Kelley's Graduation

China Trip 6/21-7/3: First Day

I want to share our trip to China with you. On June 22, we left Toronto flying on Air Canada. Here we are waiting for the shuttle bus to take us to the Toronto airport. We flew to Beijing and from there flew to Urumchi, Xinjiang Province in the far Northwest corner of China. Urumchi City has the designation of being the furthest city in the world from the sea.

On our first day Mckay had freed his schedule to show us around. We were 45 minutes into our tour when his students called and asked him to come and teach them. He told them they were suppose to be studying for exams. They said no, they were waiting for him and wanted him to come teach them. Don't they know the 15 minute rule? You remember that American college rule, if the professor doesn't show up in 15 minutes you are free to go. So we went to class and for 4 hours and two classes, we were the lesson plan.

We broke into groups and just discussed whatever the students wanted to talk about. When their break came, Mckay told them they were free to take their break, but no one wanted to leave.

Preparing for China

My son, Mckay, is teaching English in Urumchi, China. We are going to travel there to see him. It all seems surreal to me right now, but I am beginning to get somewhat nervous. Whenever I get nervous about things I realize it is because I am thinking about the whole experience, when actually it will all happen one step at a time.
I'm looking forward to meeting his students, who are preparing to teach elementary school. It will be interesting to compare how the Chinese teachers are prepared with our preparation.

Welcome to Barrow's Best

I've joined the age of blogging. My real purpose is to make a place for my students and their parents to come and get information. But since I don't have any students right now I will use this place to present my philosophy on education, parenting, children, and other related topics.