From 5th – 10th December 2011, British School Beijing(BSB) hosted 20 rural teachers from across China for Cultural exchange. Wang Liwei was responsible for managing the Government relations and for selecting the teachers from Chongqing, Shandong and Anhui.  Headmaster Mike Embley(picture 1) made a humorous welcome speech on the first day and then Fred Li, Yimeng Li(picture 3) and I of DLA Piper together with teacher, Val Pearson(picture 2), taught the first three mornings of English lessons. We went through English daily conversations using creative learning methods such as picture drawing, acting, games etc. Fred and Yimeng shared their own English learning experience with the teachers. In the afternoons, teachers were divided into groups, each group having the choice to observe different BSB classes. After class, they played Ping Pang with BSB staff and us. By the end of the program, teachers taught students in BSB a lesson in English. Through 22nd April to 24th April, the group visited the Great Wall, Forbidden City and Olympic Park.

This is the second training program since April 2011. The next one is about to start in April 2012. This project helps the rural teachers to broaden their horizons, receive new and advanced education ideas and gain exposure to different teaching methods. It also helps to balance the education standards between the city and the countryside. One teacher can influence the future of 10,000 rural children.  In the long term,  we hope through the development of the teacher, they can bring back their inspiring experience in Beijing and apply to daily class, so that thousands of thousands rural students can benefit.