2018 Winter Exchange Camp

In the blink of an eye, 2018 is already a year ago, and the children’s laughter still echoes in my ears. At first, I was a bit worried about whether the kids, being so young, could adapt to an all-English school life. However, it turned out that my worries were unnecessary; the children’s adaptability far exceeded our expectations.

“Departure” At Beijing Capital International Airport, I met the children of the Winter Exchange Camp, accompanied by their parents’ eager looks and endless concern. Together, we flew to Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States. To ensure the children’s safety throughout the journey, we specifically returned to China to safely escort the children to the U.S.

What would the children feel experiencing classes entirely in English for the first time? As I worried and prepared dinner, I heard the kids singing in English from the room, and my heart began to sing along too.

“Visiting the Robot Library at North Carolina State University” Hunt Library is the most famous library at North Carolina State University, and it is a very modern robot library.

“Visiting the Marble Children’s Museum in Raleigh” Although it’s called a museum, it is actually a playground for children, filled with various toys, crafts, painting activities, sports equipment, a botanical garden, and more. The kids can freely play here for an entire day. We first chose to do some woodworking crafts, where each child fully utilized their imagination, using the provided wood and other materials to create their own unique projects inspired by their individual creativity.

“The First Day of Exchange Learning” The long-awaited week of exchange learning has begun. In the morning, I took three students to the private middle school for the exchange program, ready to participate in the opening ceremony specially prepared for the first group of “Beegether” students.

“LEGO Class” After school today, I prepared a fun experiment class for the kids—building a lift platform using toys similar to LEGO. The teacher in the lab first explained the working principle of the lift platform and how to construct it. Then, under the teacher’s guidance, the children began to work on it themselves. The sight of them concentrating intently is still vivid in my mind.

“The Fourth Day of Exchange Learning – English Speech” To help American children better understand China and to enhance the speaking skills of our Chinese students, today our students introduced topics related to China that they are interested in to their respective classes.

“The Fifth Day of Exchange Learning – Graduation Ceremony” Today is the last day of the exchange program. In the afternoon, all the students from the 4th and 5th grades walked (about 10 minutes) to the middle school building to join the teachers and students there for a graduation ceremony held for the Chinese students.

“Volunteering in the U.S.” Food Bank – Today we went to a food bank in central and eastern North Carolina to participate in volunteer activities. Perhaps some of you have heard of the Food Bank; it is a nonprofit organization established in 1980 that spans across the United States. As the name suggests, a “food bank” primarily focuses on reducing and eliminating hunger among those in need.

Here is the translation of the text from Chinese to English:

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“Returning to China” Today is the last day of the Winter Exchange Camp—departure day. The night before, we packed our luggage and set off for the airport at 4 a.m., flying from North Carolina to Washington, then to Beijing.

• Raleigh-Durham International Airport

From here, we gradually approached China and our parents. When I asked the children, “Did you enjoy this winter camp?” and “Would you like to come back to North Carolina?” they all kindly replied with a “Yes!”