New experience

The school also offers new experiences for teachers who have moved from Hangzhou to Dubai to take up teaching posts.

Over the past five years, the school has received four batches of a total of 123 teachers from Hangzhou.

"We keep sending outstanding teachers to Dubai to ensure the educational quality of the Chinese school," said Niu Jun, director of the Hangzhou Municipal Education Bureau.

The Mandarin textbooks follow those used in China. However, differences in students' Chinese proficiency are the biggest obstacle for teachers to overcome.

Different teaching strategies have been developed to deal with the challenges, including lesson logs to track each student's progress. According to Zhu Qiongying, director of academic affairs office, these logs are usually three pages, but the logs they produce are often over 10 pages.

When teaching Chinese culture, teachers adapt traditional lessons to a local context, said Zou Xiaozhen, primary school division head.

"When teaching about Spring Festival, I incorporate Eid al-Fitr (the holiday marking the end of Ramadan) to guide students in comparing the shared values between cultures, such as family reunions. It deepens mutual understanding while nurturing global perspectives," she said.

Before Chinese New Year, students from Dubai and Hangzhou Phoenix Primary School exchanged greeting cards. They painted the iconic elements of the two cities, the Six Harmonies Pagoda and the Burj Khalifa, on the cards deepening their friendship.

Wang Yiwen has been teaching for nearly 32 years and was sent to Dubai last year. She rewards students who perform well with gift incentives such as stickers, small toys or snacks. Some of these gifts are brought from Hangzhou while others are handed over by relatives or friends when they visit Wang in Dubai.

Recently a former student came to see her and brought some dingshenggao rice cakes, traditionally believed to have been given to soldiers during the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279) before they entered battle. The cakes feature the word "dingsheng", meaning "must win".

"When I distributed the pastries to the students one by one, I told them stories about Yue Fei (an ancient Chinese military general) and the origin of the dingshenggao," Wang said. "Small rewards greatly inspire children to experience the happiness of learning."