Wonderful afternoon visit to Mongolian Public School #2. Below is the principal who is an amazingly energetic woman who is being forced to retire this year. She has won numerous awards and accolades for her work, and is often called upon to consult with other schools, so I hope she will continue to be able to contribute to education. She is, by the way, a graduate (1971) of our school! The school has 2200 children, grades 1 - 12. One very interesting aspect to primary (elementary) school is that a teacher begins with a group of children in first grade and stays with the same group through fifth grade. And, if families move away, they can continue to bring their child(ren) to the school. This school has a good reputation, so families try to keep their children there - so, there are big classes (35 - 40 children) and many classes! I came away with a tremendous respect for the teachers, and a plan to deliver some teacher in-service!

To the right is the first grade, all eager to show off their work.

These are some of the first grade materials. A workbook for their Mongolian, and notebooks for recording their math and writing assignments.

Above is our student teacher in front of the second grade class. Below is the whole class, and left, the class is singing to us.

To the right is the fifth grade class. They all stood when we entered and are just now sitting back down. They begin learning English in fourth grade, so they were happy to try out their "Hello" and "Good bye" They went back to work.