Teacher Exchange Programme with Wellington UK

With the Pupil Exchange Programme now well established, we are delighted to have now added a Teacher Exchange Programme with Wellington UK to that. Our popular young Senior School History teacher, Mr Tristan Macleod, has gone to the UK to teach at Wellington for the remainder of this term – where coincidentally his two younger sisters were educated.  In exchange, we are very fortunate to have with us for 7 weeks Mr Julian Jeffrey, a very experienced former Head of History, who has been at Wellington UK for fifteen years, and has led several History trips to China. He is no stranger to Wellington Tianjin, having been part of the Inspection team who spent a week at the school in October 2012; indeed, his experiences at the school as part of that team were pivotal in his decision to return here and spend some time working with us.

Asked on his thoughts about the similarities and differences between the two schools, after just a week here with us, Mr Jeffrey had this to say: “It is a real privilege to be a part of the first teacher exchange between Wellington College in the UK and Tianjin. I have been here for little over a week, but already I am on the way to joining up with 37 students and three colleagues for a very exciting History trip across France, Belgium and Holland. It is a trip we do regularly from the UK, so it is a real honour to be able to share some of these experiences with a whole new group of students.

I have taught each of my classes now, and it is clear that the school has many highly intelligent, articulate students. I have been particularly impressed with their willingness to engage in discussions and a strong shared sense of fun in their learning. My focus, in terms of developing my own teaching practice, will be on consolidating my EAL provision, and I am already discovering new ways of working with students. History is a tough subject for many students, as there is a good deal of specialist vocabulary to absorb, so I salute any student who approaches the subject with enthusiasm, hard work and an open mind.

My new colleagues at Tianjin have been uniformly supportive and sympathetic as I have come to grips with all these new courses and an extended dose of jet lag, and I look forward to getting to know them more fully across the coming weeks. “

Further teacher exchanges are planned, yet another example of the way in which our partnership can enrich the educational experience for pupils both here and in the UK.