Approaching 1am in Guangzhou and I’m still on a high following a successful workshop at Guangzhou Overseas Chinese Foreign Language School.  Earlier in the day, Jude Wright and Li Ruru led a workshop for Junior Middle School teachers, introducing them to 100 Words and showing how the project might be implemented in the classroom.  The workshop went better than we could have anticipated.  The teachers were enquiring, open and energetic and took to each game and task with relish.  We dedicated quite a lot of time at the end to reflection, feedback and evaluation, and were delighted with the response. Teachers felt that there were many useful tools and techniques that they would be able to use immediately, and we identified areas where they might need additional support. It was fantastic to have the presence of two British Council Guangzhou staff – Sophie Yuan (Deputy Director) and Sarah Zhao (Education Projects Officer). A third member of staff – Carol Cao (Education Projects Manager) joins us tomorrow when we return to the school to run the workshop for primary teachers. 

We celebrated the launch of the creative language learning strand by going out to one of the largest seafood restaurants in Guangzhou, where you can choose the particular fish you want to eat. That in itself wasn’t unusual but the sheer range of fish and shellfish of all sizes, crabs, lobsters and even the odd alligator was quite staggering. We could have had fresh snake but decided to give it a miss, along with the grubs in honeycomb.

Although this trip is very short, it’s proving absolutely crucial in terms of moving the creative language learning strand of 100 Words on, both in Guangzhou and Hong Kong, where we’ll be returning on Monday for further discussions with the British Council before catching a midnight flight home.

Barely has the dust settled on another successful 100 Words Week in London (check out www.nyt100words.org.uk) and we’re off to Hong Kong and Guangzhou.  During our first visit to both cities in April, we were invited by the Guangzhou Overseas Chinese Foreign Language School to return in September to run a workshop.  This coming weekend, we’ll be working with over 20 teachers from the school, introducing them to 100 Words and showing how they might integrate the project within their language teaching. We’re very excited to be launching the creative language learning strand of 100 Words in China and are looking forward to getting the teachers’ comments and feedback.  This trip will be quite short and focused, with the emphasis very much on consolidating existing links and developing detailed plans in collaboration with British Council Guangzhou.  As we pass through Hong Kong, we’ll also be talking to the British Council there as well as Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts.  We’re very grateful to Connections through Culture and China Now for their support, which has made this trip possible.