This month, based on popular demand, JESIE begins the new monthly Open Day report newsletter for Nanjing.   Our report correspondents this month are Sienna, Andre, Kathleen, Cheryl, and Brian. The theme for March was "Around the World". Please enjoy the update on Open Day experiences, and let us know if there is anything we can do to improve our newest baby!

On March 10th, Sienna had the opportunity to observe Andre at Langya Lu Primary School. Andre taught the children about South Africa and the things that it is known for, focusing on the animals that live in South Africa. Andre had the children play different games such as "True and False" and "Which Animal is it?", with the class split into teams of boys vs. girls, with the usual fierce rivalry. Andre taught the children descriptive words such as fast, slow, tall, short, and had the children compare the animals using the descriptive words. The children eagerly learned about many animals that can be found in South Africa, and a little about the culture of South Africa. 

On the same day at La Sa Lu Primary School, Andre observed the ever-bubbly Christine teach Grade 4, Class 6, about nationalities and food, starting with the fact that Australians like pies! Using soft toys as props for people from the USA, Italy and Germany, Christine taught students about nationality names and foods that people from different countries like. Using the props and a catchy song "Hamburger, Pizza, Cake and Pie", students learned and practiced nationalities and foods popular for the USA, Italy, Germany, England, Spain and France. As always, Christine's class was high-energy and interactive!

Yangzi High School had an Open Day on March 16th with demo lessons done by Kathleen and Marcus. Kathleen's Open Day demo lesson at Yangzi High School was themed Oh Canada! Class 10 of Senior 1 were bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, attentively following the video clips and vocabulary lesson on Canadian words like "toque", "beaver", and "curling". They were stunned to find out that Winnie the Pooh was actually born Canadian, and interested to discover the English name of the famous Dr. Norman Bethune. Alas, some of the higher points of the lesson were slightly derailed due to technical difficulties (sadly, MS PowerPoint 2013 does not get on well with the Chinese clone MSP), but a fun time was nevertheless had by all!

Cheryl was able to observe Marcus' exciting demo lesson with Class 11. The theme was countries and their foods. After being set up in teams of six, individual students in each team would name a country, then race up to the board to point out where that country was on the map. Marcus then added to this by introducing the countries' adjectival forms, focusing on nationality, language, and food. Students had to guess the names of popular dishes that originated in specific countries, including Mexico, Japan, and Italy. They went on to play an exciting game of Taboo, with students guessing the names of several popular Western foods.

Class 1 and Class 2 of Gulou Experimental Middle School's Grade Seven were very excited to welcome James and Tony to their school to teach Open Day classes on March 24th. Students dressed in their smart uniforms eagerly awaited the JESIE teachers. Tony did Food around the World with Class 1. The kids enjoyed talking about new types of food like paella and ravioli; they got especially noisy when they played the Zombie Game and went around the classroom practicing dialogue and turning classmates into zombies in the process. James did Famous Places around the World with Class 2, who wowed him with their knowledge of countries. The students were engaged and remarkably well-behaved. One of the high points was when Team B instakilled Team A in a round of Taboo. Both classes had a blast, and the Open Day wrapped up with photos with students and all the English teachers for Grade Seven.

The next Open Day was on March 31st was also at Gulou Experimental Primary School. Brian reports "that a warm welcome was received by Jafar and Andre on a beautiful Friday morning at Gulou Experimental Primary School. Both teachers dazzled the young learners with English language based games and activities. Jafar used his class time talking about different country flags using phonics and vocabulary, while Andre amazed his students with his animal sounds and impressions while discussing the topic "Animals". The students were awash in both joy and angst begging to participate in the many activities provided by the teachers.". According to Brian, not only did the students enjoy the experience, but the teachers were pleased with what their students had learned.