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BEIJING, April 27, 2009 – China Institute, the New York City based cultural and educational nonprofit institution focused exclusively on China, opened the 5th Annual China Institute Executive Summit in Beijing, China this morning.
“We are extremely pleased to host our first invitation-only Executive Summit in China. The Summit brings together a select group of business executives from China and the United States for a forum of open and constructive dialogue (more…)
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Written By: Melissa Downer on April 10, 2009
(source: http://www.saratoga.com/today/2009/04/education—local-teachers-head-to-china.html)
Eight local teachers will be spending their spring break visiting rural schools in China.
The teachers were invited by the China Institute to participate in the Teach China Program, a study tour that focuses on the issues pertaining to education in rural areas.
“The hope is that we make a connection with these schools. We’ll share with them what it is like attending a rural school in the United States. Hopefully we’ll start a partnership with these schools,” said Lisa Quinn, director of special and alternative education for WSWHE BOCES.
According to Quinn, the mission of the China Institute is to raise awareness of China in America. While schools in the larger urban areas of China receive adequate funding, the schools in rural areas have less to work with.
Founded in 1926, China Institute is a non-profit educational and cultural institution that strives for a deeper understanding of China through programs in education, culture, business and art in the belief that cross-cultural understanding strengthens the global community.
Traveling April 9 through 19, the area teachers will visit various cultural sites along with a variety of K-12 rural schools. The group will tour areas around the cities of Beijing, Xi’an, and Chengdu. The itinerary includes visits to a teachers’ college, a school for displaced migrants in Beijing, a school for “peasants” outside of Xi’an, and a school under reconstruction after the devastating May 2008 earthquakes in Sichuan.
“I’m feeling very excited. This is a great opportunity for BOCES and the local school districts as well,” Quinn said. “It will be great to experience a whole new culture as an educator and share the experiences with the students after.”
Each of the districts attending has implemented Chinese programs in their schools with support from the BOCES Language and Culture Resource Center (LCRC). Founded in 2006 with federal funding through the Foreign Language Assistance Program, the LCRC’s mission is to increase the language proficiency, language diversity, and cultural awareness of the students in the 31 school districts that participate in BOCES.
The LCRC currently offers:
· Chinese Courses (offered through Distance Learning/Itinerant Teacher in five school districts)
· Foreign Languages in Elementary School (FLES) Program in Saratoga Springs (French classes for all second graders)
· Online Chinese Course on Blackboard
· Immersion Weekend for LOTE Teachers at Skidmore College
· Summer Language Immersion and Culture Program
· Creation of a Culture Media Center that includes education materials or “culture boxes” on twenty cultures from around the world.
“It’s really important for students to be aware and understanding of cultures that are different from ours as Americans,” Quinn said.
According to Kevin Lawrence, Associate Director of the China Institute, globalization is more important than just reading about other cultures in text books.
“China Institute chose BOCES to participate in our 2009 Rural Study Tour through China in recognition of the wonderful work the various school districts have demonstrated in providing ever increasing opportunities for students to study Chinese language, culture, history and society. Since our Spring tour theme was to look at issues affecting China’s rural education system, we thought it would only be a natural fit to extend an invitation to school districts in Upstate New York to see what similarities (and what differences) exist that are shaping the lives of American and Chinese youths and their education system. Globalization is not only a force affecting New York City youths or Beijingers and Shanghainese – it is equally shaping the futures of children in the Adirondack region and the mountain towns of Sichuan which participate in the economic and cultural nature of globalization in just as crucial ways as their urban counterparts, although perhaps that does not attract as much media attention as the global cities receive. This trip promises to tap into the creative energy of educators so that China Institute can explore how to enrich both our own programming and hopefully provide increased opportunities for students and teachers in Upstate New York to increasingly make connections to China by studying it and even visiting it,” he said in a statement.
The participating educators include: Bill Brooks, Global Studies (Galway); Joy Gordon, Spanish and AFS Coordinator (Greenwich); Mark Bessen, Director of Administrative Services (Lake George); Skip Hults, Superintendent (Newcomb); Andy Terry, Global Studies (Queensbury); Joe Giannetto, Global Studies (Saratoga Springs); Peggy Sharkey, Grant Manager of the LCRC (WSWHE BOCES); and Lisa Quinn, Director of Special and Alternative Education (WSWHE BOCES).
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