Senior ESOL Student Reports

A group of Year 6 ESOL students compiled reports last term. The learning intention required students to reflect on cultural differences, form an Inquiry question related to their own culture and write a short informative report that would capture their Inquiry process. There was much discussion during the questioning and drafting phases. Report writing became our writing focus. Some students created an abstract to draw their reader's attention to their research question. The challenge was not to deviate from the Inquiry focus. The students were encouraged to gather information from a wide range of resources, including their parents. Suma was very fortunate to have her father at hand to share his knowledge of her topic. We all found his knowledge enlightening. While the students used Pages to present their reports, we are unfortunately unable to post Pages directly onto the Blog. The content of each report will be posted as separate elements. It is possible that these students will invite you to attend a presentation of their work one afternoon later in the term in our ESOL room. We will keep you posted on this. REPORT !) Trudy Cai - Question: What is the difference between primary education in a New Zealand and Chinese school? This is Trudy's Report: Chinese School Report completed in April 2012

What Does A Classroom Look Like in a Chinese School?

In Chinese schools there are usually 40 to 60 children in each class School work is very hard and there is a lot of work to do everyday. These are some of the similarities and differences between New Zealand and Chinese Classes
 Similar: 1) There is much reading and testing 2) We learn to read letters and understand them at five 3) The teacher stays the same for a year 4)Primary School is Year 1-6

In China: 1) There is no talking in the Chinese classroom 2) Children may get punished if they talk 3) Children eat in a cafeteria and sit at tables during lunchtime 4) In Chinese schools a bright child can jump up a year ahead of others 5) Only some schools have TV and computers 6) Because children are often called ‘‘little emperors ’‘ and thought to be precious, there is a lot of pressure on them to do well at school 7) Schools teach English or another second language 8) Students know that they must make their families proud 9) The roll in Chinese schools can be up to 3000 children 10) There are between 40 to 80 students in a classroom

Trudy’s view of the differences: In my classroom in China we did not sit and discuss things like children do in New Zealand classrooms. I find it difficult to concentrate sometimes when lots of children are talking because I’m not used to it. I was 8 years old when I came into school in New Zealand so I had been used to a different system. I find the work now is easier to do because there is not as much. Now I have to think about what I know about the subject which is good for my thinking. When I write I use my own ideas. In China we had to write a lot and the practise made us better at writing. We need to write plenty to be good at it. If you were late to school in China you had to stay outside and you had a lot of work to do. You weren’t late for school. I think that children should have to tell the class why they are late and do extra work. We thank Trudy for her contribution to our ESOL BLog.