That's how Google translates "Educational Clown Israel" into Chinese.
And why would I want to know that?
My blogs (here and on my main blog) have been getting more hits than usual from China.
So, I used Google translate to see if I could find the source.
Journalist Yijun Zhou's documentary series on education in different countries garnered a whole bunch of positive reviews.
It seems the reviewers liked our tiny role in the documentary, too.
The Israeli episode of the series highlights the culture of failure and how Israelis see the role of failure as a stepping stone to a success -- or another failure.
It is interesting to read about how another culture accepts clowns in a school setting.
The reviewers assume the clowns are teachers. Of course, we're not.
"In Israeli schools, a project called Educational Clowns was very touching," reads one review.
"They want to let their children know in this way that the so-called failure is that everyone has different standards and different boundaries. Everyone has experienced failure. It is not terrible or unacceptable. Only when a child learns not to end in failure can he truly enjoy the process of brave trials, so that he can grow happily," reads another review about the role of clowns in schools.
"One of the special things about Israeli education is that there are 'education clowns' in many schools... in order to talk more equitably with the children and let them learn to communicate frankly and openly." reads yet another review.
For me, being able to add joy to the school day is great. To give a pupil the feeling that failure is a part of life is even better. And best of all, letting a pupil know that I see him or her for who s/he is... is the cherry on top of it all.
Update: Oshi clowned in schools from 2018-2019. She gives talks and blogs about this out-of-the box experience.
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