Monday 22nd October 2018












We had an early start today with breakfast at 7.30am. Some of us were still really full from our meal last night!

At 8.00am we made our way to the schools Exhibition Centre. Leo talked is through the history of Daqing Foreign Language School. They have over 5000 students across their two schools with over 3000 on this campus. They moved to this current location in 2014. We then made our way to the 9th floor of the Main School (it looks like the Magic Kingdom in Disney).  We sat in the meeting room, it was a bit like a conference room, very official. The schools principal arrive with his deputy and members of his team.  We all introduced ourselves. They didn’t speak English so Leo translated his kind words.  He welcomed us to Daqing and China and spoke highly about the partnership between our schools. He invited our students to visit again and even come back to visit in the future to study Chinese! We were then individually given gift! Luke was even given a hug by their deputy - we think it was the curly hair! We had an official picture taken outside of the school building.

From there we had a Chinese lesson in the International building. We really enjoyed it, some of us could recall bits that we had learned yesterday in the family homes - ‘smart boys’. Laura the Chinese English teacher was very impressed.

We then had a Calligraphy lesson. We were taught the 8 basic symbols which make up the Chinese script.  Mr Sanderson was a ‘pro’ but lots of us found it difficult. 

We then moved onto the Gym for a Tai Chi lesson. This was fun and much harder than it looks. A couple of us got a bad case of the giggles!

After another delicious lunch we had a rest before joining in a PE lesson. They boys joined in a game of chain hula hoops - they are so competitive! Of course they beat the boys and the girls! They then had a game of basketball again Daqing teachers.

After our evening meal as we waited for the coach some of us squeezed in a game of football with the students! We then headed off to the shopping centre which was fun buying some souvenirs and gifts to bring home! Some of the English speaking Chinese teachers joined us to help us out. Lots of local people were taking photographs of us as we wandered around.  

Euan F said ‘Today has been fantastic, my favourite part was experiencing the Chinese shopping centre. The shops were very different to home and very cheap’.

‘Meeting the head teacher was really interesting, listening to his views on how the partnership between the schools can have a positive impact on our education. He even offered to host us in the future.’ Tommy L

A very busy day. We have another packed day planned again tomorrow.


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