Notes from China from Barron and Stewart

Visiting schools on Marlene's last full day

2008-02-28T14:51:00.004-05:00

I began my day at 8am and visited 6 schools... ending at 5pm.

I began visiting Sasha Gigliesi and Manuel Goncalves at Mammolina Children's Home. We talked and talked... and I forgot to take pictures.... But I have this picture of them from a previous visit.

All the other pictures are out of order .... but I have labeled them. I can't figure out how to move the picture around in this blog.

The first picture is the toddler class at one campus of the Dulwich College. The school has almost 1,000 children. The early childhood classes are Montessori.

Poetry class at Dulwich College.

Babytree, our last site visited, has both a website and a series of schools for young children -- birth to 6 years of age -- throughout China. They offer classes in English, academic subjects, motor skills.... Most classes are 45 minutes long. They are not Montessori.
Here is a sample of children's map work at Pinnacle Plaza campus school of Eton Schools.
This is the parents waiting area at Pinnacle Plaza.
Another view of a Pinnacle Plaza campus classroom.
Charmaine Soh and Marlene Barron visiting Dulwich College.
A view of a Dulwich College classroom.
A view of a classroom at Children's House, Yosemite, Beijing.
Marlene and Paula Zhou, campus director, in the lobby of the Children's House. This is one site of this school.
Children eating lunch at Daystar Academy, a Montessori elementary school. This school provides a full English Montessori elementary program PLUS a full Chinese elementary curriculum. Their graduating students go to the middle schools in both Chinese and International schools. The children spend half day on an English curriculum and a half day in separate classrooms on the Chinese curriculum.
Another view of lunch at Daystar Academy.
At the bottom right you can see their new building. They are renovating an old public school.

At each school I viewed classrooms and met with the director to discuss the questions posed by our taskforce -- and to update everyone with the preliminary findings from our visit.

Back in Beijing

2008-02-24T20:41:00.016-05:00

Classroom at Montessori School of Beijing.

Two views in the Chinese language room at Montessori School of Beijing.

Sarah Ma, Marlene Barron, Vivien Wang, Marilyn Stewart after our talk at ETON School.

After a good night's sleep -- finally... we began with a breakfast meeting to plan the week. High on our list was making time to visit schools, plan two talks for 200 person audiences and a talk to a smaller group. We were briefed on the media coverage to expect and learned that we will be on CCTV9. The show is Dialogue... an interview show similar to Larry King in the U.S.

Around noon Sharon Keenan picked us up and took us to her school, MSB... Montessori School of Beijing, one of the oldest Montessori schools in Beijing. We meet Jean Jones and Martha Monaghan at the school. Following a tour of their new, state-of-the-art campus we had a Korean lunch at which we discussed the state of Montessori in Beijing and how AMS might serve their needs.

At 3pm, we spoke to ETON'S faculty and staff -- about 100 people. Marilyn spoke about the history of Montessori education in the U.S. and the parallels that might be drawn as it develops in China. Marlene presented a 'Montessori refresher' workshop... Her talk was both theoretical and practical.

We dined at a Japanese restaurant and -- we must admit -- we ended our day with a Chinese foot message.

What a day!!

2008-02-24T20:41:00.015-05:00

Lunch... Elizabeth Li, Vivien Wang, Marlene, Marilyn, Charmaine Soh

Formal picture: Vivien Wang, Marlene Barron, Marilyn Stewart, Minister Chen, Commissioner Chen, Commissioner Lee, translator, Dept Head Zhang.

We traveled to the Ministry of Education and had a very formal meeting with Minister Chen, Xiao Ya. Also at the meeting was Commissioner of Foreign Affairs, Chen, Jian Jun; Commissioner of K-12 education, Lee, Tianshun; K-12 Education Department Head, Ms Zhang, Jin; and Vivien Wang, Managing Director of EtonKids.

We talked about Montessori education and about the government's major challenge of education the children in rural China.

Charmaine Soh, president of CMI [Chinese Montessori International] joined us for lunch and our conversation centered around teacher education issues in China. We discovered that there is an Association of Senior [aka retired] Professors in China who organize research projects in Montessori schools all over China. Currently over 90 teachers in 40+ schools are participating in various research projects. The duration of the research is 3 years, and the current group is in the second cycle. They hold conferences in various cities and publish a journal.

AT 5pm we were being made up for TV.... and then we were on Dialogue being interviewed by Tian Wei. CCTV9 broadcasts in English and this program will be broadcast in the U.S. on cable TV. She was a tough, but fair interviewer.

We will let you know when the program will be broadcast in the USA.

Monday is media day

2008-02-24T20:41:00.014-05:00

Press Interviews.

Evening talk to over 200 Montessorians, parents, press, and government officials.
Reception after the talk.
Press trailing after Marlene.
Press trailing after Marilyn.

Here we are outside CTTV with the producer... She is third from left.

Vivien Wang, Marlene, producer, Marilyn, Charmaine Soh, Elizabeth Li

We spent the morning updating our blog.... it's like an untrained puppy needing lots of attention.

By 2pm we were giving interviews with representatives of the press and being filmed by TV crews, BTV, Beijing Television, and CCTV.

The highlight of the day was our evening talk to over 250 parents, teachers, and government representatives held at the Palm Springs Community Center. Marilyn gave an overview of Montessori education... forgetting to stop and allow the interpreter to translate.... But she recovered. Marlene spoke on Literacy Development in Bilingual Beijing. Following the talk there was a reception.

Our last day in Shanghai

2008-02-23T21:30:00.008-05:00

Marilyn Stewart, Josephine Wu from Children's Own Workshop, Hong Kong, Marlene Barron. Josephine had flown in to meet with us and to attend the workshop.

At 10am we went to a community center to speak to 200 parents, teachers and school heads. The audience ranged from experienced Montessori teachers to parents who were curious about Montessori education.

In our 2 hours Marilyn spoke about basic elements of Montessori and the purpose of the taskforce's visit to China. Marlene spoke about supporting early literacy development. She underscored the importance of talk among and with children and adults as the basis of reading and writing. The audience stayed longer than scheduled and asked thoughtful questions.

We were pleased to award AMS early childhood credentials to Zhao Lili, Yang Wen, and Wang Li. These teachers were the first graduates of the Northeast Montessori Institute's program in Shanghai.

After a Korean lunch we were off to the airport and back to Beijing.

Four meetings and a wedding

2008-02-22T19:44:00.008-05:00

We visited one of Nancy Chang's school's in the PuDong New Area and took a group picture with the teachers and Josephine Wu.

Lunch with Josephine Wu, Michael Guo, Jeronia Gagabert, Nancy Chang and Sylvie, a Montessori teacher from Hong Kong.

Ending with a wedding....

Sometimes its best to have dessert first, so let us just tell you that we ended the day at a wedding.

Yes, we are all still single.

But, we were taken to dinner at one of Shanghai's oldest restaurants -- and were seated in a very large dining room, where 80% of the tables were reserved for a wedding party. We thought that we had a bird's eye view of a dinner reception, but before the evening was out, the music played, the bride and groom walked down an aisle and onto a stage, and vows were exchanged! What a privledge to be there!

This was an especially nice ending to a positively stimulating day of meetings with Montessorians of all kinds followed by a collaborative lunch with a free exchange of ideas. Michael Guo, AMI representative in China, Josephine Wu, director of Children's Own Workshop in Hong Kong), and Jeronia Gelabert from the Half the Sky Foundation, which oversees the infant-toddler programs in Chinese orphanages. Each of these colleagues brought us up to date on their work and we shared the goals of the AMS task force and solicited their idea.

Everyone's concern was about the rapid spread of 'counterfeit' Montessori. Currently there are reported to be 10,000 "Montessori" schools in China, and 150,000 teachers with some sort of Montessori credential... the most popular has a version of AMS somewhere on the credential. Teachers can buy 'counterfeit' credentials, can take a few day course, orcan take an internet based course. The government and industry leaders and Montessorians are brainstorming how to handle this situation.

In the afternoon, we toured a new school -- opened a few months ago -- which currently has 1 Montessori classroom with plans for many more. has

In the early afternoon, we met with industry leaders who were interested in spreading Montessori early childhood education to their employees and corporate partners. One large corporation is interested in sponsoring a series of tours in 39 cities over the next few years.

And then we went to dinner and the wedding!

1/3 + 1/3 + 1/3 = The Way to Live Life

2008-02-21T18:33:00.007-05:00

Playspace at Montessori School of Shanghai.

Pictures from sightseeing at Jhou Jhuang.

Special Note: Due to the inexperience of this blogger, a whole day's blog was deleted and is now being rewritten (note that memory lapses do occur).

Our host, Nancy Chang, explained to us as soon as she picked us up from the airport that the way to lead a proper life is to spend 1/3 of your time working, 1/3 of your time having fun, and 1/3 of your time resting. While I doubt that Nancy follows her own rules (she seems to work all the time), she scheduled a day for us that was in line with her philosophy.

We started the day with a visit to the Montessori School of Shanghai. CEO Ronny Hei showed us around this AMS affiliated school, a bilingual private school. This absolutely beautiful school in the Shu Hui district is a wonderful example of a Montessori program.

We had a Hunan lunch with Ronnie Hei, and our two Montessori guides, Hua Jhou and Yen Ping Lu. After lunch, we visited a town about an hour's drive from Shanghai, Jhou Jhuang, and walked around a part of the village built in the 1400's. We did a little shopping, and a lot of bargaining, thanks to Yen and Hua. Lots of laughter too as locals were doubled over in laughter over our efforts to speak Chinese.

After arriving back in Shanghai, we had dinner with the former Director of Wei Hai Kindergarten (remember that in China a kindergarten is synonymous with early childhood center and refers to an educational setting for children under 6). Jie Ru Yao (properly written Yao, Jie Ru) was the individual responsible for converting Wei Hai from a traditional school to a Montessori school. She was so pleased that AMS is visiting China and interested in working collaboratively with groups here.

Only 1/3 left...sleep...very welcome.

Authentic Montessori in Shanghai

2008-02-21T18:02:00.007-05:00

Lantern Day in China is celebrated on the first full moon after the New Year. Yesterday was Lantern Day, and that was obvious in every school we visited and in the fireworks that seemed to go on through the night!

When we visited Wei Hai Kindergarten, International Division, in the JingAn District of Shanghai, we saw an entire school of children, ages 1 - 6, in Montessori classrooms. The school, which is located in the very center of the city, is entered through a gate (typical here) which is followed by a large grassy area and garden. What a beautiful setting for a Montessori school! Every classroom felt familiar -- although they were very quiet. mostly because of the presence of "foreigners" walking through their turf. After a while, everybody relaxed and the children, like children everywhere, engaged in inventive play and even hammed it up a bit for some snapshots. Child-made lanterns were hanging everywhere; after lunch, a special festival was planned.

An hour later, we visited another public school in Shanghai, this one with two Montessori classrooms and some "traditional Chinese" classrooms. The Montessori classrooms were again familiar. Two children were engaged in an innovative building project using many of the sensorial materials . Looking out the window to the skyline of Shanghai, where modern buildings represent many different architectural styles, I could see how these two youngsters have been inspired and how they might be the designers of a building in the future.

Continuing through lunchm we met with Mr. Yu Qing Chen, Deputy Chief of the Jingan District, and Ms. Ger, the Director of Early Education for the district. They are strong supporters of Montessori and believe that this apporach can thrive here in Shanghai. We talked about many ways that AMS might support their development, including their intention to have their schools become AMS accredited and their need for more advanced professional development -- probably through a workshop series for their Montessori teachers. Marlene and I gathered many ideas to bring back to discuss with our colleagues in the States.

A special treat in the afternoon was a visit to the China Welfare Institute Nursey, founded in 1950 by Madame Soong Ching Ling. A most highly regarded, exemplary early childhood program, with three campuses, China Welfare hosts an International Program, a bilingual program, and a Chinese program. We are very grateful to Chen Lei, Principal, who gave us a tour after our somewhat unexpected visit. Lantern Day was very much present here; children made special dumplings in the morning, and were changing into trational costumes for a festival as we were leaving.

Towards the end of the day, we visited the offices of Dr. Nancy Chang, Montessori Educator and TEP Director of the Shanghai Montessori Education College, which is in the process of applying for MACTE accreditation and AMS affiliation. Currently, Shanghai Montessori Education College is the only licensed Montessori TEP in Shanghai. Nancy, as I mentioned in another blog, is a visionary with the experience to make dreams come true.

A stroll on the Bund... dinner at a Japanese restaurant...then some well deserved rest! That was our day!

2008-02-20T18:58:00.006-05:00

Ronnie Hei, of Montessori School of Shangahi, greeted us warmly and treated us to a full tour of this marvelous school. Located in a historic district of Shanhai, MSS is a private school and is fully bilingual. (In China, there are international schools, private schools, bilingual schools, and public Chinese schools.) Only those who hold a foreign passport can attend an international school. We discussed participation in upcoming conferences and lecture series and the importance of colloborating with other Montessorians in the region. We also talked about the challenges of recruiting and retaining excellent Montessori teachers, especiually English-speaking teachers.

After a lovely afternoon of sightseeing in Jhou Jhuang, about an hour from Shanghai, where we bought souveneirs from stalled and haggled over prices (courtesy of TEP Project Managers Hua Joho and Yen Ping Lu, who both work for Nancy Chang).

Over dinner, we had a stimulating meeting with Director Jie Ru Yao, the former directress of the Wei Hai Kindergarten, now a fully Montessori Kindergarten in Shanghai with seven classrooms. (In China, Kindergarten is the name for pre-school and invludes 3 - 6 year olds). She is passionate about bringing more Montessori to China, and is credited with the establishment of the first public montessori school in China, having transformed over the past 7 years a traditonal program to a Montessori one. On Thursday morning, we will visit her school.

Visits to Schools and Montessori Professionals

2008-02-19T07:35:00.004-05:00

Just a couple of notes before we begin: we are not able to view this blog on some hotel computers, so have no idea how the pictures appear on the page! If there are formatting errors, forgive us! Second, we have more great pictures to load on the blog, but can't do that until tomorrow -- need some trouble shooting synching the camera cable to the hotel's network. So, bear with us.

Yesterday Marlene and I visited two campuses of The Eton School: the Central Park Campus and the Palm Springs Campus. Central Park is a brand new facility (finished in November) in a new business/housing development of Beijing -- beautiful and modern. The classrooms are beautifully furnished and equipped, and we were able to observe both an infant/toddler class and a 3 - 6 class as well as having a full tour of the impressive building. All classrooms were bilingual (Chinese and English). When they have full enrollment, which they anticipate by September, the school will serve 150 children!

The Palm Springs campus is also located in another modern development in Beijing, about 10 mintues by car from Central Park. This school is well established and fully enrolled, and was a fine example of a Montessori school. All classrooms were bilingual, and we observed children speaking, writing, and reading in both languages! The arts program was vibrant -- framed art all over the school, and, when we walked into a music class, we saw children dancing to Chopin!

Later that day, we had a dinner with about 15 Montessorians in Beijing to talk about how AMS might collaborate with local and regional Montessori groups in China. One of the special outcomes of the meeting is that many Montessori educators in town were meeting each other for the first time! We talked quite a bit about the goals of the AMS task force and in particular, the idea of a collaborative conference in China in the future. There was considerable enthusiasm and a number of sincere offers of help. Next week, we will be visiting the schools of many of the people we met at the dinner

Today, we flew to Shanghai and were greeted at the airport by Nancy Chang. Nancy holds a Ph.D. from USC and an AMS early childhood credential. Originally from Taiwan, Nancy now lives in Shanghai and is working to establish a TEP here as she did in Taiwan with colleague Sharon Chang. Before giving us a whirlwind tour of this spectacular city, we had a long, productive talk about colloboration -- and we received our agenda of school tours and meetings that will keep us busy during our stay in Shanghai.

Logging out now after a very full day!

Day 1 from Beijing

2008-02-17T20:31:00.005-05:00

We arrived tired but exhilarated greeted at the airport by Sarah Ma and Mr Zhou. We had a dinner wtih 2 Montessori teachers and Viven Wang. We discussed the need for quality teacher education programs and the difficulty recruiting English speaking teachers.

Our first full day was spent visiting sites in Beijing, Tianenman Square, Forbidden Center, PanJanYuan Market, and a lantern festival.

On Monday we will be visiting schools and hosting a dinner with Montessori school heads and teachers education from throughout Beijing to gather information and begin to understand how AMS can support quality Montessori education in China.

Getting Started

2008-02-13T09:12:00.002-05:00

Marlene and I are eagerly awaiting our departure on Friday, February 15th. Assuming no technological difficulties, we'll be writing in our blog as close to daily as possible! The 12-hour time difference, coupled with jet lag, may delay our first entry a bit, but we're determined to keep up with our reporting as best we can.

Just to make sure you know the purpose of our trip, I've copied below a press release from AMS that was issued earlier this week.

The American Montessori Society (AMS), the foremost advocate for quality Montessori education, has initiated a task force to stimulate the development of Montessori teacher education programs and schools in China. Recognizing the growing number of Montessori programs in place throughout China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, and other countries in Southeast Asia, AMS Board President, Marilyn E. Stewart, and Task Force Chair, Marlene Barron, will travel to Beijing and Shanghai in mid-February. Dr. Barron, former Head of School at West Side Montessori School in New York City, is currently the director of the NYU Montessori Teacher Education Program and a commissioner for the Montessori Accreditation Council for Teacher Education (MACTE). Ms. Stewart is the Head of School at The Red Oaks School in Morristown, NJ, and also serves on the board of the New Jersey Association of Independent Schools (NJAIS).

In China, Ms. Stewart and Dr. Barron will meet with heads of schools, directors of teacher education programs, government officials and parents to plan joint conferences and lecture series. Both Barron and Stewart will give presentations, open to the public, in Beijing and Shanghai on recent developments in Montessori education and on the importance of bilingual education. They will also conduct workshops on topics of interest to teachers and administrators.

Barron and Stewart are looking forward to lively, collaborative relationships with their Chinese counterparts. Stewart states, “In both countries, educators recognize that Montessori practices effectively bring out the best in its students in terms of intellectual achievement, creativity, innovation, and problem-solving. When Montessori education is at its best, it reflects both the wisdom of the past and new understandings of how children learn.” Barron added, “Montessori education is a match for the new China. Montessori education encourages independence, community involvement, initiative, self-discipline, and risk-taking. I believe that these goals are shared by Chinese citizens.“

AMS has been the leading source of information about Montessori principles and practices for over 50 years. Drawing from these resources, the society has charted steps toward achieving the long-term goal of working collaboratively with Montessori programs in Asia.

Next entry will be from Beijing!