March Into Reading, 2023

March into Reading is the Elementary Bilingual Reading month.

During this month the staff, students and parents are involved in many reading activities to encourage a love for reading. We have Reading minute targets and rewards, Guest Reading, Peer Reading, DEAR Reading, Book Character Day, Reward day and a Class reading party as well as many other literature based activities in classrooms.

Another very successful Literacy Month!

Reward Day

Congratulations Clifford Elementary Bilingual School.  This year we had another very big Reading Month! The total minutes the students’ read during Literacy Month is 1,458,263.

We also had a total of 2,311 Guest Readers come to our classes to read – this year it was all students, teachers and staff, so that’s a great number!! Well done everyone!

The final total was announced during the Book Character Dress Up day! Students and teachers dressed up as a favorite book character and, due to weather, we had the announcement in the classrooms and a dress up parade around each building.

In keeping with years past, we have reached all our goals. This year our goal was again 1 million, 200 thousand minutes, even though we shortened the number of days. We still managed to break that goal very easily!

For achieving this goal, the students celebrated by having a classroom literacy party, a buffet lunch, no homework for a weekend and time for an outdoor literacy activity.

Classrooms also receive extra books for their classroom reading libraries as rewards for the number of minutes the students read. For each 1,500 minutes they receive one extra book. Classes also receive one extra book for each four guest readers they have during the month. Most classes earned around 50 extra books

March is always a fun time at Clifford School and this March was no different. Students participated in reading activities such as Peer Reading - with a student from a different grade and DEAR reading, which we had twice a week for silent reading time. Each class had a number of guest readers that came to our classes to read. We had other students, parents and many members of both the Chinese and Western staff come to read to our classes. 

We also had a fantastic Book Fair, where we sold over 120,000RMB worth of English books. That means we will be able to choose over 12,000RMB worth of books for the library and classrooms.

Congratulations Clifford School!  Fantastic Reading!  Keep it up all year round!

Guest Readers

As part of Elementary Bilingual’s March into Reading, we had parents, students and teachers reading to classes all through the month.

Parents were also able to come in and read again this year, and I’m pleased to say there were parents coming in to each grade. It’s always great to see parents reading and being good role models to our students.

Students were able to sign up to read in up to four other classes. Most students in G4, 5 and 6 signed up for all four reading sessions, reading in all grades from G1 to G6. Many students in Lower Elementary also signed up to read, some even to higher grades. 

Many Western and Chinese staff also read to classes, including the School Principal and Administration staff.

We had a total of 2, 311 Guest Readers over the three weeks!

What a great way to grow interest in reading books for fun, as well as practicing oral reading skills. The students have had a great time listening to so many stories!

We look forward to next year, when hopefully many more parents will also be able to come and read to the classes too.

 Peer Reading

During “March into Reading” the students have a time every week where they can read together with a student from a different grade level.

Lower Elementary students are paired with a student from Upper Elementary. Each week they read together in the library for 40 minutes.

Sometimes the younger students read, and the older students help them, at other times the older students read and the younger students enjoy the story.

This is a very positive reading experience for all, and sometimes the students even meet each other at other times to talk.

Students really love their March into Reading Peer Reading time.

Drop Everything and Read (DEAR)

For 20 minutes every Tuesday and Thursday in March all of the English classes and English teachers will “Drop Everything And Read” – which means all other activities will stop during the English class and everyone will “read”!

Students enjoy this quiet time just reading to themselves. It’s a time to relax and become part of the book they are reading. These days, our students rarely have a time at school to just to sit and enjoy reading. We hope this time encourages student to try and find time every day to read a little just for their enjoyment.

Another Book Fair Success in 2023

Our “Oink ‘n’ Oink” Elementary Bilingual Book Fair was a great success yet again. Because there were so many fantastic books, we managed to sell 123,000rmb of books.

The school earned over 12,300RMB worth of free books. We will use our free books for classroom and library books supporting our English, Science and Social Studies curriculum.

We were very pleased with the students who did a great job choosing their own books, sometimes with help from TAs, teachers and Oink ‘n’ Oink staff. This was made easier due to the variety of suitable books that were available for every age level.

Thank you to all the students, parents and friends for supporting the March into Reading Book Fair. See you next year!

G1-3 Elementary Bilingual Halloween

Halloween is one of the most enjoyable holidays we celebrate all year, especially for children. Having a day that is filled with spooky ghosts, creepy gremlins and all sorts of make believe creatures only intensifies the magic that surrounds the day. Halloween is a time for kids to collect as much candy as they can and sit with their friends comparing and sharing their candies.

The students at Clifford had the chance to be any imaginary person or creature that they could think of. The students in Grades 1 – 3 started the day by presenting their costumes to the rest of the school in the Parade in the Recreation Center. They were also entertained with a presentation of photos from past Halloween celebrations and they sang the “spooky” songs they have been learning in Music class. Students were judged by a panel of teachers to see who had the best costumes and those who won were awarded with a certificate and Halloween themed book. The teachers then took their students to another classroom and to the English and Chinese Administration for “Trick or Treat”, where they collected candy. After all the candy was collected the students returned to their main classroom where they spent the remaining class time playing Halloween games or making a Halloween craft. For this special day the students were treated to a Buffet Lunch by the school. It was a delightful day and all the students looked amazing in their Halloween costumes!

G4-6 Elementary Bilingual Halloween

Students in the Upper Elementary building (G4, 5 & 6) had a great time at Halloween this year. More than 80% of the students dressed up for this special event! There were princesses, ghosts, cartoon characters, and scary faces, to name a few of the many interesting and creative costumes. The students celebrated by receiving some candy by trick-or-treating. First they went to receive candy from the English and Chinese administrative staff and then they visited various classrooms in the building. Students also voted on their favorite costume in each classroom, and those students received a certificate and Halloween themed book prize each. After the trick-or-treating activity, students were engaged in Halloween activities in the classroom making scary bookmarks, crafts and artwork! Some classes had a scary movie to watch too! For this special day the students were treated to a Buffet Lunch by the school. Everyone had a great time and we look forward to another successful event next year too!

Faculty Conference, September, 2022

At 4:30 pm on September 8, 2022, more than 400 Chinese and foreign teachers from our school gathered to celebrate Teachers' Day and commend outstanding faculty members. Principal of the International Kindergarten, Zhang Jinling presided over the teacher conference.

Dr. Clifford Pang, the chairman of the school council, was unable to attend the meeting, but he was concerned about the development of the school, so he specially prepared a speech, and entrusted School Director Zhang to speak a few words to the teachers on his behalf.

Dr. Zhang Xinyou, the School Director said affectionately that Dr. Pang was the founder of Clifford EnglishSchool and the chief designer of the internationalization of bilingual teaching; without his foresight and correct leadership, there would be no sustainable development of Clifford English Experimental School.

In the letter, Dr. Pang expressed his holiday greetings and best wishes to all the faculty and staff, and highly praised the teachers for forging ahead despite difficulties, their professional dedication, living up to expectations, and creating brilliance again and again. On behalf of the school council, Dr. Pang also congratulated the outstanding faculty and staff, and welcomed the newly hired Chinese and foreign teachers who brought new ideas, new methods and new strength to our school. He said that China’s private education policy is currently in a stage of major adjustment, and standardizing and high-quality development has become the main theme. Our school is far-sighted and has been in the right direction for more than 20 years. However, it is still necessary to persevere, continue to focus on "standardized development" and "fine management", and work towards the goal of "better and stronger". He pointed out that diversity, specialization, and internationalization of running schools are the advantages of private schools and the foundation of their existence, and will also be the long-term strategy of our school's future development.

Zheng Xiaobing, the Principal of the middle school, Margaret Thompson, the representative of foreign teachers, and Yuan Yuan, the representative of Chinese teachers, responded respectively.

Principal Zheng Xiaobing, on behalf of the school administration, put forward two thoughts on the future development of the school. One is to seek quality in the specification, and to highlight our school's advantages of "fine management, high-quality teaching, diversified school running, and individualized cultivation". It is to promote development and to give full play to the advantages of the existing teaching programs with various characteristics, and cultivate more outstanding graduates for the international community. As the new principal of the middle school, he also expressed that he will, with his high loyalty and enthusiasm for the education cause, live up to the heavy trust, work hard and make progress to create a harmonious, vigorous and healthy school spirit.

Margaret Thompson, a foreign teacher from the International Program, especially emphasized innovative teaching in her response speech. She believes that children are naturally curious, motivated and inquisitive. How to control and guide their inner curiosity is the key to teaching innovation. Teachers should learn to let go and truly be "student-centered", focusing on cultivating students' interests, hobbies and specialties, so that children have more autonomy in learning and use knowledge to explore the world.

Yuan Yuan, the representative of Chinese teachers, said in her speech that innovative brand teachers are needed by the times and the driving force for the sustainable development of the school. Teachers should improve their information-based teaching capabilities, learning guidance capabilities, and teachers' professional development capabilities, and exercise themselves in teaching practice, moral education practice, class management, and all-round education. She also pointed out that it is necessary to cherish jobs, overcome job burnout, boost enthusiasm, and improve performance.

In the new school year, Clifford English School will follow the school-running direction guided by the school council, tap its potential, focus on management, improve quality, strengthen its characteristics, produce high-quality products, promote development, strive for higher and better school-running standards, and continuously meet the social needs of the students.

After the speeches, the Outstanding Teachers for the 2021-2022 school year were presented their awards. For Elementary Bilingual we had an Outstanding Teacher - Mari Turner. A representative for the Chinese and Western departments then took an oath of professionalism and commitment - for the Western teachers, Ryan Otto, from Elementary Bilingual gave the oath. 

After all the formalities, photos were taken of the new teachers and the award winners. 

Opening Day Ceremony - August 29th. 2022

Monday, August 29th was the first day of the 2022-2023 school year! The day started with Clifford's Opening Day Ceremony. Over 2,000 elementary students were in attendance along with all of the Chinese and foreign professional teaching staff.  

Grade 6 Graduating Classes (June 2022)

As we reach the end of the year, the Grade 6 students have taken their final Chinese and English exams. They did take a little time to make some memories by taking class photos they will keep to look at over the years. With over 350 Grade 6 students, it was a little difficult to set up the whole class photo, but we managed. Here you can see all the classes from A to J with their Western and Chinese teachers and Teaching Assistants. We wish all our graduates great success in the future as the move onto the next stage of their education.

Grade 6 Graduating Classes (spring 2019)

 As we near the end of the year the Grade 6 students are preparing for their final Chinese and English exams. They did take a little time off to make some memories by taking class photos they will keep to look at over the years. With over 330 Grade 6 students, it was a little difficult to set up the whole class photo, but we managed. Here you can see all the classes from A to J with their Western and Chinese teachers and Teaching Assistants. We wish all our graduates great success in the future as the move onto the next stage of their education.