{"id":71212,"date":"2022-09-09T05:58:33","date_gmt":"2022-09-09T05:58:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dipont.com\/?p=71212"},"modified":"2022-09-09T05:58:33","modified_gmt":"2022-09-09T05:58:33","slug":"teachers-day-meet-william-arnold","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dipont.com\/2022\/09\/09\/teachers-day-meet-william-arnold\/","title":{"rendered":"Teacher’s Day Special: Meet William Arnold"},"content":{"rendered":"

Teacher’s Day<\/span><\/strong> and Mid-Autumn Festival<\/strong><\/span> fall on the same day in 2022! What better time to get into some moon cakes and read about one of Dipont’s longest serving teachers<\/span><\/strong>?<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

William Arnold<\/span><\/strong> has proudly taught Mathematics in the Dipont High School Programme<\/span><\/strong> <\/a>at Hangzhou Foreign Languages School<\/a><\/span> (HFLS)<\/span><\/strong>since 2012. Here he talks about his inspiration for getting in to a career in education, as well as his thoughts on what makes Chinese students a pleasure to teach.<\/p>\n

\"\"

William Arnold, seen here reviewing the game schedule with a fellow official during a touch rugby competition.<\/p><\/div>\n

1. What has kept you at HFLS for all this time?<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

The main thing has been the quality of the students. I’m very much a nerdy mathematician, and my students have just been really good. I have taught in good private schools in England, and this experience has just surpassed that.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Hangzhou is widely regarded as being close to “heaven on earth” in China.<\/p><\/div>\n

Aside from that, Hangzhou is a really nice city. It’s close to other cities, and I’ve been able to pursue hobbies that I already had in the UK. I’ve been able to enjoy my life here, and enjoy my teaching.<\/p>\n

2. How would you compare students in the UK with students in China?<\/span><\/h3>\n

I think the maths levels are much higher in China. I’ve given a lot of thought as to why that is. One possibility is maybe the counting system. Right at the beginning, in China, when kids start learning language, they get used to numbers very quickly.<\/p>\n

For example, instead of saying 35, they are saying three times 10, and five times one. I think the structure of the language might make them better at math.<\/p>\n

\"\"

William Arnold wishing his students a “Happy New Year” in 2021 with maths.<\/p><\/div>\n

They also have specialist math teachers when they are much younger than students in England. That might also be a contributing factor.<\/p>\n

3. What has been your experience of student behavior at HFLS?<\/span><\/h3>\n

I think I’ve raised my voice about once in my 10 years in China! Back in the UK I worked in independent schools where the behavior was pretty good, but I’ve also heard from a lot of teachers who say that teaching in comprehensive schools in the UK includes a lot of crowd control.<\/p>\n

\"\"

William Arnold coached the HFLS touch rugby team, the mighty Orcas, to first place in a Hangzhou Schools championship.<\/p><\/div>\n

I think if you come to teach in China, the students respect you. They might test you out with your subject knowledge sometimes, but they rarely misbehave. If they don’t like you, they might just give you the cold shoulder.<\/p>\n

4. What was your initial inspiration for moving into a career in education?<\/span><\/h3>\n

I started out in a very strict Catholic primary school where things like multiplication tables were drummed into you. Then I had quite an eccentric teacher in my first year of secondary school. I still use some of his silly puns, I’m sorry to say.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Refereeing rugby has been a passion of William’s for many years, seen here officiating in a game between Hangzhou locals and expats.<\/p><\/div>\n

My A-level teacher was also very encouraging. I’m sure that these role models had a big influence on my choice of career.<\/p>\n

5. Do you encourage your students to take part in maths competitions?<\/span><\/h3>\n

Yes. They differ from regular maths classes in that they give you a chance to work on slightly more imaginative questions. Often it’s the same math theory, but they are not standard examples. They give you a chance to show a little bit more initiative.<\/p>\n

\"\"

William encourages his students to extend their already strong math ability through after school maths clubs and by taking part in high level maths competitions.<\/p><\/div>\n

The majority of our students have great scores, but, if they do something like entering a Euclid competition, it helps with my reference writing. I can not only say, oh, they got an A for a level, but I can also say they have got this score in Euclid. It will impress some universities. If you’ve got 70 something percent in Euclid, that says something very special about how good you are as a mathematician.<\/p>\n

6. How have you grown professionally in your time at HFLS?<\/span><\/h3>\n

I have had the opportunity to be a head of department, which I wasn’t in the UK, but my main role is still as a teacher. I think my problem solving skills have gotten better because I’m working at a higher level. I’ve become a better mathematician during my time working at HFLS.<\/p>\n

\"\"

HFLS regularly hosts cross departmental events, such as Sports Days, to bring teaching and administrative staff together in a spirit of fun and community.<\/p><\/div>\n

I’ve also had the opportunity to work with more people within the wider Dipont community. I have had such a wide network of other teachers to communicate with, and that has been really good. I have really missed the annual teacher conference this last couple of years, but those events will come around again. It will be great when they do.<\/p>\n

7. What would you say to encourage a teacher to come and join the team at the A-level Center at HFLS?<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

I think if you don’t enjoy teaching maths, you won’t enjoy it anywhere. Regarding working at this school in particular, the admin is not too demanding, and you will get a chance to really develop yourself professionally.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Sport is a big part of William’s lifestyle at HFLS, seen here after enjoying a few games of racquetball with friends and colleagues.<\/p><\/div>\n

The students are the highlight for me. A lot of them will be applying to Oxford, Cambridge, or the top American universities. Working with students like these will absolutely make you a better teacher.<\/p>\n

8. You have had some success in referring teachers. How did that come about?<\/span><\/h3>\n

That was just a really nice string of coincidences. At the time we were looking for an economics teacher to join our team, and I just happened to bump into one in Starbucks! I invited this fellow in to do an interview, and then he did a demo class. That all worked out, so he got the job. Eventually, after he passed probation, I got a nice referral bonus for that.<\/p>\n

\"\"

William Arnold has been a mainstay of the HFLS Mathematics department for many years.<\/p><\/div>\n

I’d recommend any teachers to do the same. Apart from any financial reward, which can differ from place to place, it’s a good feeling to know that you’ve helped someone else find a good school to work for. Your school gets a new teacher if they need one, and you get a colleague that you, hopefully, enjoy spending time with. It’s a win-win situation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Teacher’s Day and Mid-Autumn Festival fall on the same day in 2022! What better time to get into some moon cakes and read about one of Dipont’s longest serving teachers?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":71215,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[332,30,57,326,85],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nTeacher's Day Special: Meet William Arnold - Dipont Education<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"William Arnold, one of Dipont's longest serving teachers, shares his inspiration for becoming a ediucator and his insights on Teacher's Day.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dipont.com\/2022\/09\/09\/teachers-day-meet-william-arnold\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Teacher's Day Special: Meet William Arnold - 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