China

Wang Ling received a CLP grant to build a sister school relationship between her host school in Rhode Island, Chariho Regional High School, and her home school in China, No.1 High School of Liuyang. The main goals of the project were to coordinate regular virtual exchanges for students at both schools, offer professional development opportunities for teachers in the U.S. and China to share best practices, establish exchange programs for Chinese students to study at Chariho Regional High School as international students and for U.S. students to study at No.1 High School of Liuyang or to volunteer, and establish a Chinese language and culture classroom at Chariho Regional High School. Students at the host and home schools connected through virtual exchanges and continue to connect though art exchanges, speech competitions, and other virtual activities. The principals of both schools met through video conferences and the principal of Chariho Regional High School visited No.1 High School of Liuyang in June 2019. This CLP supported language learning and cultural exchange between students, teachers, and administrators at the host and home schools.

Gu Zhen received a CLP grant to develop and lead a workshop to share the effective teaching methodologies and teaching practices, that she learned in the United States, with English as a Foreign Language teachers from her home school and sister schools in China. She worked with other TCLP alumni to show how they apply what they learned from their TCLP experience to their home classroom teaching. Gu Zhen (Wright Elementary School, Fort Walton Beach, FL, 2015-16) organized a Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL) Professional Development Workshop on November 8, 2019. Held at Qinzhou No.1 Middle School in Qinzhou, China, approximately 140 teachers from area schools attended five sessions including two led by fellow 2015-16 TCLP alumni Xia Zhi (Watson B. Duncan Middle School, Palm Beach Gardens, FL) and Li Long (Roton Middle School, Norwalk, CT) who presented on project-based learning and interactive classroom activities. Teachers shared best practices and are eager to participate in future workshops. Their intention was to create an atmosphere for the participant to experience a very interactive, participatory workshop. At the end, they introduced the participants to the Teachers of Critical Languages Program (TCLP) and shared resources for online courses for professional development. They believe that they can always be better educators and want to share this expectation with their colleagues in China.

Shen Yan (Tonopah Valley High School, 2018-2019) and Michael Valdez (Tonopah Valley High School, 2018-2019) received a CLP grant for a Chinese New Year Week. The event was held during Spring Festival. Chinese teacher organized the celebration of this festival with students, teachers, and parents from the U.S. host school. The Chinese New Year Week lasted for four days. Each day had a different topic for celebration. The first day there was papercutting demonstration. The seconds day was dedicated to a calligraphy workshop to create couplets. The third day dumplings were made by Shen Yan and her students for lunch. The fourth day there was an introduction to traditional Chinese sports. Twenty-one students helped Shen Yan to teach Chinese language and vocabulary related to the four days of activities to over 100 attendees.

Chen Ken (Moos Elementary School, 2018-2019) and Rafael Jimenez (Moos Elementary School, 2018-2019) received a CLP grant to attend a Chinese New Year’s Parade on Sunday February 10, 2019. As part of the school's cultural learning, families visited Chinatown for the event. After the parade, students and families explored Chinatown and ate at a restaurant with food from the Sichuan Province. This learning impacted even more students with photographs and story sharing by the students who attened the trip during class.