farming story
- 1. C2 EDUCATION Wednesday 11 April 2007 Shanghai Daily Life in Shanghai contest Name: Pranav Sriram Age: Seven Nationality: Indian School: Shanghai Community International School My name is Pranav. I am an Indian born in New Delhi. When I was three, my family moved to Vietnam where we stayed for one year. Then my dad had to move to Singapore where we spent about two-and-half years. I moved to Shanghai last May and I have had no difficulty adjusting to my new country. Prior to moving to Shanghai I was anxious and very sad as I was leaving my friends behind in Singapore. How different it was. The weather was different, as was the food, the people and the language among many other things. I go to an international school where there are people from nearly all parts of the world. I like my school very much and I get to learn many things. I learn Manda- rin and I keep practicing it with my ayi at home. I also like to play soccer at school, in addition to drawing, painting and craft work. I am also learning Indian music. Shanghai has four seasons and I like spring best here as I can go out in the evening and play with my friends. In my hometown, the summers are hotter than Shanghai while the winters are not so cold as they are here. The roads here are quite big and have a lot of traffic. There are also many tall buildings in Shanghai and I have visited the Oriental Pearl TV Tower, Jinmao Tower, as well as the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum and the aquarium. The Science and Technology Museum was the best. I also visited the Urban Planning Museum where I saw the model for how Shanghai will look in 2010. It was very beautiful. As my family is vegetarian we find it very difficult to eat outside our home. Although Indians and Chinese are all rice eaters, Chinese rice is lot different from the Indian variety. Chinese rice is lot more sticky. The best Chinese food dish I like here is vegetable chao mian. Shanghai is like a small world where all kinds of people and food can be seen. I like being part of it and am very happy to stay here. How has moving to Shanghai changed your life? Different food, new music — if you’re an international school student, tell us about your experiences in your adopted home, from school days to meeting new friends. Shanghai Daily will pub- lish your articles each Wednesday through the end of the school year. All entries must be 400-500 words and include a photo of yourself with personal details such as name, age, nationality and school. We’re offering cool prizes for the best articles. Send y o u r s t o r i e s a n d photos to shanghailife @shanghaidaily.com. A s part of their IB Primary Years Program Units of Inquiry on “Growing Things” and “Habitats,” students at Western International School of Shanghai, took a literal “field” trip stepping right outside into a field next to their new campus and talking with a farming expert. Li Xiaohong has been farming for 50 years in one of the many remaining green spaces in Qingpu District. The Shanghai farmer explained to the students who composed questions in advance and asked them in Chinese. On her plot of land Li grows cotton, sigua (towel gourd), nangua (pumpkin), donggua (winter melon) and kugua (bitter gourd). The PYP Program of Inquiry is based on the principle that students learn best when they begin by brainstorming for their natural questions and then seek answers to them. They learn authentically, so units focused on science are always WISS IB students learn about the land hands on and experimental and often take them out into the field, as well as bringing parts of the field into the classroom. Kindergarten students asked Li about what she grew, how she grew it, when she planted, and so on. Li pointed out that she gets most of her seeds from plants rather than by purchasing them. Students are currently engaged in growing their own plants under experimental conditions to study the effects of various factors on the growth rate. Next month as part of their “Earth Day” celebrations, the school will inaugurate its own organic gardens that sits right behind the school’s own small bamboo forest. The WISS second graders have been doing a comparative study of habitats, including those around the school, and they have been going into the field frequently. They asked Li about what kinds of species she observes in the field during her daily work; most interesting to the students was the presence of snakes. The students have created a small version of the wetland habitat in their classroom. Most of the students, even the younger ones, were able to communicate with Li, to her delight, because they hone their Chinese skills in daily classes and have two teachers in every class, one native English speaking and one native Chinese speaking. Additionally, students are exposed to more Chinese language practice in their daily specialist classes (art, music, physical education) where teachers commu- nicate predominantly in Chinese. Chinese teacher Rene Ren commented: “We take frequent excursions such as this because real life experiences, requiring us to use language, are the best way to learn.” This model of learning Chinese is being widely implemented throughout the school. The PYP IB program is fast becoming the preferred curriculum of choice for highly-mobile families. WISS will be opening its Middle School IB Program in September this year. For information please call 6976- 6388, or visit www.wiss.cn. Inquiry program promotes hands-on learning Farmer Li Xiaohong answers questions from WISS students during a field trip as part of their IB Primary Years Program on “Growing things” and “Habitat.”