Hot Dog and Frozen Kitty visited teacher Ruohan in a Chinese primary school. They wanted to find out (1) What do Chinese children learn in school? (2) What’s a typical Chinese school day like? 

They found that the sense of group is very important for Chinese students’ school life. In fact, many classes and activities are designed on this notion.

#1: Who’s Teacher Ruohan?

Ruohan Lao Shi teaches in a primary school in a city called Kun Shan, on the East Coast of China.

She likes hotpot, camping, doing road trips with friends, and playing Nintendo Switch games. She also likes to spend time with her school’s rescue cat.

She teaches year 1 students who are 6-7 years old. There are about 50 students in her class. This is her classroom where most of the classes take place. It’s common for two children to sit together so they can help each other and form friendships.

There’s a plant stand outside each classroom. Students in the class share a responsibility to take care of their class plants, watering them and making sure they have enough sunlight to grow. Children take this responsibility very seriously.

#2: What do Chinese children learn in school?

Year 1 students learn three subjects – Chinese, math, and P.E. They also have classes for music, arts and crafts, and English but these classes don’t have exams (yeah!). For English, they start by listening to fun songs in English until it becomes a formal learning subject from year 3. This is a blackboard from a math class.

The children have almost all classes in the same classroom with some exceptions. Their P.E. classes are on the athletic field where they do running and rope skipping. 

There are two types of rope skipping: short and long. Short rope skipping uses a shorter rope and it’s an individual activity.

Long rope skipping is a popular group sport for children in school, especially during the winter. Each team member takes turns to skip the rope. The team that goes longest without interruption wins. If one member fails, the whole team loses.

Source of image: http://www.hsjy.net/Print.aspx?id=22153

If the students have science or craft class, they will go to a designated classroom with all the tools available. They love going to these classrooms as this means they can run freely. Take a look at what children make in their art class with clays.

#3: What’s a typical school day like?

Typically a child spends 8-10 hours in school from Monday to Friday. Like most Chinese schools, Ruohan’s school starts with a morning assembly followed by outdoor group exercises. The whole school’s students will gather in the playground to do workout activities together. In Chinese, it is known as 早操 (zǎo cāo).

Sometimes there are competitions to see which class does the morning exercise in the most orderly manner as a group. It means everyone has to make the same movement at precisely the same time. Pretty hard, right?

Source of image: http://www.hsjy.net/Print.aspx?id=22153

From 7:30 to 8 am every morning, students will read aloud together with the whole class. Every student needs to sit up straight and read at the same pace as others. This morning routine is known as 早读 (zǎo dú) which means morning read. 

There are three classes in the morning, each lasting for 40 minutes. Students like the 15-minute recess time between classes. If they want to drink water, they can refill their bottles from this water machine. It provides warm water during winter as it is popular to drink warm water in Chinese culture.

Lunch break starts at 11:15 am and finishes at 11:45 am so everyone is in a rush. Every child is expected to do 自习 (zì xí), which means self-study, after the lunch break and before the afternoon classes.

There are three classes in the afternoon with an option to join an extension program. At the end of the school day, students take turns to be on cleaning duty. The responsibility includes sweeping the floor, cleaning the classroom, and erasing what’s written on the blackboard. It is important to share a sense of duty for the whole class.

Source of image: https://www.meipian.cn/39ps9thx

School is dismissed around 3:15 pm if the student does not join the school extension program. If he/she joins the extension program, the parents’ pick-up time is around 5:20 pm. The class head teacher will put up the class placard in front of the school, telling parents that their class group is ready to go home.

If you’ve got more questions about a Chinese student’s school life, feel free to ask. You can send your questions to story@creativechineseclub.com, we will have a Q&A with Teacher Ruohan and write a follow-up blog.

#4: Ready to share your school life?

Are you ready to take Hot Dog and Frozen Kitty to discover one day of your school life? No matter you are homeschooled or go to a school in your community, they would love to know:

1. What do you learn and do in school or home school?
2. What is your everyday student life like?

Step 1 – MAKE your Hot Dog and Frozen Kitty cut-out or draw your own Hot Dog and Frozen Kitty.

Step 2 – TAKE them to your school (or homeschool or forest school) and take some photos of them.

Step 3 – SEND the photos to story@creativechineseclub.com with Chinese/English captions.

Most photos in this blog are taken and provided by Ruohan Laoshi.