Wuxi

JESIE's Wuxi team got together on Friday May 19 for the final meeting of the year. Teachers had the opportunity to share observations and discuss any issues relating to teaching or accommodation. The new look meeting format saw Warwick and Val give short tutorials on using PowerPoint. Warwick shared some interesting PowerPoint tools, while Val demonstrated how a presentation can deliver every stage of a lesson plan. Val asked all teachers for feedback on how JESIE can do a better job. He also thanked those teachers who are leaving us, wishing them good luck with future endeavors. Thanks as always to the Wangzhuang Primary School staff for their meeting room and kind assistance during this school year. 

Nanjing

Due to the Dragon Boat Festival, the Nanjing teachers had their May staff meeting on Friday, June 2nd. We met at our usual 1:30 time. As this is the last Nanjing staff meeting for the 2016-2017 school year, it could be said that feelings were a bit sentimental… and very relaxed. 

We started off with the second of our new Teacher Talk series, addressing the topic of teaching with minimal resources. Morgan began with “Taking Down Technological Barriers”, AKA “what to do when you don’t have a computer”.  He was followed by James and “What to do if your computer breaks down” (middle-school version), Amber with “How to prepare for a tech breakdown”, and Kelly with “What to do without a PPT”. Some common suggestions given were travel with emergency teacher supplies to assist in computer unassisted classes, have flashcards to back up the lesson's vocabulary, have a list of games and activities to substitute for those originally on the unavailable PPT, and to plan board use accordingly.

Second on the agenda was the submission of the JESIE Best Short Film/Photo Slideshow Contest files. Val went over the best ways to submit the entries to JESIE via email (if the file is small enough), USB and Send Anywhere. Entries should be complete by Wednesday, June 7th. 

Teacher reflections was third on the list. Due to the Teacher Talk, reflections were kept to a minimum, with some of the most valuable information related to why Chinese schools often don’t have a clear idea as to when exams and other important dates occur until the last minute. Finally, teachers were asked to think about and submit end-of-the-year feedback about their experiences with JESIE by June 16th, in our usual drive to improve our services.   

Bon Voyage and Best Wishes to all of our departing teachers, and Till We Meet Again to our returning teachers! Have a great summer!