Shanghai-29 N0vember 2008

Colonial architecture
Old China town section of Shanghai


Telecommunication Tower-Shanghai

YC Chong
View from Hyatt Hotel

Shanghai City


This morning I met YC Chang who has a daughter at Mount Maunganui College. YC very generously offered to show me around Shanghai, and he had hired a car and driver for the day to take us around.

We went into the city and went to the top of the Hyatt Hotel, about 55 floors where we could look across at the highest building in Shanghai and to get a great panorama of the city. YC then took me down to the bund, the waterfront where we could look across at the new part of the city on the east side of the river, and tp walk alongside many of the old original colonial era buildings that were taken over by the communist government. We then went into the old China part of town,very traditional Chinese architecture, and had lunch in a restaurant there. lovely old part of town with lakes and rivers full of fish.

later I asked YC to drop me in a shopping area, with the thought of doing a bit of present buying. However, after having been hassled so often to buy watches, bags and anything else that one might want, plus many propositions from young women, I decided I had had enough of crowds and caught a taxi back to the hotel

It is difficult to even describe the shear volume of people in this city-there is around 60 million in the province, and 19 million in the city. The density of huge high rise apartments, motorways etc is mind boggeling. It is hard to imagine how so many people can live in any kind of balanced lifestyle here-it definitely fees like a place where people work to live only. It is not a place I would willingly visit-I cannot see the point of subjecting ones self to being in a place with so many people-it is interesting, but not pleasant.

Shanghai 28 November

Suzhou Gardens




Today we were taken by the staff of Changzheng high School to the garden city of Suzhou, said to be the Venice of China as it has waterways-that I am afraid to say where the similarity ends. They also have saying that there is a paradise in heaven and Suzhou is paradise on earth-a little poetic licence taken here as well, though the two gardens we saw were very interesting and traditional. We did have a ride on a canel boat, which was interesting to observe the life along the water ways.

Later this evening I went to have dinner with Sarah and John Good (Alastair and paddy's daughter) and their beautiful new baby, Lola Grace. Paddy was also there, so it was great to catch up with her -strange meeting old friends in Shanghai.

Shanghai 27 November

Lunch Banquet
Foreign teachers at agreement signing
Sui Lei in staff cafe
Staff at Changzheng High School-Nini in the middle is International Relations Manager
Changzheng High School
Agreement signing
Signing agreement with Principal Li
Signing agreement

Flowers for visitors
School band welcoming visitors
School Band
Eric demonstrating how to teach English
Terry at No 2 School
Red carpet treatment

Today we were first bussed to No 2 School Shanghai where we were literally given the red carpet treatment and given gifts. We then watched a young Chinese student give a demonstration lesson before about 100 teachers and visitors from overseas.

After this we went to Changzheng High School to sign an agreement. this was almost like the signing of the treaty of Versaille-very formal. flags adorned the table of each country as we signed agreement, and then waited while a hundred photos were taken.

Leter in the day we each had ameeting with Principal Li Saobao and his senior management team to discuss how we could for lasting relationships in more detail.

Later still, another banquet!

Shanghai 26 November-Seminar Day

Sui Lei pleased seminar is finished
Seminar Room-Radisson Hotel

Area Chairperson-very important person
Chairperson, Putou Education District

After the official welcome this morning by the Chairperson of the Putou Education Department, and the Chairperson of the District and a number of other speeches, the seminars got under way.

I was pleased that I was second, after a Chinese Principal who spoke about the importance of work sheets!..I was then able to relax and enjoy the rest of the day listening to others. I confused poor Sui Lei by having a Maori introduction, but she took it all in good heart and we had a bit of fun. My presentation seemed to have gone down well and many were interested in getting a copy of the resource from me at the end. For some reason many of the questions at the end were directed to me as well, and I tried where I could to involve the others by asking them what their thoughts were on the question asked.

That night, in the bus and off to another banquet, and "much" more gambays...we were also given a very heavy present from the district related to the world trade fair that is happening in Shanghai in 2010-not sure what it is as it is beautifully wrapped so have left it until I get home.

Shangahai-25 November 2008

Seminar Venue

Sui Lei-translator

Arrived in Shanghai from NZ at 7.00am this morning. Being very tired and not really awake, I let some character arrange a taxi from the airport for me rather than go directly to taxi stand. As soon as I hopped in and he went about a kilometre down the road before he started to do a deal on the tariff, I knew I was in trouble. So I agreed on his figure, hard to do much else when they have your bag in the back, and thought i would sort it out when I got to the hotel. But w then had a big argument as he wanted me to pay up front, and would not pay until we got to the hotel. I have to say it was bit scary for a while, but he finally continued and dropped me an hour later at the hotel. Funny how the final fee suddenly dropped a hundred RMT when we got to the hotel and he saw me write down his driver's number. Bluff must have worked, but an anxious start to Shanghai.

I booked in, had a shower and then had a visit from my tranlator, a young teacher from the Changzheng High School, who wanted to go over my speech with me and she was obviously appointed to look after me for the next few days. Sui Lei turned out to be a very friendly, helpful person with a good sense of humour.

She took me to lunch in the hotel with the deputy director of the Putou Education Department, and then we had a rehearsal at 4.00pm. At 5.30pm all of the guests and presenters were taken for what was to be the first of many large banquets, held in large private rooms in even larger restaurants. Quite a shock when there were piles of cigarette packets for the guests on eac table.

It also seemed that there is some kind of challenege for our host to have as many "gambays" =cheers and down your glass of wine in one go, at each of these banquets as well. These seem to happen whenever there is a lull in the conversation, and averaged at least 15 per meal!

Arrived back in my room around 10.30pm, exhausted.

Building Progress

Good progress has been made on the new classrooms and now the old A Block is being ripped of its ancient planks to be revitalised into a modern teaching facility.

New Government- Opportunity or?

Bay News November 26, 2008.


With the hype of the recent elections dying behind us, we now look to the future under a new Minister of Education, Ann Tolley. Over the last nine years there have been large gains made in education in a reasonably stable period that has been free of industrial strife. This period has allowed teachers in all sectors to focus on lifting the educational achievement of students, especially in literacy and numeracy. There has been a tremendous amount of good will amongst teachers to spend a considerable amount of their time on professional development, improving teaching strategies, making better use of assessment data to inform good teaching practice, and to raise the achievement of Maori students.

The new National Government has signalled that they wish to continue this work in lifting educational achievement, keeping students meaningfully in education until eighteen and supporting the lifting of Maori achievement. The concern we have as educators is that so often in our experience, politicians come enthusiastically into a new portfolio with generalised goals that have been created in their own imaginations or with misconceptions about what is actually being done in education. It is not as if teachers, young and old, have been sitting on their hands waiting for some politician to tell them how to do the job, or that they have a good idea that teachers have not yet thought of.

There is immeasurable good will in teachers to work with governments to lift New Zealand to the top of international league tables. In the International PISA tests, New Zealand ranks in the top five countries in literacy, numeracy and science. We recognise that there is a long tail of underachievement amongst our students, and we have been working hard to rectify this. A new Minister of Education has a great opportunity to work alongside teachers to achieve a shared outcome. What will be disastrous will be for a new minister to come in and tell teachers how to do their job or to revisit thorny old issues such as bulk funding and the abolition of zoning. We need to maintain the focus on lifting standards and providing teachers with the resources to do this.

There are six issues I would like the new Minister of Education to address:
o Increase the funding for our special needs students, with adequate resourcing for staff and facilities
o Support the introduction of the new Curriculum with more time for teachers to prepare units of work that embrace all of the essential elements of the document
o Better resource schools to meet the day to day operation and maintenance requirements
o Fund staffing to reduce class sizes
o The bulk of New Zealand schools were built in the 60s and 70s. There needs to be a huge injection of funds to modernise old buildings to create flexible learning spaces and to allow students to access the necessary technology for 21st century learning.
o There needs to be a consideration given to a range of alternatives for students to continue their education up to 17-18 years. Planning within communities to address their needs is more important than trying to find standard solutions for the whole country.



The new minister has signalled worthy goals for education in her first three years as Minister of Education. It is our hope that she will take time to identify the excellent programmes that are being taught in schools and give schools the resourcing needed to build on these. Any imposed strategy will not work and be doomed to fail just as the “No Child Left Behind” programme in the America has failed for George Bush.