Classroom activities

The computer classroom is in basement of this building on the right of the first picture. It is freezing cold. There are 76 computers here. There is no teacher's facilities (whiteboard, video projector or master computer).

The students are supposed to be studying English - there are plenty of activities they can do, including writing their journals for submission. But like most teenagers, they try to get away with more interesting things like playing computer games, or sending emails to the friends in Chinese, using the equivalent of Facebook. As I prowl around monitoring what they are doing they can adroitly switch between game and supposed work.

In the classroom we have about 25 students, who would prefer to be sending SMS messages to each other and making and receiving mobile phone calls. But generally they are a great bunch, and are polite and well behaved, with varying motivation (and ability) for learning English.

In this lesson we are doing gender studies - why do men behave differently to women (nature or nurture?), and why do women not seem to be able to get to the top positions? We are preparing at this time for a compare and contrast essay - only 400 words. Interestingly, China were world leaders with female equality back in the 60's (remember the images of smiling women tractor drivers under the farm collective system) and many of the equality issues, shamefully still a problem in many western countries, are really not so marked in China.

While my photo was being taken by an obliging student, a whole bevy of mobile phone cameras appeared from the rest of the class, to take my photo of my photo being taken! I am looking suitably officious here. Notice the raised dais, lecturn and blackboard and chalk - I'm not sure why I brought whiteboard markers with me.

Incidentally the first picture shows how the gardeners prune trees to an inch of their life, a stork's nest and a half a mountain behind which will one day no longer be there.