Visiting high school students from China experience cultural , educational differences
Nine students make lasting memories , life-long friends !
After attending classes at Marvin Ridge High School for several days and living with Union County host families , a group of visiting Chinese students have gained , not only a lot of memories and new friends , but some new customs to take home as well .
Nine high school students and their teacher visited Union County from Jan . 20 until Feb . 2 from a sister school in Nanjing , which is located in a province in China called Jiangsu .
The visit is part of a cultural exchange program that began at Marvin Ridge High School in 2010 , thanks to a partnership with the Asia Society as a Confucius Classroom , China ’ s International Office of Chinese Teaching and the Department of Public Instruction in North Carolina , which has a memorandum of understanding with Jiangsu Province , China .
Marvin Ridge has organized summer teacher exchanges for the past six years , with Chinese students visiting since 2013 .
One of the first orders of business for this year ’ s visiting students was to see Chinese immersion classes at Kensington and Marvin elementary schools . “ The students spoke Chinese pretty good ,” said 16-year-old Rain , a sophomore in his school in China . “ We could talk with them in Chinese .”
Students also visited Weddington Middle and third-grade students at New Town Elementary School .
New Town Elementary principal Catherine Perry said this offered an amazing opportunity for her students .
“ In order to prepare our students to be future leaders , they have to be more globally minded , as well as competent across cultures ,” Perry said . “ This gives our students an opportunity to talk with students from China . They get to see that they ’ re just like any other student . They enjoy the same things . It gives them a glimpse of what it ’ s like to grow up living in China and growing up in the Chinese culture .”
The elementary students seemed very excited to see the visitors , all dressed in very handsome uniforms .
“ I think it ’ s really cool to have them here ,” said New Town third grader Caroline Petroff . “ I never thought I would meet someone from China . I didn ’ t think they would know as much English . They all have cool uniforms . I like the ones with the skirts the best .”
Fellow third-grade classmate , Brady Harrington , said he also enjoyed meeting students from another country . “ I like seeing someone from a place far away from here . They have a different language , but they are pretty much the same as what I expected because I looked up pictures of students from China . I was excited when I heard they were coming .”
One of the Chinese students , Alexandra , said the first thing she noticed about New Town Elementary and the class to which she was assigned , was how colorful everything was .
10 • Mar / Apr 2017 • Parent Teacher Magazine
Nine visiting high school students from China experience cultural and educational differences while making lasting memories and life-long friends .
continued on page 11
Students visiting Marvin Ridge High School from a sister school in Nanjing , China , examine a wall at the high school with Marvin Ridge students handprints .