A group of 24 students visiting from Chengdu, China picked the right week to come to the Cariboo.
If they were hoping for snow as part of any quintessential Canadian experience, well, they got it.
The students are visiting the Cariboo, and School District 27, as part of a cultural exchange, and are staying in a variety of host families in Williams Lake as they head to high school, and participate in a variety of activities around town.
While the students are based at Lake City Secondary, spending their mornings attending classes at the Columneetza campus, during the afternoons, they are out and about.
On Wednesday, the crew dared the roads and passed by the Marie Sharpe Elementary School gym where students there, under the guidance of Elder Francis Johnson, learned to hoop dance.
Just before the event, the Tribune sat down with four of the students, ages 12 and 13, to talk about their experiences in Canada. For ease of understanding, they’ve all taken English names for the duration of their trip.
So far, the most striking thing about Canada since they arrived last weekend:
“Of course, the snow!” said Claire Tian, from the Chonqing Middle School.
When the students arrived in Canada, they had their plane from Vancouver rerouted from Williams Lake to Prince George due to snowfall. The next day, they headed out on a sleigh ride to enjoy more of the white stuff.
“It’s the first time I’ve seen the snow,” said Fiona Yang, from the Dujiangyan Libing Middle School. “It’s very beautiful and I can make a snowman.”
Of course, like many of the rest of us in the Cariboo, they feel that sometimes there can be a little too much of a good thing.
| Qingyao Luo (Lily) practices jumping through the hoops during a hoop dancing lesson taught by Elder Francis Johnson. |
“A little is okay, but if it snows very much I don’t like it,” said Bella He. “It’s cold.”
The students have been at the schools for three snow days so far, although, somewhat miraculously, haven’t missed an event yet. They’re due to go skiing at Mt. Timothy on Saturday.
Home, in Chengdu, is comparatively warm. Their winter is short, and much like Vancouver, rainy rather than snowy.
So far, while they may have lucked out due to the snow days, the students are enjoying themselves, both at school and outside.
“Canadian school is very free,” says Jane Liu. “Subjects [in China] are very difficult, but here they are fun and interesting.”
Claire agrees: “We have to wear uniforms in school in China, and there are so many classes.”
In school, they said they can have as many as 13 classes a day, and spend much of their free time doing homework. Another difference, says Bella, is that in China, teachers are the ones to switch classrooms, not the students.
Here, they’ve also gotten to head swimming, which they were surprised was an option in the winter, gone bowling, played badminton, and in classrooms seeing fewer students due to the snow, played games.
In the homes where they have been billeted, they’ve also seen a number of differences.
“The most different thing is the houses. Most Chinese live in apartments, but here people live in houses,” said Claire.
The food here is also different, and, surprisingly, the water.
“In China, the water we drink is hot,” said Fiona.
As for our Chinese food: “The food is different here in Canada — the Chinese food we eat is way different than the Chinese food you eat,” laughs Bella.
The program was initiated thanks to Dean Coder, the directer of instruction hired last year for School District 27. He hopes to make exchanges like this a regular part of schooling in the district, by hosting and sending students around the world — not just to China.
But small steps first. Next year they hope to host international students again and during the spring break send some of the Cariboo’s students to China during spring break.
“It fosters that respect between cultures,” says superintendent Mark Wintjes.
“It’s eye-opening for the students that are coming here to see how we operate, what we do, how the food is like,” he said. “For our students to have the opportunity to head the other way will be just as eye-opening.”
As for the students’ welcome to the country:
“When people see each other here everybody smiles. That’s different than in China,” says Bella.
