China Trip part 2

Here is another random assortment of pictures I took on my trip.  I'm so pumped to use photography to teach about China.   Soooo much more interesting than a textbook.  I think it will be a great way to help them make inferences and personal connections too.

 

 

The no honking sign always cracked me up, because I have never heard so much honking in my life.  Apparently though, their driver's manual used to say that they are supposed to honk to pass.  One local told me that she doesn't like how they do it though and that they're not really supposed to, so I think this sign is an example of attempts to reduce honking.

 

Subway handles in Beijing.  (They weren't all like this.)

 

Bowza!!  These were little buns stuffed with meat or vegetables.  Pretty good most of the time.  I bought one of those things at the Chinese store in town so that I can make them for my class.

Playing Chinese checkers in China!



The allergen free meal prepared for me by my friends (from here) and the Swiss kids we were staying with.  Thanks guys!

 

Mmmm.... Chicken feet.

 

Of course I tried it!  I'm no wimp!

 

Chopstick sanitizer

 

Makeshift telephone line.

 

Better view of my favourite bathroom

 

Bathroom door (and the famous Blair and Randi!)

Every day, all the kids in the high schools flood onto the field to practice their synchronized exercises.  Not quite the military precision their parents would have shown, but still pretty interesting.  I filmed it too, but can't load it on here. 

 

At lunch time and after school, there was always a sea of different uniforms on the buses.  Those kids have to practically live in those things, because they barely get to go home.

Interesting steering wheel protector

A little friend who snuck into our backyard to see us and play with our puppet.  (yes, that's right, the family my friend lives with loves puppets.  They even have a little theatre in their entrance area.  Their daughters loved swing too! Match made in heaven.)

There was constant construction, everywhere.

Storefronts

Typical street

Lots of cargo type trucks

This sign was my favourite part of the bus (notice the dripping blood from his hand and the tears).

I thought it was neat how they counted down how long you had to make it across.  Sometimes it was safer to go on a red light anyways though, because pedestrians never have the right of way.  Just try and run as fast as you can across a couple lanes, stand in the middle of the freeway, and wish you weren't wearing a backpack.  Then run the rest of the way.

There were lots of people using sewing machines outside their stores.

China trip, part one

Some people have been asking for pictures, so I thought I would use a few of my art posts to show some of my favourites.  I took over a thousand, a lot that I'm planning to use for my practicum.  My CT said I would be teaching on meeting daily needs and wanted me to take pictures to go with that, so I have tooons.  I would be willing to share if anyone wants!  I asked Karim for his picture of the pyramid next to the city from his Egypt trip and used it in my practicum last year when I was doing ancient Egypt.  If you can't use pictures you took, it is a little cooler to use pictures your friend took.  Also, when you travel, annoy your traveling companions by constantly collecting realia!  It might not make you their best friend, but your students will thank you for it!  

 

 

 

My first night in China!  ... on the floor of the Beijing airport!  (waiting for morning train)

 

View of my city up on a hill.  They live in the bowl like us!  I think that will be a neat connection for students.

 

The reason we rarely touched seafood.  Dead fish anyone?

 

Trough toilet.  There were a few off to the side, and this is where it flushed.  It was all open, with a sheet for the door.  Most weren't like this, but this one was pretty memorable.

 

Various transportation methods for moving produce.

 

A mall.

 

Plants vs. Zombies shoes!!

 

One of many his and hers outfits. (also an example of mistranslation)

 

My proudest moment.  This is one of the farmers who discovered the terracotta warriors.

Beijing Opera

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrxvgZtsuow --- Woman singing


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knqe-asAcKw --- opera (men)

Nicole posted awhile back about the opera and I wanted to compare it to my experience visiting the Beijing Opera.  Opera is one of the things Beijing is most famous for, so I was pretty excited to get a chance to go, and I’ve never been to one before, so that in itself was neat.  I always have the image in my head of big ladies in Viking suits singing really high and people watching with fancy little binoculars.  Lol I know it’s not really like that, but it’s a fun little image that pops into my head.  It definitely was not what I expected though.  It was pretty interesting.  Wow, Chinese female singers can reach notes that I don’t think the Viking ladies even could.  Pretty impressive.  I was surprised that it was actually several short, unconnected skits.  I thought that they would all be connected, but they weren’t at all.  Because of that, there was more variety.  The last couple ones were neat, because they involved sword and stick fighting and some acrobatics.  That was pretty great.  Anyways, I think that this will be valuable when I’m teaching, because comparing art forms in different countries will be great for Social Studies.  I will probably get them to watch a bunch of clips from operas in different languages to pick out cultural differences.  I will definitely tell them to pay attention to the musical style.  It sometimes sounds a little chaotic to me, like a bunch of noise strung together (sounds like Nicole’s opinion of rap!), but in a grade six music lesson I sat in on when I was down there (international school), the teacher said that was because they use a different scale other than the “do re mi” scale, so our ears aren’t used to it.  I think that’s fantastically interesting.  I brought back several Chinese cds, so I have tons of examples of different styles, but this one was in a lot of the opera skits I saw.  I have really been enjoying listening to a lot of the music I brought back, especially the songs with violin.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention, someone from the local opera taught my friends and I how to sing a local folk song (which they made us sing in front of 5000 people and broadcasted it on the news, as part of a folk festival).... but that's another story.

I couldn’t figure out how to attach my own video without first loading it to youtube, which I don’t want to do, so I just found a couple examples already on youtube.  One is of a girl singing in a traditional style, with the kind of music I heard in the opera.  The other is of an opera, so that you can see a bit of the acting.

History Music Videos

History Teacher's Music Video Youtube Page

This right here is one of my all time favourite resources.  It is the youtube channel of a history teacher in Hawaii, who takes popular songs and changes the lyrics to teach about history.  She has 57 videos!!  In my non-musical opinion, her voice is decent, and the idea is novel.  Some of them are entirely of her and other people in costumes singing in different locations, and some have clips from historical fiction movies and tv shows.  You have to watch a few to get an idea of what they’re like.  Some are fabulous and some are a little too long and slow.  Some of the tunes are pretty catchy, so the kids get them stuck in their heads, and some have some great visuals.  One time I was teaching a class and heard the class next door singing the Henry the VIII song, and I could also often hear that one at lunch time.  Beware: YOU will also get that one stuck in your head.  It is also a great resource to show as an inspiration to students in preparation for an assignment where they make their own videos.  It is far more fun to write and sing a song than to write a paragraph, so the students are more engaged.  Most of the videos focus on high school content, but some of them apply to elementary, so everyone should check it out!!

 

Arts Integration Resource

 

Arts Integration Solutions

Here is another arts integration resource I found last year.  It is the website of an organization devoted entirely to integrating the arts into curriculum (Arts Integration Solutions).  They have a research section and teacher resources.  They also visit schools to help teachers and administrators integrate arts better into their curriculum (the schools become partner schools), and they have frequent workshops.  Unfortunately, they are located in Arizona, so that’s a bit of a let-down.  I wonder if there is anything like this closer to our school district.  Even if we can’t actually benefit from this resource in the full way they intended though, the website still has a plethora of ideas.  If you sign up for their mailing list, they will send you one or two arts integration ideas per week, or you can check their website often, because they have the same ideas posted right on the homepage.  They also have a search engine similar to the IRPs, where you can search by subject, grade level, and art form.  There are a LOT of ideas on this site.  So, if you’re stuck for ideas, this is a good place to start!

Reader's Theatre Resource

Aaron Shephard's Reader's Theatre Homepage

 

I wanted to share this great resource I found last year for reader’s theatre.  Aaron Shephard has a fabulous website with all kinds of reader’s theatre scripts, tips, and activities.  He even has it organized so that if you want to search by genre, location, and activity type.  He has fairy tales, folk tales (from several countries), and original scripts.  There is a parents’ page, a resource page, and also links to his three books, Stories on Stage, Readers on Stage, and Folktales on Stage.  It seems like even if you don’t buy the books, it is a wealth of resources to get anyone started.  He even has a video of himself reading a story dramatically.  He has some great facial expressions!

I love reader’s theatre, because it helps students to experience the story first hand.  I had never really heard of it before last year and had definitely never done it before, and I am excited to try it out.  Hmmm... I suppose though, it’s similar to what I do with the Director’s Skit (see Sept 20 post), but I like that there is already a script.  It has a different purpose than improv.  It would be good for doing as a whole class, splitting everyone up into groups, or assigning to students who are finished their work.  It would also be a great addition to a TTOC’s bag of tricks.  I would like to try integrating it into other subjects as well.  For example, in a grade six class studying world cultures, I would split the class into different groups and assign a folk tale from each of the countries we are studying.  They would practice and perform them for the class.  It could be a great hook for the year, and also a nice wrap up activity at the end of the year.