You may have noticed them on campus already: 63 extremely brave and eager students from Beijing, China. Starting Monday, these students will join our classrooms alongside your kids. There will be 27 students folded into the 3-5 classes at ASL, and 36 placed in 6th-8th grade classes at AGLA. They are all excited for the opportunity, as are we!
These students have traveled from Fang Cao Di International School, where they focus on English and global studies. Parents in our own community have generously taken them into their homes for the next month, giving them a true immersion experience in the English language and American culture. At school, they partner with Aveson student "guides" who will show them the way of our school and offer support.
Aveson students have been anticipating their visit and have already built relationships with many of them through email and introductions made before they arrived. As part of Aveson’s commitment to global competencies, advisors have helped guide student investigation of cultural differences. Now that everyone is together on the playground and sharing tables at lunch, they will discover a whole lot of similarities as well.
Chinese students will be in Aveson’s classrooms Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays through October 24th. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, they will explore our community with trips to Old Town, the Norton Simon Museum, Kidspace Children’s Museum, the California Science Center, and more.
As a bonus, the Chinese instructors traveling with the students will be teaching "Basic Mandarin" to our students every Friday during their stay!
To that, we say: “Xie xie!”
To learn more about the Aveson Homestay Program and how you can host students in the future email our Global Competencies Coordinator, Tom Hyatt at tomhyatt@aveson.org.
