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Welcoming Ghanzou to Grade 12
Grade 12 students start their Grad year filled with excitement and expectation.
It’s about preparing for the future, wrapping up an integral chapter of your life, saying goodbye to old friends and teachers and celebrating your schooling years.
Just imagine beginning your final year of high school in a foreign country halfway around the world from home.
A group of students from Ghanzou, China, are doing just that as they settle in to their new high schools in Prince Edward Island at Charlottetown Rural, Colonel Gray and Bluefield.
Vincent Zhu, Jason Xiao, and Nathan Chen in their new school.
Holland College President Brian McMillan, President of Slark Enterprises Tom Lin, and Education and Early Childhood Development Minister Alan McIsaac welcome the new students.
“There are lots of trees and flowers,” he said between classes at Colonel Gray this week.
“At home we can just wear a t-shirt, here you need more clothes, the weather always changes.”
Zhu is stationed at Colonel Gray with Nathan Chen and Jason Xiao. The three boys are studying English as a second language. They get together weekly to shoot hoops, go for a swim and enjoy a taste of home cooking at Noodle House or China King restaurants.
The students are here as part of a three-year agreement between the Province of Prince Edward Island, Slark Enterprises and Ganzhou No. 3 Middle School in China. The first group of 17 Grade 12 students arrived on August 14th, 2013. The students completed Grade 10 and 11 in China using some of our curriculum and will complete Grade 12 here on the Island.
“Prince Edward Island has a very good education system and is very well respected around the world,” said Mike Leslie, the International Education Coordinator for the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development.
“Canada and Prince Edward Island are also viewed as a very safe jurisdiction for students to live in. Students will be safe and secure and parents feel comfortable sending them here.”
While attending PEI schools, the students will experience a rigorous, student-centred curriculum which will give them the skills they need to succeed academically, professionally and personally.
“I think it’s recognizing what we have to offer here on the Island,” said Minister McIsaac. “It recognizes the work we have done over the past few years in our relationships with China and the trade missions the Premier, Holland College and many of the business people have taken. We are now forming a union between our two countries and with some of the provinces in China. I think this can only build on what we need to do for P.E.I. and it’s also a benefit for the students and the people back in China.”
This is Prince Edward Island’s first step toward an affiliated school program. In addition to education, students will be introduced to a variety of cultural experiences during their stay. The Homestay program will allow participants to live with an Island family and experience life as a Prince Edward Island student. During the year, there will also be educational tours of post secondary institutions such as UPEI and Holland College.
“This is sort of a mutual exchange,” said Leslie. “We will learn as a province and the students will also learn from the experience. If successful, we would like to open the doors to a number of other areas and bring more students to our province and more cultural diversity to our classrooms.”
Zhu says Island schools are more open than Chinese schools, where the door closes and nobody visits. “Here many people can walk in and look around,” he said.
He is diligently studying English so he can talk to his other classmates, not just the Chinese ones.
“It’s very different, in time I will get used to it,” he said.
The students are here for the year.
