Tibet teaching project raises standards and aspirations

Educators from Jiangsu province are forging a new spirit at an experimental school on the plateau. Zhang Yangfei reports from Lhasa, Tibet autonomous region.

Editor's note: This is the second in a series of stories focusing on the history, poverty-alleviation measures and the cultural and business sectors of the Tibet autonomous region.

Nyima Gyaltsan is popular with both his teachers and classmates. The 14-year-old is a class monitor, responsible for maintaining discipline in classes and during self-study periods in the evenings, as well as patrolling the dormitory at night.

He is also the only junior student at the Lhasa Jiangsu Experimental School in the Tibet autonomous region to be recruited for the senior high soccer team, playing in the forward line.

Growing up in Lhasa, the regional capital, he dreams of seeing the rest of China and has set his sights on studying at the Beijing Institute of Technology.

Only one person - Nyima Gyaltsan's Chinese teacher Qian Weisheng - knows the problems that lie beneath his sparkling school status.

In a secret letter to Qian, the boy explained that his various roles are putting him under excessive pressure, he has nobody to talk to when he feels sad, and, as an orphan, he is uncomfortable when he sees his classmates with their parents at school events.

"I want to go to school in another province. That way, I won't feel like an orphan," he wrote in the letter, referring to special classes established for Tibetan students in schools outside the region that allow them to share equal teaching resources with their "inland" counterparts.

"All my classmates would be separated from their parents, so I wouldn't want to have parents."

Nyima Gyaltsan rarely shares his feelings, fearing that he may be mocked and treated differently, but Qian, who arrived from affluent Jiangsu province five years ago, is an exception, even though he only began teaching the boy last semester.

"When Teacher Qian learned I was an orphan, he tried to ease my mental stress and help me study," Nyima Gyaltsan said, adding that he has spoken privately with Qian several times.

As the boy has no family members to help with his school work, Qian told him to highlight anything he didn't understand in any subject and he would find teachers to help him.

"Teacher Qian told me I can always turn to him, or talk with him every Wednesday at noon if I come across any difficulties or stress," he said.

Benefits

Qian is one of 47 teachers who arrived on the southwestern plateau in 2015 from Jiangsu, whose students regularly post some of the best exam results in China. Some members of the original teaching group have left and been replaced by new arrivals.

As experts in teaching methods and education theory, they were keen to bring their experience and knowledge to Tibet, where education was once exclusive to the aristocracy. Their efforts are paying off, as both students and local teachers are benefiting from their presence.

The school, a secondary boarding establishment, was established by the Jiangsu government in 2014 with an investment of 263 million yuan ($39 million).

It is home to 2,890 students, more than 90 percent of whom are Tibetan, and the 316 teachers provide 63 classes. Excluding the 47 educators from Jiangsu, the teachers are locals of both Han and Tibetan ethnicity.

The students, from juniors to seniors, said the Jiangsu teachers are more patient and softer-tempered than those at their old schools and the classes are more interesting.

Tashi Lhamo, a 14-year-old eighth-grader, loves the English class, which is taught by a Jiangsu teacher who is humorous and friendly. Memorizing vocabulary can be a dull task, so the teacher brings snacks, desserts or small gifts as incentives.

To spice up the classes, the teacher finds ancient Chinese poems that have been translated into English and lets the students work out the original versions.

"My teachers in primary school didn't use lots of multimedia. They were all too serious, so the students rarely interacted or joked with them. But the Jiangsu teachers know how to use multimedia, and always tell us things outside of our textbooks. The class is always great fun," Tashi Lhamo said.

Chemi Drolma, an 18-year-old senior, plans to apply for a "normal" university - one that teaches a range of subjects - after taking the gaokao, the national college entrance exam, in June.

Her favorite subject is geography, because it is the most active class. The school has a special geography classroom, and the teacher often uses a projector to display maps and images of different terrains to help the children better understand the lesson.

Trust

Initially, it was not easy for the Jiangsu teachers to win the students' trust. Upon arrival, they were not only faced with the high altitude and thinner atmosphere, but also naughty students with a low level of basic knowledge.

Wang Qiming, a history teacher from Huai'an city, Jiangsu, said he experienced some friction when he taught his first class in 2015.

"The students knew less than those in Jiangsu. They didn't behave well in class or listen to me, so if the situation had not been handled carefully - if I had become impatient or irritated - the tension could have been harmful," he said.

Wang decided to proceed slowly and adjust his schedule to match the students' poor skills. He quickly realized that even the seniors sometimes acted like young children and needed coaxing and incentives, which many local teachers overlooked.

"Many local teachers have problems. For example, when they teach a class, they may think that they have taught a lot at a slow pace with enough detail, and they get annoyed if students don't remember. In fact, you should give the children time to digest, sparing five minutes in each class to help them review the work," he said.

In response, the school launched a project that paired each Jiangsu teacher with at least one local educator. The outsiders acted as mentors, providing guidance and support.

Qian, the Chinese teacher, has mentored five teachers. He attended their classes once a week, offering advice afterwards. He also set assignments, such as reading magazines or two to three books each year, as well as writing a paper on teaching practice every semester.

"I think many local teachers need to constantly explore education theory and the art of teaching. They also need to read more and strengthen their research abilities, because teaching without researching is lost labor," he said.

Namgal, a Tibetan math teacher who came to the school after she graduated two years ago, said she has learned valuable lessons from her two Jiangsu mentors.

When she started teaching, her class had the third-lowest average math score in the school's seventh grade. Her first mentor, Pan Lichao, attended her classes regularly, taking notes and suggesting methods she could adopt. Pan also met with her several times to help prepare lessons.

"Pan prepared each lesson very carefully. When I made teaching slides, I didn't allow enough time for the transition between them, so Pan gently pointed out how I should express myself when I changed slides so the students would understand more naturally. I was very impressed," said Namgal, who like many Tibetans only uses one name.

Zhang Dazhong, her second mentor, taught her how to get the best results from the papers she assigned her students. Now, the average score for her class has jumped to second place in the grade.

"The Jiangsu teachers are all very nice and willing to tutor me. They all have their own teaching techniques and tips that I always want to learn," Namgal said.

In addition to providing teaching guidance, the Jiangsu teachers introduced a prestudy system. At the beginning of every semester, teachers of the same subject sit together to analyze the textbooks and compile a document that outlines the key points of each lesson.

When the students read the document, they know what they should focus on and the problems they will be expected to solve in class.

Hu Kunxu, 17, finds the booklet very helpful, particularly at the end of the semester. "The key knowledge is clearly pinpointed, and I make notes. When the end of the semester arrives, I read it again. It is especially helpful for my exam," she said.

Wang, the history teacher, said the document is designed to help students study independently. The core contents still come from the textbook, but they are listed in a more straightforward way.

"After reading it, the students gain a basic understanding of the things they need to research about the subject," he said.

"Only when they form such a basis can they better absorb the knowledge communicated during classes, instead of mechanically cramming knowledge into their heads."

Commitment

The Jiangsu teachers have all been given free lodgings next to the school, so they are close to their students in class and in life. The school also provides societies where the students are free to develop hobbies, such as learning piano or Tibetan calligraphy.

The Jiangsu teachers are scheduled to stay for two years, but many find that period too short to bring effective improvements to their students, so each year at least half choose to stay longer.

Qian was one of the first Jiangsu teachers to arrive when the school was established. He could have left long ago, but once he stood in front of a class, he knew he would stay for a long period.

"I believe that love is the cornerstone of education. It is the process of nurturing a life, and it works very slowly. So, as an educator, you have to be patient and have real affection for people," he said.