The Benefits of School Exchanges

“Travel is still the most intense mode of learning.”  Kevin Kelly There’s many experiences I wish all students could have as part of their schooling. Going on overseas exchange, or hosting a visitor, is high on my list of absolutely life-changing events. Our school promotes this notion of ‘a wider world view’ by encouraging travel and […]

Travelling in China: Photography, Social Media and Shanghai

Last year I wrote a unit of work, after my travels in Shanghai, that I would like to share with you. It is written for NSW syllabuses but it may be of some interest to any teacher interested in travel, Asia, teaching visual literacy, social media or organising a student trip overseas. Here’s the PDF […]

Understanding the Rise of China

Anyone who read my blog in 2010 would know how a trip to Shanghai opened my eyes to what we have all been reading about over the last few years, the rise of China. The 2009 PISA results and commentaries seemed to quantify the obvious investment, vision and an absolute respect for the importance of education that I […]

Shanghai: Better City, Better Life

Shanghai has exceeded, my already very high expectations, over the last week – it is a great city and, as you can see from the featured photo of Nanjing Road, very paradoxical! I expected to update my blog daily but quite frankly, have been having too much fun and very little time on my laptop, […]