It was a long journey from Huang Jiang to Ji Long of Hui Dong. We went the wrong direction at first and finally made our way to the highway. Ip was familiar with the route, for it was the one leading to his home in Shan Mei. Rain poured when we got to Hui Dong. Finally we came to Ji Long. It was a town specialising in shoe making. There were lots of shops selling materials and accessories for shoes. The industry was originally led by Taiwan industrialists, many of whom have now sold their factories to local people.
The GIS guided us to alleys, on both sides of which were garbage dumps. We just couldn't believe that a brand school could be in such dilapidated areas. We backed off again and again, but finally we got into a narrow street with more decent buildings on both sides and arrived at a riverside. Then we turned left and passed through a number of factory buildings. There we saw a three-floor school with fully tiled floor and lush green trees at the main entrance.
Pearl Foreign Language School was founded about four years ago, by a young corporate "China Institute of Education Brand". The event we attended was its first conference. Two principals from two other schools which were under their supervision joined the conference and spoke. One was from Ho Yuen, and the other from Dongguang.
Pearl was rapidly expanding, with 36 classes, each class holding 42 to 48 students. Tuition fees was $2500 per term, but school bus, lunch and other fees are much higher than Yu Tim's. The teaching force was around 2:1 class and were extremely young. All were dressed in a blue shirt, looking neat and smart. Students' uniform was white and red with a dragon, featuring a strong Chinese heritage.
The opening event was a Chinese martial arts show by primary four classes at the school lobby. The children showed confidence, discipline, strong sense of belonging to the school and love for the country.
All classes were open for visit. I attended two English classes - 6B and 1G. In both classes, there were the same routines: class commences by choral singing, a Little Teacher led revision, students sat in groups of six, face to face. A very standard cooperative learning group process was demonstrated. The teacher played the role of facilitator. Materials were the PEP textbook, a worksheet with instructions written in Chinese. A lot of time was spent awarding and filling in marks for group performance on the boards - one at the front and the other at the back of the classroom. Primary Six students were well trained the procedures and were confident enough to give feedback to other groups' performance.
Serving others is one of the core values for Pearl Juvenile. Students volunteered to join the Service Teams and help others with different kinds of tasks. The service curriculum is well structured and managed.
During the lunch gathering, Ms Chan, the school owner, had a chat with us. She was interested in what I am doing in Yu Tim. She mentioned that the school aimed at preparing students to study in Hong Kong and overseas.
My vision that ICT will have a big part to play in the China education market is confirmed.
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