2010 has got off to a great start with Natasha making a trip to Bangladesh to do some preparatory work for a British Council Connecting Classrooms 100 Words competition. She’s been there for the past week, meeting teachers and drama practitioners, and preparing materials to be circulated to connected schools in Banglasdeh, Algeria and the UK. The model is similar to that used for the CHINA NOW competition run in 2008, with young people writing 100 word plays using the native language of their partner school. The finished plays will be filmed and shared via a secure website, www.connectingclassrooms.org. The prize is a trip to the UK for students and teachers from the winning secondary schools in Bangladesh and Algeria. Participating primary schools will be taking part in a similar competition except they will be writing and filming 10 word plays, with the prize involving books and other resources from or about their partner country. This is the first time that 100 Words activities have been run using languages other than English and Mandarin, which we’re very excited about.

Tomorrow evening we’re off to Birmingham prior to delivering a workshop at the University on Thursday morning. We’re going to be working with 20 middle school teachers from Guangzhou, who have been in the UK for a seven week training programme run by the English for International Students Unit in partnership with Birmingham City Council, Guangzhou Education Bureau and the British Council. The have been spending some of their time in schools across Birmingham and it will be interesting to hear about their experiences.

2008 has been an extraordinary year with 100 Words activity on both sides of the globe. As well as delivering work in schools in both the UK and China, the CHINA NOW 100 Words Schools Competition brought linked schools together virtually. The film we made during the winners’ week, when students and teachers from four British and Chinese schools came together, has just been completed and captures how our project can be a catalyst for intercultural dialogue. We’ve just had the students’ feedback translated – ‘energetic’, ‘fun’, ‘exciting’, ‘excellent’, ‘unforgettable’ and ‘inspirational’ are some of the words used to describe their experience. Other highlights include bringing two artists from Shanghai Dramatic Arts Centre over to Theatre503 in London, working with Beijing Dramatists Association at Theatre 9 at the same time as the National Youth Theatre’s first visit to China and being part of the British Council’s Young Advocates Programme International Youth Forum during the Paralympic Games in Beijing. The latter showed how 100 Words can be used to raise awareness and we’ll be exploring the potential of this further in 2009.

Friday morning was spent at Guangzhou School for the Blind, running a taster workshop for 35 students (a few more than anticipated). Their English language skills varied but were generally very strong. We only had two hours so in that time, introduced the group to some English songs including the hokey cokey and developed 10 word dialogues around a series of encounters between people in a train station. We learnt a lot from the session and next time, would stretch the student’s creative language skills more by introducing more playmaking techniques. After lunch we split up to observe lessons at Guangzhou No 5 Middle School, Guangzhou Overseas Chinese Foreign Language School and Jiang Nan Middle School. It was fascinating to see the teachers successfully implement many of the games and activities used in the workshop the previous day. Feedback sessions held after the lessons confirmed the value of 100 Words in terms of supporting the development of a larger vocabulary and specific language skills such as speaking and listening skills. Our last night in Guangzhou was spent taking a night time cruise on the river and going to a seafood restaurant. Saturday morning was spent meeting British Council staff for a debrief before catching the afternoon train to Hong Kong and a night time flight back to snow bound Britain.

I’m writing this in the British Council car on the way to Guangzhou School for the Blind. Yesterday was spent at Guangzhou No 5 Middle School in the south of the city. We ran a three hour workshop in the morning for more than 30 teachers from different primary, middle and senior schools. The focus was very much on passing on practical skills and techniques that could subsequently be implemented by teachers in their English lessons. Some of the main challenges include very large classes and a lack of space, along with the pressures of delivering a demanding curriculum in just 40 minutes. In the afternoon, we had an excellent planning session with three teachers from Guangzhou No 5 Middle School, Guangzhou Overseas Chinese Foreign Language School and Jiang Nan Middle School. All three teachers will be using elements from the 100 Words workshop in today’s lessons, which we will be observing later. Before this, we’ll be delivering a taster workshop to students at Guangzhou School for the Blind. Graham Hardy, headteacher at its link school in Birmingham, Calthorpe, will also be there along with the Guangzhou based English team from the British Council. We’re hoping that we’ll have time for a quick chat with staff beforehand to establish the skill level of the students – traffic allowing (always an unknown in China).

We return to Guangzhou tomorrow for another brief but intensive vist. We’ll get there on Wednesday evening (via the train from Hong Kong – always a great way to arrive in China) and return overnight on Saturday evening. The three days we’re there will be spent delivering a 100 Words workshop to 30 teachers from 22 schools with UK links, delivering another workshop to 25 students at Guangzhou School for the Blind (linked with Calthorpe School in Birmingham – headteacher Graham Hardy will also be there) and observing three teachers in Guangzhou No 5 Middle School, Guangzhou Overseas Chinese Foreign Language School and Jiang Nan Middle School as they implement 100 Words technique in the classroom. We’ll also be spending time collecting feedback and talking with British Council colleagues about longer term planning. The visit is being supported by British Council Guangzhou and Guangzhou Education Bureau, and we’re really pleased to have the opportunity to further develop our partnerships with both organisations.

YeastCulture has posted films from the Young Advocates Programme Youth Forum on YouTube (see below). The first includes six 10 word films written by participants in the 100 Words workshop; the second is a film that was made during the Youth Forum and captures the journey made by Young Advocates over the course of the week:

10 word films from the Youth Forum

YAP Journey 2008