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.

Kong Yanli received a CLP grant to build a sister school relationship between her home school in China, Yichang Foreign Language Junior High School, and Nettlehorst Elementary in Chicago, Illinois, which is in the same district as her host school in the U.S. The relationship started with a pen-pal program, joint-classroom projects, and the establishment of a Chinese Club at Nettlehorst Elementary and will develop into an in-person student exchange. The visit to the U.S. took place in the summer for about two weeks as a summer camp.

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.

Wu Ning (Ewa Makai Middle School, 2018-2019) and LeeAnn Manuel (Ewa Makai Middle School, 2018-2019) received a CLP grant to celebrate the Chinese New Year. Wu Ning and her mentor teacher LeeAnn Manuel received a CLP grant to celebrate the Chinese New Year. The celebration was part of the school’s project “Tiger Fest” – a day open to students and community members.

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.

Bao Qingmei (STEP Academy, 2018-2019) and Marwa Borghol (STEP Academy, 2018-2019) received a CLP grant for a Chinese Fair, in which students and faculty demonstrated what a traditional Chinese fair is like. There was food, snacks for sale, and Chinese dumpling tutorials. There was also an arts section where participants learned to write Chinese calligraphy, brush painting, papercutting, and how to paint a Peking Opera mask. In additional, there was a variety of performances such as a Chinese dance call guozhuang, Chinese children’s songs, and martial and Tai Chi performances.

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.

Guo Jin received a CLP grant to help her start a sister city project between her host school and home school. The sister city project built upon the success of the Chinese Club at Suder Montessori Magnet School by allowing access to Chinese language and culture with more students. The grant was used to obtain Chinese resources for the students to have more firsthand contact with China. The resources included primary sources like books and newspapers, in addition to tools to support students with Chinese cooking, art, dance costumes, and field trips.