The Wuxi New District program teachers got together at Fangqian primary school for the first Open Day of the academic year. They kicked off this semester in style, with experienced teachers Ethan and Julie taking the classes in the state of the art classrooms provided by the school.

Teaching Grade 4 was Julie, who taught a fully interactive and entertaining task on seasonal activities. First the students learned the names of the seasons through pictures and games. They then learned the names of seasonal activities by miming the actions. Julie taught the structure “I like skiing in winter, I like swimming in summer etc, and had the students personalize the language by describing their preferences. Finally, they learned the question for, “What do you like doing in winter/summer etc?” and had real life dialogues with their friends. Although the students spent almost all of the lesson miming and playing games, by the end they were able to use new English structures to ask and answer questions about their lives.

Next door Ethan was teaching Grade 5. the topic was jobs. First the students learned the words for different jobs using a range of games. The real crowd pleaser was an activity where students had to read words hidden on other students’ backs. This really engaged the kids as it was similar to a game in Running Man, one of their favourite TV shows. Next, the students learned to say “I want to be a….. to talk about their ambitions. Finally, they were able to ask each other what they wanted to be and answer. Again, Ethan used excellent commonsense communication skills and a great rapport to guide the students to learn through games and activities, and at the end the kids left with tangible new structure to talk about themselves.

Both sets of students visibly enjoyed the classes, learning through games in a way that felt fun and engaging. Both teachers deserved special praise for the way they reached their objectives and instilled fun at the same time. Both sets of kids left the classrooms visibly entertained and elated. For the other teachers watching it was a great chance to see two experienced teachers on top of their game and a great sign for Open Days to come.