Two-Way Benefits From a Chinese Exchange

My View

In May 2014, James Berry, an educational leadership professor at Eastern Michigan University, introduced me and some colleagues to Wang Hongshan, a Chinese educator who was spending the morning observing our teacher leaders. The latter were sharing progress reports toward meeting the school district’s strategic goals.

With her observations completed, Wang, who goes by Wendy, invited several of us to China to visit her school, launching what now is a thriving international partnership aimed at building cultural literacy.

Wendy is the head of the Carey School in Zunyi, China. Zunyi is a city of approximately 1.1 million people in Guizhou Province. Carey is a private school educating around 600 students from kindergarten through 6th grade with plans to begin serving middle and high school students in 2017-18. Wendy, a successful entrepreneur and business owner, is not an educator by training, but her passion for schooling and expanded learning experiences has become her life’s mission. While she spends her days managing an array of businesses, she is committed to improving educational opportunities for what she calls “her kids.”

Small-Town Values

The partnership between the Tecumseh, Mich., Public Schools and the Carey School is focused on increasing cultural literacy and understanding global citizenship. In our trips to Zunyi, Wendy gives Tecumseh educators a chance to know the Chinese people. She coordinates meetings with school officials to discuss partnership sharing. We experience tourist attractions, such as the Great Wall and Forbidden City, but we also spend time walking down the streets of old town Zunyi, visiting homes of Beijing families in the protected areas of the city and traveling to the Miao village — all intended to expand our knowledge of Chinese people’s way of life. 

In turn, teachers and administrators from Carey School spend time each spring in our small town about 25 miles south of Ann Arbor, learning about our way of life. They visit our farms, our homes and our community landmarks. They also travel to Washington, D.C., New York City and Chicago to better understand American life. Carey teachers spend the remainder of their time in the U.S. working with our teachers to learn our teaching pedagogy. Instructional coaches help Carey’s teachers plan lessons, observe classrooms and practice new techniques.

This summer, for the third year, about eight educators from Tecumseh will travel to Zunyi to provide a 10-day summer camp experience for 150 elementary school students. The camp combines learning opportunities in English along with interactive activities consistent with a summer camp experience. Our teachers prepare the lessons and provide the instruction. English teachers from Carey School are part of the summer camp, offering translation while observing Western education practices.

Like-Minded Educators

The commitment to education shapes the culture of the Chinese people with this partnership providing a Western education experience for the Chinese students. For Tecumseh educators, it has strengthened our commitment to collaboration and the value of education. We hope to expand student exchanges between our two schools to develop greater cultural literacy for our students and our faculty.

We consider the teachers and administrators at Carey School our colleagues and friends. The Tecumseh community, as well as Eastern Michigan University, has embraced this partnership, and our school board is committed to expansion. It is unique in its connection between like-minded people who, under normal circumstances, never would have crossed paths.

Our children, wherever they live, will need to understand different cultures. Our young graduates will enter a world that will require them to work side by side with people across the globe. Our students, through their education, must appreciate the impact they can have globally through knowledge and acceptance of other cultures. Global sharing has never been more needed, and through our partnership with Chinese educators and students, we will bring our two worlds together, enhancing the learning for all.