It was a good one - I got the chance to visit Hamdan Bin Zayed School on Sunday, and joined in their morning assembly, sat into 2 classes to observe how the Chinese language was taught, and how the Emirati students learn. I was given a tour of the school and had some chances to interact with the students and teachers.
The morning assembly with the kids. Pretty much the same scene all over the world I believe; at least this is the same familiar sight in Singapore and Japan.
Peppered around the whole school and classrooms are posters and pictures - where 3 languages are simultaneously written together. The Chinese characters come with the hanyu pinyins too.
The upper grade girls reading and practising the spoken language, as I understand, for the HSK examination. Really cool effort. The girls could respond reasonably well, and 1 of them was quite good. They would be heading off to China this weekend for an exchange programme. I learnt too that the school is actively recruiting Chinese teachers from China - and there are already 20 Chinese teachers.
The Grade 2 kids learning thru' song and dance. They were reciting a poem and had hand and body actions to go with it. Pretty lively, and the whole class was participating in the activity. Kudos to Su Fen - she really took the class very well.
During recess time - where kids take out snacks from their little sandwich boxes. :)) Really very nice for a change to just chat with them in the open. And Su Fen is at the end of the table.
I was quite touched to hear her stories and see her passion. It is a calling to be a teacher, and it is a very important vocation. These kids have such potential in them, and there's so much life, energy, zeal, dream, belief. The teacher holds a pivotal role in moulding and building the next generation. :) I am glad I was a teacher too.
This visit inevitably transported me to the days where I was teaching in Japan, and also learning Japanese at the same time. Personally, I have always been very interested in languages - the acquisition of languages (and the neuroscience to it), the way a language frames one's world, the meaning of words and how communication is made possible thru' language, the different languages and their grammatical composition - the syntax, and the semantics, and the list can just go on and on.
My experience in Japan caused me to wonder if the UAE would be able to succeed in this effort - whether they could possibly nurture a new generation of Chinese speakers. I hope it would be for them - time would tell. From personal experience, that environment to practice the language continually is one key to success in language acquisition.
More about the UAE effort in teaching the Chinese language can be found here: https://gulfnews.com/uae/education/chinese-language-to-be-taught-in-100-uae-schools-1.2253926
Finally - as I reflect on this learning journey, there is also that nostalgia in stepping into the familiar school compound. :) Certainly a very good Sunday adventure for me, one well-worth waking up at 6am for.
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