Educational Renaissance / Remote schools islands of innova.

Educational Renaissance / Remote schools islands of innovation

Eiji Kaji / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer

Yomiuri

Following are excerpts from The Yomiuri Shimbun's Educational Renaissance series. This part of the series, to be continued next week, focuses on educational programs offered by schools on remote islands.

During a recent class for seniors at Iki High School on Iki Island, Nagasaki Prefecture, Chinese teacher Wu Yunzhu allocated the first 20 minutes to reviewing the grammar of her mother tongue, before showing her students a set of colorful strings.

On the blackboard, the 56-year-old woman from Shanghai wrote the Chinese characters for "China" and the verb "tie."

"What do you associate with the kanji for 'tie'?" the teacher asked her eight students.

"Jiehun," one girl replied shyly, referring to the word for marriage.

"That's right," Wu said. "In China, the character represents connecting happiness. Today, I'll tell you about a way of tying strings that Chinese couples put on their arms."

With …