Schools

Hebei Vocational College of Foreign Languages





This morning we had a tour of the Hebei Vocational College of Foreign Languages. This was the site of the football training field for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. This college has a long history having started off as a normal school. We met with the Vice President of the College and the Dean of the foreign language teachers. Later we watched a promotional DVD of the school and had an opportunity to ask questions of the teachers and administrators. The campus was beautifully landscaped. They have a strong pre-school education program and an entire building for aviation training which will soon include an airplane simulator. They receive many international students and offer programs in 8 different languages. Many of the students of this school will become foreign language teachers. Unfortunately, classes were not in session when we visited so we didn’t have an opportunity to interact with the student body; however, I did chat with Carol, our tour guide, who recently graduated from their tourism program and had many positive things to say about the school and the program. But if you want to be a foreign language teacher, this might be the place for you. And drum roll please, it is very close to a resort area which is believed to have the best beach in North China.

The fearless leaders

I loved the many quotes that were displayed along the college lanes.

Our next stop was at the Glass Museum. This is a museum that has just opened and we were the very first people to visit. There were sculptures depicting the stages of glass making. These were very interesting. We also had an opportunity to see a glass blower at work. He made objects to order for us. I had a glass owl made.

The glass blower

Flat Stanley was a star at the glass museum. 

Our final activity for the day was a trip to a school that was hosting a summer camp. Students at this camp were deemed to have leadership qualities—the banner for the program stated “Tomorrow’s CEOs”. We were told that they would be doing a performance for us and that we were expected to do one for them in return. We very quickly tried to come up with something and in the end the teachers’ taught them a handclapping game and the students’  taught them a game where they had to observe the crowd and determine who the leader was. We met in a large room on the fourth floor of the school. The aroma of the room was similar to the smell in a boys’ locker room. There were many bodies in this room and no air-conditioning. Even so it turned out to be good fun for everyone.

One interesting thing about this experience was the fact that, although these students had seen Americans before, they had never spoken to one. They were ecstatic. It appears that kids everywhere love American Pop Culture.

It's not only the USA Olympic Swimming Team that can perform Call Me Maybe, check out this video. Look at out STARTALK intern Lei (gotta love that Lei) encouraging our kids to get involved.