In Deming government middle school, the most impressive thing is their Chinese library, which is comparable to the East Asian College of the National University of Singapore, and its rich variety makes visitors sigh. There are many books about the history of China in the library, most of which are academic works on China since modern times, covering military, diplomatic, agricultural, industrial, national political and sociological analysis, especially the complete set of martial arts novels such as Eight Dragons, The Legend of the Condor Heroes and The Condor Heroes, which make visitors unable to believe their eyes. In Singapore, almost all school libraries have become the cultural centers of schools, as well as discussion rooms and study rooms for teachers and students. And every community library that has been visited has become a cultural harbor for the residents of the whole community.
According to the Chinese teacher of the school, high school students here write an academic paper about China's analysis and evaluation of about 5,000 words every year in the class of "General Theory of China". The topic involves China's politics, economy, culture, education, diplomacy and other "profound" contents, and the quality of the paper often amazes teachers. This is the concrete embodiment of bilingual elite schools in the "bicultural curriculum".
Coincidentally, in Deming, I also met Dr. Zheng Chaoji, the music director of the School Arts Performing Arts Center. He is also the music director of Ding Art Troupe, a famous folk music group in Singapore. He visited Beijing No.12 Middle School in 1990s and was familiar with the name of the school's Jin Fanmin Orchestra. He praised the excellent performance of the orchestra in that country, which moved me. Deming government middle school has a concert hall of the performing arts center, which can accommodate 850 people. First-class sound insulation and stage equipment are comparable to professional venues. Orchestra on campus is one of the auxiliary activities offered by many middle schools in Singapore. Deming government middle school attaches great importance to cultivating students' character through auxiliary activities. As a special school to promote and preserve China culture, Chinese Orchestra has become the flagship project of Deming. Because Hua Le (folk music) contains China folk customs, history, music and other important cultural elements, students are learning various musical instruments, but also accumulating cultural details. Deming official middle school attaches great importance to bicultural education, and the educational effect of Chinese orchestra in this respect can help students further consolidate their understanding of biculturalism.
Global classroom, let students learn through experience.
Nanyang Girls' Middle School, with a history of 96 years, is the best girls' middle school in Singapore. In order to promote the internationalization of education, they initiated the establishment of the International Education Alliance and strived to achieve the long-term goal of "cultivating global citizens with correct values". Wang Meifeng, the headmaster of Southern Middle School, called the students' immersion communication project "global classroom project".
The so-called' global classroom' means that immersion learning abroad is not an isolated study, but an extension of classroom learning in Singapore. Really integrate experiential learning into the global classroom plan, so as to "read thousands of books and walk Wan Li Road". "Experiential learning is a kind of in-depth experience, which is to let children feel the content of life away from ordinary days. We stipulate that students are not allowed to carry suitcases, and three weeks' change of clothes should be packed in a backpack. When you get there, there is no tourist bus waiting for you. Everyone must take the bus, train and walk. We should make students understand that this is not enjoyment, but feeling the life of local people. "They came to Nanjing to help the Mingguang Jindu School for Migrant Workers' Children clean the dirty toilets, which left a deep impression on the teachers and students of the school.
Global courses with different contents are offered in the fourth grade of South Middle School: understanding regional culture in the first grade (equivalent to the first grade)-a trip to Malacca; Boarding life experience in the second day of junior high school, and feeling the collective life of the island with classmates; Incorporate Form 3 into the East China Immersion Plan; Integration of Form 4 into the West-exploring various international perspectives. President Wang Meifeng said that if the school does not provide such opportunities, children will be out of touch with the real society and even the whole world, thinking that the world is as beautiful as imagined and life will be fine, which is actually inaccurate. The school firmly believes that only through personal experience can students deeply understand the practical problems and needs in society, so as to think about people's livelihood issues and take actions.
A unique middle school that loves to educate people.
Liren High School is the only high school in Singapore, with 0/25 faculty members and 0/200 students. Because the students enrolled in the school are worse than other students in the "senior high school entrance examination"-O-level exam, and they don't want to enter the technical school immediately, the school has extended the courses that other schools need to complete for three years, and at the same time added more business courses, namely accounting and business administration, on the basis of science and liberal arts, which is a bit of domestic vocational integration. Not only that, the school has also set up basic courses and bridging courses in senior one, so that students can adapt to the learning state as soon as possible and regain their self-confidence. These students will eventually be admitted to universities, with 35% going to public universities and 60% going to private universities. Singapore's Ministry of Education does not despise schools because of the enrollment rate, but attaches great importance to them. Enjoy the treatment of junior college (key high school) in terms of funds, and the hardware conditions even exceed those of junior college, which fully reflects the fairness of education!
At the same time, the school attaches great importance to the cultivation of students' values, emphasizing "honesty, tenacity, respect and responsibility" and cultivating "leaders who love learning, are creative, educated and confident".
In teaching students in accordance with their aptitude, small class teaching is implemented. After the third year of high school, the teacher will come to the first and second year of high school to help the teacher with a class, a lecture, a counseling, and a question and answer! The courses offered by the school, such as entrepreneurship and innovation, overseas community service, self-emotional management and leadership training, provide a powerful course platform for students' diversified development. In terms of campus culture, campus cultural decorations are all students' works, and students' spontaneous gratitude walls are covered with things that touched them and grateful people. In the teacher's office, I saw the "hopscotch" I played for them when I was a child, and I felt kind and warm!
A middle school similar to Liren High School is Beishuo Middle School, which is a junior high school that specializes in recruiting pupils with weak learning foundation and family difficulties. Such schools let us see the other side of Singapore's education, which not only attaches importance to elite education, but also attaches importance to the education of vulnerable groups! Better understand the concept of "making every school a good school" put forward by Singapore Ministry of Education!
Flip the classroom and put wings on the innovation of school education.
When "large-scale open online courses" and "flip classrooms" became popular in China, more middle schools in Singapore had already begun to use highly developed information technology to find new means for the innovation of school education and teaching methods. During our many visits to the Singapore Education Exhibition, we saw that many software companies are providing diversified information technology services for schools, one of which is to provide "e-books" for students. These professional companies cooperate with schools to first convert students' teaching materials into electronic teaching materials. This kind of electronic teaching material not only stays in the electronic text form of paper teaching materials, but also integrates the contents of each lesson and chapter of students according to the learning plan mode, integrates the text of teaching materials, expands the linked materials, tests questions and answers online, and builds a multimedia learning platform for teaching interaction.
Developing education through science and technology is an inevitable trend in the 2 1 century, and South China and China must keep pace with the times. Nanyang girls' middle school has popularized the electronic classroom teaching of iPad from grade one to grade three. Schools should not only use iPad instead of printed handouts, but also organically combine teaching and technology to reform traditional teaching. "Students download the electronic case at home, read it before class, once they don't understand it, and then they read it for the second time until they understand it. This is a great help to the teacher. In class, students study with iPad, and teachers and students do further discussions, homework and exercises together. In this way, teachers can concentrate on helping some students who are slow to learn or still don't understand. " At the same time, one-to-one computer teaching is also conducive to "extended discussion in class", and students can continue to discuss unfinished topics in class by using the network platform. Because the students in the same class have different learning progress, the teacher has been worried about which students can understand and which students can't. With one-on-one computer teaching, teachers can pre-record lectures before class and hang them on the Internet. The application of science and technology has reformed traditional teaching and brought different learning characteristics and benefits. Of course, this requires the wisdom of teachers. Teachers can make good use of technology to design learning packages according to students' learning needs, otherwise it will not achieve results.