Last week we had students from our sister school Siyanqi Primary in Ningbo join us. It was a hugely successful week with the children integrating so well, in such a short period of time. The week began with the official powhiri where we welcomed our visitors, as well as all our new families who have already started at CPDS in Term 3 or will be joining us before the term ends.
This visit gave our children so many opportunities to take a lead and to share our kiwi ways. We had some of our bi-lingual children acting as translators while other non-native mandarin speakers took on the role of ambassadors during our visitors time at our school. The children from Ningbo helped our children understand what China was like to live in and what school was like, while our children got to practice their Mandarin skills in a very authentic way.
The visit was co-ordinated by Dev Singh and she did an outstanding job ensuring the week ran smoothly. We were all very appreciative of the work she did. I would also like to acknowledge May and Wendy our Mandarin tutors who helped make the week a success.
During the week, the teachers also got the opportunity to find out how the two education systems compared and the challenges faced by each. No surprises that workload was mentioned by both groups. We said farewell to our 2017 visitors at an assembly last Friday and we look forward to welcoming another group of visitors again in 2018.
