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fengtai foreign language school was established in may 2021. for more than three years, the 15-minute recess system of this school has always attracted attention from the outside world. as the source of the 15-minute recess in fengtai district, reporters from fengtai times have reported on it many times. after the report was published, netizens said, "this is the children's sports class," "sports cells are activated," "this activity is good, and the children are also healthy," and "it is very rare to care about every child."

today, the "little bean bun" of that year has entered the fourth grade classroom. with the arrival of the new semester, our reporter once again visited fengtai foreign language school. what did the 15-minute break bring to the children?

the "leader" in the classroom becomes the "play leader" during recess

how to play during the 15-minute break? what to play? in the past three years, fengtai foreign language school has continuously updated its "play" methods.

the reporter learned that at present, fengtai foreign language group is promoting the system of head teacher and deputy head teacher, whose main task is to guide children to go out for activities. teachers need to create their own sports games and teach children during lunch time. a game is rotated every two weeks, and students can master more than 10 games in a year.

zhang jiaqi, the head teacher of class 1, grade 3, is a well-known "king of children". she was born in the 1990s and brought the games she played when she was a child to the children born in the 1920s. "the most popular game among all the games is playing sandbags. because the class has a large number of students, we made some slight changes, such as changing the number of 'hunters' at both ends to 3 at each end to speed up the pace. i would play with them almost every day at noon. at the same time, we also mobilized the parent committee. some parents knew how to skip rubber ropes, so we asked them to teach the children. now each of my classmates has mastered six or seven group games." as a "no-spoiler" teacher, she carefully grasps the rhythm of the game and completes the game before the bell rings, so that the children will not return to the classroom with regrets. "playing games must also maintain integrity and take the children's fun seriously, so that they can follow me with their hearts. i found that after playing with the children, there is no sense of distance, and i can hear their voices more, which is very helpful for classroom teaching." zhang jiaqi said.

"if we give children 15 minutes, it won't do any good if they run around and play around. that will only extend the break, but it's not the 15-minute break we want. we encourage teachers to innovate sports games during breaks, such as frisbee, sandbag throwing, badminton, single and double bars, rubber band skipping, rope shaking, and different forms of hopscotch. our goal this year is to build a 'happy school,'" said principal liu zhongyi.

with the promotion of the 15-minute break, more children have stimulated their own interests. lv yuanxi from class 1 of grade 4 and wang sijing from class 2 have been practicing long jump for more than a year and have found their hobbies in this event. in the women's long jump final of the fengtai district primary school track and field games held in april this year, lv yuanxi won the district championship with a score of 3.05 meters, and wang sijing also jumped a good score of 2.53. when the reporter asked them if they found it difficult, lv yuanxi said mischievously: "it's not difficult at all, it's quite fun, but i'm a little hungry after jumping and want to eat." wang sijing also said confidently: "i didn't find it difficult. it's almost like a game once i mastered the movements."

at present, teachers and students have won the city's martial arts championship, the martial arts club has twice won the first prize in the beijing youth wushu competition, many people have won individual gold and silver medals, the flag football team won the second place in beijing, and many students have won gold and silver medals at the beijing art festival and won excellent results in many competitions. for the newly established school, the 15-minute break has become an extension of the teaching system.

the reporter observed that in addition to the efficient use of the playground, a large number of cultural and sports facilities were arranged in the teaching building without any dead ends. a piano was "stuffed" under the stairs on the first floor, two sets of four automatic table tennis serving machines were placed at the corners of the two stairs on the second floor, and the newly purchased fish tank at the entrance of the library had not yet had time to put in the fish. the sports facilities in the building and the calligraphy and art works on the wall formed a contrast of "stillness and movement".

the reporter learned that there were many difficulties in the process of promoting the reform of 15-minute breaks.

"simply extending the break time is meaningless. only by finding more support points can we move forward. in the first year of implementation, some teachers expressed their disgust because it added a lot of innovative tasks. but from the perspective of educating people, this is worth doing." liu zhongyi said firmly, "why do we have to do it? for example, three years have passed, and there are only one or two students wearing glasses in each class on average, and the school-wide rate is only 7%. compared with the 17% myopia rate in other schools, fengwai has reduced its rate by 10%, and most of them did not occur after entering the school. this is worth persisting in. there are very few obese children in the school. some of them look like little fat boys, but they are very strong. this is also worth persisting in. there has been no child with psychological problems on campus so far, and this is even more worth persisting in." liu zhongyi counted on his fingers and stated the reasons for the "three persistences".

safety is not a "problem" but a "driving force"

"how do you solve the children's safety issue during each 15-minute break?" this was the first question the reporter asked when he met liu zhongyi.

"i think the words 'safety' and 'problem' should not be put together," liu zhongyi told reporters with a smile.

"changing the break time from 10 minutes to 15 minutes implies a lot of related work. the first thing is to hold a parent-teacher meeting and solicit parents' opinions. children need sunlight and exercise, and they need sunlight to be healthy, but going out to play will bring a series of problems. for example, students chasing each other is a very normal behavior, which is different from school bullying. fierce tigers fight with each other, and even docile chickens and ducklings peck each other. these behaviors are part of nature. although minor bumps and bruises are inevitable, children have more happiness in the process of playing. if parents do not agree with this concept, we also support children staying in the classroom during breaks. this is also the concept of home-school integration. it is easy to achieve integration when the goals of parents and schools are consistent." liu zhongyi told reporters.

the reporter learned that in the past three years, fengtai foreign language school has not received a single complaint from parents regarding campus safety management. even though several fractures occurred on the football and basketball courts, parents supported the practice of letting their children walk to the playground.

"of course, holding parent-teacher meetings is far from enough. for the sake of safety, we have thought of various ways, which have also become the 'driving force' for us to protect our children. the first lesson for first-grade students after they enter school is to teach them how to play safely. for example, they can jog in the corridor but are not allowed to run fast. the teachers will demonstrate what fast is fast and to what extent, so that the children know how to deal with it. we require teachers to supervise the first-grade students' outdoor activities in the morning, noon and evening for the first month, and teach the children how to avoid injuries. after that, the teachers basically don't need to remind them anymore." liu zhongyi said confidently.

the reporter learned from the logistics department of fengtai foreign language school that a safe campus is their biggest task. four steel bars and protective nets are added under all the manhole covers on campus to prevent injuries; the single and double bars are buried deep underground to ensure absolute stability, and soft mats are laid on the ground to prevent accidents; during the renovation of the teaching building, one side of the window was converted into an entrance and exit, which not only shortens the time for children to go out of the building, but also increases the safety of passage... a series of safety measures have gradually kept "problems" away, and the 15-minute break between classes has also been guaranteed.

new teaching strategies behind two hours of outdoor activities

the reporter did some calculations. with five 15-minute breaks and three outdoor activities, the total outdoor activity time is two hours a day. how can students complete their main tasks? will the students be exhausted and lose their concentration after returning from the playground? the reporter continued to ask such questions.

"you still don't understand the body structure of children." liu zhongyi smiled and said to the reporter, "children have a fast metabolism and rarely accumulate lactic acid in their bodies, so they rarely feel tired. instead, they feel more energetic after going out for exercise. this is why we often say that children are energetic. they will slowly become tired after exercise in the late junior high school. a nap is arranged after lunch at noon, and fruits and yogurt are provided during breaks, which is enough for children to support their physical strength."

how to improve classroom quality is a question that every school is exploring.

"children aged 5 to 6 can concentrate for about 15 minutes, and children aged 7 to 10 can concentrate for 20 to 30 minutes under the right conditions. so 40 minutes is enough to learn knowledge. we use study sheets to teach children knowledge points and spend more time on the implementation of knowledge points." liu zhongyi said as he handed a study sheet to the reporter.

in a learning sheet titled "challenge the first time", the reporter saw that the tasks for the first challenge were divided into: learning objectives, learning difficulties, i also have a first time and thinking training sections. the learning difficulties are to teach students what things to try boldly, what things not to try, and what things they can try with help, and encourage students to try within the scope of their own abilities.

students can get a study sheet for each class, which will be a thick book of key and difficult exercises after a semester. "for these study sheets, we purchased three printers, which are distributed on each floor, so that teachers can print them whenever they need them. the expense is indeed not small, but it is worth it," said liu zhongyi.

now that we have the study sheet, we must also ensure its implementation.

at a learning unit review meeting, a teacher designed a variety of ways to teach children how to write "人、口、中". the teaching method was very novel, but liu zhongyi raised a question: "why is there no time for children to write in class?"

"no matter how well you teach, you have to put it into practice. you can predict that the children will be happy to learn from the study sheet, but if they don't practice in class, it will be difficult to transform the knowledge. i only focus on three points: first, the implementation of key points; second, the expansion of knowledge; third, the improvement of thinking. these three points are actually the core and essence of teaching, and are also the three elements of the classroom. it is easy for teachers to focus on solving core problems and difficult problems." liu zhongyi added.

"as a parent, i strongly support the practice of increasing outdoor activities. i had heard about it before coming to this school. i hope that children can be healthy both physically and mentally. what makes me happy is that their learning autonomy has become very strong." a parent of a student told reporters.

at fengtai foreign language school, the integration of in-class and extracurricular activities, teaching and entertainment has become a consensus among teachers and parents. to this end, the school has added dance and calligraphy as compulsory courses to the curriculum. the dynamic and static special courses integrate the knowledge learned in class and are also the best form of practice for students.

over the past three years, the 15-minute break activities have become more and more exciting, teachers have become more and more enthusiastic in class, and students have gained a "double harvest" of physical fitness and knowledge.

source: fengtai times

reporter yuan zifeng

editor yuan zifeng intern editor zhang xueqi

review xiao yuan

source: beijing

author: beijing fengtai official release

process editor: u072