Tina) to meet with me in the calm after the storm a little over twelve hours after the decision had been made.

Joining us for tea was a good friend of hers who had also been selected the evening before, so they had each other to imagine together what lay ahead.

They were both surprisingly quiet and seemed to be somewhat in shock. As I answered their questions, it became clearer to me the true scope of the change coming soon in their young lives.

Contributing to our group's sense of the significance of the previous evening's decisions were the desperate attempts by several of the rejected candidates to reverse those decisions. In fact, one rejected candidate was able to convince one of our heads to add her as a second teacher. It apparently got around to the other rejected candidates that this had occurred and that perhaps some tears had been a factor in the change of heart.

At breakfast prior to my meeting with Tina, I was learning of this from two of the heads at my table when I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around to find standing over my chair a candidate from the day before whom I had interviewed. Less than a minute into her seemingly prepared speech about how much better she was than her interview had shown, tears were flowing down her cheeks and she was sobbing openly.

This was clearly a high stakes enterprise for these candidates, some of whom had traveled over 20 hours to reach Shanghai, having beaten the odds to go from one of 360 to one of 60. Our first round of interviews reduced the number further still, to 34. The final number to be hired was first 18, then 19.

And here they are, the morning after, Tina and her friend Norman, drinking tea with this large American telling them this and that about what to expect. I would like to believe that they heard what I said, but I don't mind if they were just trying to let sink in the fact that they had actually MADE IT!

"It can be very cold in the winter in Minnesota," I tell her, "but beautiful." I'm not sure I am successful at explaining the significance of layered clothing, but she brightens with curiosity when I describe snow, lakes freezing over and people sitting in tents over holes in the ice looking for fish.

It was her bright smile that first caught my attention the day before. Tina was the tenth person to come through in the morning session and struck me immediately as a warm and genuine person. My initial notes read, "eager, confident, bright smile," and later, "honest. Top 1."

Much of our new teacher's success will rest on her own strength of character, love of teaching and native intelligence which, in the short time I spent with her seemed to be abundantly in evidence. She will also be called upon to adapt to both a new culture and new teaching methods. It was all of this that appeared to be dawning on these two young English teachers, soon to be Mandarin teachers, over tea on Friday, June 23rd-Wang Tian's 25th birthday.

And because I didn't realize until too late that our meeting over tea took place on her actual birthday, I say now: HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TINA!

And welcome to MPA!

Mike Downs with Tina and Norman

Posted by Mike Downs at 10:48 AM | Permalink

The morning introductory session is breaking up in the 16th floor conference room of the Jinrong International Hotel, Shanghai, and heads and candidates are getting into elevators to move to the individual rooms for the interview process that will last all day.

I step into the elevator and am greeted by a candidate. "I read your blog," she says. "I was looking for tips on how to do a good interview." That was a surprise.

Later, she tells me that HANBAN had told them virtually nothing about our schools, but she knew HANBAN and NAIS were partnering. A short Google search took her to the NAIS website, where this blog is now available. Amazing.

At the end of the day, we are all gathering for a photo opportunity with our newly hired teachers. Heads in the back row, teachers middle row and seated. As we are jockeying for positions, a newly hired teacher suggests, "But it is more respectful for the principals to be seated in the front row." "Welcome to America," chimes in one of the heads, speaking for all of us.

Newly hired teachers (front rows) and their Heads of School (back row) at the end of a long and interesting day.

In a later blog entry, curious MPA readers will learn more about our wonderful new teacher, Wang Tian, or Tina.

It has been a long day of interviewing, made especially challenging because of the extremely strong pool of candidates and difficult decisions. Miraculously, every school head was able to select his or her first choice candidate- an outcome I did not expect.

More later. 欢迎来到美国, Wang Tian!

Posted by Mike Downs at 10:44 AM | Permalink

This is fairly easy for me - typing this blog, that is. Writing it is not always, but typing it is. So I was amazed to discover today that typing in China involves an added step and the use of our alphabet. (As with a number of gee-whiz revelations in this blog, apologies to those readers with experience in or ties to China for whom this is old news.)

Mike visits a 5th grade pottery class at the ZhaBei Experimental Primary School.

It is Wednesday, June 21 and we were on a tour of the Shanghai ZhaBei Experimental Primary School, our first stop on day one in Shanghai .

As our fifth grade tour guide showed us around one of their computer labs, I noticed that the keyboards all resembled my own-in other words, with our alphabet. I asked if there were other keyboards specifically for Chinese, not really thinking about the impracticality of that for a language with vastly more characters than our 26.

"No, we write in Pinyin," my young guide explained. Simply put, someone typing a letter or email in Chinese is typing the transliterated word, such as, for example, Shanghai. The computer with the right software then converts that word with English letters to the proper Mandarin characters. The Chinese refer to the transliterated language with our alphabet as "Pinyin."

So everyone who types, or uses a computer keyboard in China is using our alphabet every time they write in Chinese - everyone. Imagine if you had to use the basic building blocks of an entirely different linguistic system every time you wanted to write something in English. Click here to practice or learn Pinyin.

English class at ZhaBei Experimental Primary School

On another day in another city here, a curious student asked if all the signs are in two languages in America, as they are here. English on the keyboard, English on the signs everywhere; the impact on the ability to acquire that second language is significant, not to mention on one's worldview.

Tomorrow, we interview teaching candidates for the first time-finally. Check this space in 24 to 36 hours for an update.

Posted by Mike Downs at 11:28 AM | Permalink

Mike Downs, Evangeline and Rosie

Evangeline and Rosie aged 16 and 15 respectively, are students at the Middle School Attached to the Northwestern University in Xi'an, Shanxi Province. And they like 女子十二楽坊 or 12 Girls Band.

We've been lead into a small auditorium/classroom to meet with a group of students from this school. Nine independent school heads from the US and about 75 students, all of whom study English.

At first, it is not clear what form this encounter will take. Being well accustomed to speaking on the fly, the heads take charge and generate some questions of our own for the students to answer. Most are too shy to speak up, except for a boy who lived in Silicon Valley for four years and is enthusiastically elected by his peers to be the spokesman.

Soon, the ice has been broken and as their curiosity overcomes their trepidation about speaking English in this public forum, they begin to ask for the mic from their more experienced colleague.

"What did you expect from the Chinese school system?"

"How can someone like me from China apply to a university in the US?"

"How much time do US students spend on sports?"

Through all this, I notice a girl directly in front of me, seemingly interested in speaking but too shy to risk it. Towards the end of our time, as the topics have shifted to some more cultural questions such as "What's your favorite movie or TV show?" I remember a CD I purchased on a hunch at the Beijing airport enroute to Xi'an.

"Does anyone listen to the 12 Girls Band?" I ask the crowd of students. There is a moment's hesitation as the band's name is translated in their minds from the Chinese name 女子十二楽坊, which I am sure is more evocative than "12 Girls". Suddenly, the girl opposite me stands and asks for the mic. "I listen to them and I like them a lot," she tells me. "They take traditional Chinese culture and make it more interesting," she says and asks which CD I have.

"I don't know, it's in Chinese," I say, drawing laughs from the students. I describe the CD cover and she knows immediately which one I have. "You should get the new one. It's brilliant!"

After the formal panel Q&A, the heads mingle with the students for small group conversations. "My name in English is Evangeline," the 12 Girls' student tells me, "and I am Rosie," says her friend. They ask for my email address and it occurs to me that they could easily dial up this blog, so I give them that address, too. "I'll put your picture on the blog," I promise them. Done!

And from Mounds Park Academy to Evangeline and Rosie and all of their friends...

Listen to or watch 女子十二楽坊 - the 12 Girls Band - on the Muture Communications Inc. site. You will need Windows Media Player and click on any of the movie or music links.

Posted by Mike Downs at 7:35 PM | Permalink

"We Chinese are very impressed with what your country has done in just 200 years," our Beijing guide told us a few days ago. Tuesday morning has broken clear, breezy and cool and I am walking through downtown Xi'an trying to make sense of the jumble of images and people we've met. I pass several construction workers headed for one of the endless new skyscrapers under construction and wonder what the next 200 years will bring; or even the next 20.

School children in Xi'an waving to the busload of foreigners.

Posted by Mike Downs at 6:38 PM | Permalink

I lived in LA for seven years and I have never seen smog like the pall that hung over Beijing at 5:30 a.m. this morning. It was a kind of a grey-brown haze that completely obscured the direction of the sun. China English newspaper had a story my first day on the Beijing Mayor's dilemma: whether to continue to allow his city to prosper from the substantial tax revenues generated by the local auto industry or to cut back on car production and reduce the number of cars on the roads. Depending on whom you ask, the population of Beijing is between 15 and 17 million.

But that was this morning. I write this evening from the hotel in Xi'an, a city located more towards the geographic center of the country and home of the famous terra cotta warriors. Small by comparison to Beijing, it supports a population of only four million. But there are construction cranes everywhere and the number of people is surely rising quickly. At 9:40 p.m., the view from my hotel window includes the familiar sparks of a welder's torch high up on the adjacent new building. This is construction 24/7 for a booming city.

After arriving by plane this afternoon, we visited the old fortified walls of the city. We visit the warriors tomorrow, then stop at a middle school, and are then hosted for a "dumpling banquet" by the Education Commission of Shanxi Province.

"Middle School" in China is grades 7-12. It is also called "high school." The educational system is organized in three units-primary school through grade six, middle or high school through grade 12, and college or university. "Middle" essentially refers to the middle of those three units, or so it was explained to me.

The warrior visit tomorrow will begin the fourth day of sightseeing for our group. We've visited the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square, where I had my picture taken Saturday with the Chairman, then Sunday to the Great Wall and the Summer Palace. After several beautiful early days, the heat has become punishing. Apparently, yesterday's high in Xi’an set an all-time record.

Our tour guide commented wryly on the government‚s promise that on any day the mercury hits 40° C, no one will have to work. It just never seems to officially hit anything over 39° C.

Our days have also provided opportunities to talk with the HANBAN representatives who travel around with us as well as strategy sessions to get ready for the hiring days. Getting nine heads of school to agree on a process can be an interesting challenge. It is, however, a splendid group of individuals and we have worked our way to a structure that makes sense for the time and candidates with whom we will be meeting. HANBAN has been most accommodating.

The visit to the US Embassy, introduced us to a different side of the process.

It is amazing how quickly a government functionary with control of the levers of authority can reduce a group of otherwise confident and independent school heads to patsies. And it was my fault. Ok, it was an honest mistake. I was just curious, so I asked the US consular official in the visa section, "But how long can the extension to the one year temporary visa be granted for? 20 years?"

It was a rhetorical question. I was simply trying to establish what the typical outer limit was after the deputy consul had said, or I thought he had said, "There is no real limit."

"I hate to step on the whole purpose of this meeting," his assistant interjected, "but what I just heard has shaken me to the core." The air immediately left the room in the way that it can when you suddenly discover that you are ultimately powerless. "If the purpose of these entry visas is to recruit permanent resident workers, it would be a mistake to grant them."

The next twenty minutes were spent reassuring the deputy and his assistant that we were indeed looking for stays of one to three years. The meeting ended cordially and with a mutual understanding that our goals were reasonable and appropriate in the eyes of the consular office. But my one question had unintentionally driven home the degree to which the fate of this program, at one level, will depend on all of the steps in a complicated process falling into place.

And of course, the US consular office has an impossible task. Entry to the US is highly coveted while limits on immigration are of existential importance. The officials from the general consul's office with whom we met are responsible for the review of thousands of visa applications with the certain knowledge that some segment of those permitted to enter for limited periods of time will overstay their approved welcome, melt away into the US permanently and become impossible to track.

Later that day, on our official visit to the main HANBAN office, Director General Xu Lin had a clear command of the US consular requirements and expectations and great confidence in their organization's ability to field candidates on whom the US visa office would look favorably. They'd been down this road and knew what it takes.

Director General Xu Lin of the HANBAN office and Mike Downs

"Evidence of family to return to, ownership of property, and evidence of a job waiting for them upon return are the key elements of a successful J-1 visa applicant's profile,” was how the deputy consul at the embassy had put it.

"We guarantee them a job upon their return and fully expect them to come back," said Xu when I raised the issues we'd encountered at the embassy. "The hardest part is sometimes getting them to stay in the states for the full term. They are away from family, friends, their culture, and they get homesick," she went on.

Which speaks to the importance of the quality of the cultural and social support we provide to our new teacher.

Posted by Mike Downs at 12:10 PM | Permalink

NAIS delegation with Principal Yuan of the Experimental High School (center) and Mei Yehong of HANBAN (far right)

Please refer to Mike's previous entry, Sorting it Out, for more information about this meeting with Principal Yuan.

Posted by Mike Downs at 6:38 PM | Permalink

Mike Downs poses in front of picture of Chairman Mao in Tiananmen Square.

Posted by Mike Downs at 10:31 AM | Permalink

"Americans get here and they immediately lose all critical reasoning abilities and just go all gaga for China as though China has it all figured out," explains Jeff Bissell, China Program Director for School Year Abroad, a group that works with US independent schools to facilitate student visits to other countries.

"Isn't that what happened to you?" I ask the 13 year resident of China. "Yes," he admits, "and it's why I've stayed."

Jeff is meeting with us to answer any questions from his group's experience. They'll be helping with the August training session of the HANBAN teachers we select before they leave for the US and our schools.

I mention the meeting with Dr. Wang (see entry Learning to Fish) and ask if he thinks the Chinese education reform movement is being effectively implemented. He's skeptical, "but they're genuinely interested in reform. It's an honest effort," he tells me.

Only a few days in the country and I am trying to sort the official story from the reality.

On my fourth trip to Purple/Black Bamboo Park, I finally come across some bamboo that actually appears to have purple spots on it -clearly the source of the park's name. As I look more closely, I see that it is actually more like black. This is occurring to me before I realize the significance. It IS purple, it IS black, and it IS green.

Dr. Wang's narrative may BE the party line, served to us for our consumption, but it is truly an honest effort. The sea of red shirted middle school students doing physical exercises together as we happen by on our tour MAY have been arranged especially to impress us, but it IS true that they do put an emphasis on life-long health.

The origins of the healthy living seen in the legions of elderly in bamboo park are to be found in that red sea of youngsters.

"Sea of Red" Middle School students and NAIS visitors.

The sea of youngsters are from The Experimental High School Attached to Beijing Normal University. The stop was actually our first of four stops on the day we visited with Dr. Wang, then went to the US embassy, then to HANBAN main offices.

Principal Yuan Aijun of the experimental school met with our delegation speaking through her interpreter, a very young and energetic English teacher. True to form, a number of the heads in our group tried to offer the young teacher a job on the spot. No luck.

Principal Yuan Aijun and interpreter.

The photos in the promotional materials we received show Principal Yuan with many Chinese and international dignitaries. We are clearly being shown a top-of-the-line school.

When asked what the greatest challenges she faces are, she surprises us by telling us that it is with the parents of the students in her school. "One of the effects of the one couple one child‚ population control policy of the Chinese government has been a huge number of only children," she tells us. We will hear the same thing from Dr. Wang an hour later.

"When the child is the precious single offspring, the parents go to great pains to make sure that their child is getting the very best. They do not always take our advice about what is right for the child and can be very pushy."

It is also clearly a great privilege to be selected for admission to the blue ribbon school, so the pressures are great.

After the school visit and the meeting with Dr. Wang, it's off to the US embassy where things get really interesting because of an overeager head's unfortunate question.

To be continued...

Posted by Mike Downs at 9:54 AM | Permalink

Wang, Dinghua, PhD of the Basic Education Department, Ministry of Education, PRC and Mike Downs. Dr. Wang spoke to the NAIS visitors about education in China, sharing with them his philosophy about teaching. See yesterday's posting, Learning to Fish, for Mike's thoughts on Dr. Wang's presentation.

Posted by Mike Downs at 4:58 PM | Permalink

Wang, Dinghua, PhD of the Basic Education Department, Ministry of Education, PRC is telling us a story. "My daughter's math teacher told her that the new text book is terrible. 'Don't use this awful new book,' he said, 'I will tell you which book to buy in the store.'"

It is an extraordinary revelation. Wang is a key player in designing and implementing major reforms in China's education policy. He is in the midst of a presentation to us that describes in detail the problems with the Chinese system and how the new reforms are being modeled on the American system.

One of his slides reads in bold letters, WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM AMERICAN EDUCATION? Another reads simply, STUDENT LEARNING: active learning, interactive ability, hands-on ability, how to fish instead of giving fish. The last one refers, of course, to the adage "give a man a fish, you feed him for a day, teach him to fish and you feed him for a lifetime." Put another way, "we don‚t teach students what to think, we teach them how."

As the enormity of the challenge to reform the educational system of a country of 1.3 billion is sinking in, I have asked him how well the country's teacher work force has done at adapting to these new reforms. "Has there been much resistance?" I have asked. As heads of schools charged with helping our respective schools stay on a healthy course of growth and development though external changes and internal reforms (the true charge of the head of any quality school today), this is a key question.

"About one fifth of the teachers have had some difficulty adapting to the new system," he begins. Then his face broadens into a smile and he tells us of his daughter's math teacher, who has received the new math text and is immediately dismissive of it. The teacher tells the daughter of the man largely responsible for the new math text that it is garbage.

An extraordinary moment in the midst of an extraordinary presentation. As school people with long experiences in different schools and with hundreds of teachers, we‚ve all known teachers like the math teacher of Wang's daughter (though thankfully, none at MPA!)

It is something of a self-deprecating moment in this unexpectedly honest and revealing presentation about the country's determined efforts to reform.

The presentation was not without reference to strengths in the Chinese system. Leverage the excellent cultural and educational traditions of China, read another slide on the reform process. So I asked if he would describe what he believes are the key strengths of their traditional system.

"The first is a kind of rural character training where students are helped to develop morally as well as intellectually and physically. Second, our curriculum is systematic and logical with each part building on the parts that came before. Third, there is an important emphasis on the teacher's role. Not to say that we are teacher centered, but we are also not student centered. Confucius said that teachers and students should benefit together."

But perhaps an equally important strength of the system is revealed in the very existence of this reform process, and that the ministry, at least according to Wang, is implementing reforms based on a critical self-examination

The ministry visit came after the visit to the "experimental middle school attached to the Beijing Normal University" and before the visits to the US Embassy and the central offices of HANBAN. More on those in a later posting.

Posted by Mike Downs at 4:07 PM | Permalink

WCCO Radio host Susie Jones spoke to Mike Downs today about his China trip. Click here to listen to the podcast of the interview.

Posted by Mike Downs at 2:17 PM | Permalink

...or Taking the Dark Tunnel

At 4:00 a.m local this Thursday morning (3:00 pm MPA time Wednesday) I've slept as long as I can. Two hours later, knowing that the temperature is set to rise to 100° F by mid-day, I decide to get some air in downtown Beijing. It is my first solo journey some six hours after arriving at the hotel.

After a first cautious circle around the hotel, I set aside my fears of getting lost without a word of Mandarin to help me. My destination is a park I've heard about-something to do with Purple Bamboo-a short walk from the hotel.

A footbridge takes me over a broad highway. I turn west in the direction of the park and reach what looks like a tunnel going deep under the busy streets above. People are busily coming and going through the tunnel on foot and on bicycles. It's quite dark, but appears to be the only way to the park.

Once inside the tunnel, it's mostly sounds-bicycle bells, chatter between passersby, motor scooters. At the darkest point, I hesitate, then continue on, eventually out the other side. A woman notices my hesitation and asks in simple English what I am looking for. "Purple Bamboo," I say. She's headed there too and will take me the half block to the entrance. "I make tai chi there," she tells me. She leaves me at the ticket window and turns to enter the park...2 yuan or about 25¢ to enter.

I could not possibly have imagined what awaited me in Purple Bamboo Park. About the size of New York's Central Park (or at least it seemed that way), it was filled with people of all ages doing various forms of physical activity-many simply standing among the flowers or in the shade stretching. Groups from several to over a hundred moved in unison to music all over the park. A large lake formed the center of the park with a variety of boats resting along the shore awaiting daytime users.

Of the several thousand faces I saw during the hour or so walk through the park, none appeared to be western-or to look anything like me, anyway. I recalled the comment the tour guide made when she had picked me up at the airport last evening. I had asked about parks near the hotel. She mentioned Purple Bamboo, but said it was for "locals." Excited to know that a park was near the hotel, I asked for more information, which she gave me, and again said, "but it's for locals."

Purple Bamboo Park

Walking through the park, I remembered the comment and wondered if I was intruding in a place where tourists were not expected to be. And then I heard the unmistakable clicking that could be nothing other than tap-dancing. Topping a rise, I saw six or eight men dressed in what we might call "business casual" following another man, similarly dressed, as he took them through tap lessons in the bright early morning sunshine. All were wearing metal tipped tap shoes. On worn stones among the tall bamboo, it was incongruous, but oddly welcoming.

As were the faces of those I passed throughout the park of Purple Bamboo, which, by the way, looked green to me. Back in the hotel, I examine the entrance ticket more closely. It reads "The Black Bamboo Park." Oh well, I'm glad I braved the dark tunnel.

Posted by Mike Downs at 11:08 PM | Permalink

Hello from China!

What we call "workshop week" among the faculty and staff is normally a relatively soft landing after the high drama of the graduation ceremony. With over half the faculty and staff packing for the summer move, it has been neither soft nor a landing. For me, it has been run-up to takeoff. As I write this, I occupy seat 66H- the last row of a 747. My seatmate is the only guy on the plan bigger than me - much bigger. We've grown very close.

Even with the tail whipsawing back and forth at 34,000 feet, it is calmer than when I left school and the moving activities. To be fair, Vince Meyer and his crew have performed admirably in support of the over 50 teachers and staff busy packing and labeling boxes. Over the next six weeks, everything that needs to be moved will be moved to new locations, ready for the August return and preparations for another school year.

But here at 34,000 ft. the outside temperature is -14°C and groundspeed is 590 MPH. The window shades are shut tight to create the impression that night has fallen, although it will be daylight until arrival in Beijing. This will make for over 24 hours of solid daylight.

posted from Narita Airport - enroute to Beijing

Posted by Mike Downs at 1:06 PM | Permalink

Saint Paul, MN – Mounds Park Academy Head of School Michael Downs will travel to China in June to recruit and hire teachers of Mandarin Chinese to be employed by schools throughout the country who are members of the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS). He is one of only nine independent school heads from across the country to participate in the trip, and the only representative from Minnesota.

The teacher recruitment trip is part of the China Connection project, a unique partnership between NAIS and HANBAN, a non-governmental organization (NGO) funded by the Chinese government, with a goal of advancing the teaching of the Mandarin language in schools in the United States.

“This is an incredible opportunity for Mounds Park Academy as an institution, and for independent schools across the country,” said Downs. “This coordinated effort by our national association working in partnership with a Chinese agency allows us to simultaneously begin teaching Mandarin Chinese to students across the country. The hope is that as these programs take root in the independent schools and our connections with Chinese educators develop, there will be a ripple effect that will help make Chinese language instruction increasingly more available to all American students,” he said.

“The timing of this opportunity could not be better,” said Mounds Park Academy Board Chair Elect Nancy Misra. “In June of 2005 our Board of Trustees adopted a strategic plan that places ‘A Global Advantage’ at the top of the list of three key goals for the next five years. There is great interest among our parents and our funders in incorporating Mandarin Chinese into our curriculum. This effort by NAIS lays the groundwork for us to make it happen,” she said.

The NAIS delegation will depart from Los Angeles June 15 and return on June 25. The delegates will travel to various cities, visit a variety of schools, meet authorities from central and local education facilities and experience Chinese culture. While in Beijing, they will interview candidates from a large pool of native-speaking teachers and hire teachers both for their own schools, as well as other NAIS member schools who make a request. NAIS estimates that as many as 50 teachers may be hired to begin instructing students at American independent schools at the beginning of the 2006-07 school year.

Teachers will be hired for an initial one-year contract, with the hope that the assignment will extend to at least three years. HANBAN, with financial support from the Chinese government, will provide teachers with a stipend for the 2006-07 school year, with the second and third year salaries to be paid by the schools.

According to NAIS president Patrick Bassett, the partnership furthers the NAIS commitment to providing resources to its schools. “Part of our mission as an organization is to provide resources that will help our schools model what great 21st century schools must become, sustainable along several continua, including the global one. This program is an excellent reflection of that mission,” he said.

The China Connection program was announced to NAIS member schools at the organization’s annual conference in March, where Downs was recognized for his leadership role in developing a partnership with Saint Paul Public Schools to bring the innovative Breakthrough Saint Paul program to Saint Paul Public Schools students. Schools interested in participating in the China Connection program were asked to indicate their interest. Downs was notified of his selection to travel with the delegation on April 7 and asked to confirm his acceptance by April 11. Schools whose heads are not part of the delegation, but are interested in hiring a teacher through the program, must notify NAIS by May 1.

Since its inception in 1982, Mounds Park Academy has identified the teaching of foreign language as part of its core curriculum. All students receive daily instruction beginning in kindergarten and continuing through 12th grade. A team of educators and administrators is currently in the process of determining how it will integrate the Mandarin Chinese program into the curriculum. They hope to provide parents and students with a plan by early June.

The National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) is a membership organization representing approximately 1,200 independent schools and associations in the United States and abroad, including 10 Minnesota schools. It acts as the national voice of independent pre-collegiate education and as the center for collective action on behalf of its membership. It serves and strengthens its member schools and associations by articulating and promoting high standards of educational quality and ethical behavior by working to preserve their independence to serve the democratic society from which that independence derives and by advocating broad access for students in affirming the principles of equity and justice. Additional information on NAIS can be found at www.nais.org.

Posted by Mike Downs at 1:46 PM | Permalink