Students from China are visiting Powell River this summer while School District 47 and local host families do their best to provide them with an unforgettable west coast experience.
The students are enrolled in two different programs. Living with local families helps to provide new insight into Canadian culture and gives the students an English language immersion.
The first group, 27 high school students, are aged between 15 to 18 years old. They come from Sino Bright School which has 15 campuses in Chinese cities, including Beijing and Shandong. These schools offer students international programs in addition to studying Chinese curriculum.
Sino Bright operates two of several BC offshore schools in the world. Offshore schools allow foreign students to learn the same curriculum in the same manner that students in BC do.
“This program is activity- and academic-based,” said Jay Yule, superintendent of schools for the school district. The students will receive credit for two four-credit courses, one in information technology and the other in drama. “They’ll have these courses for their BC transcripts.”
The students are learning about digital filmmaking at Powell River Digital Film School and they are spending a week at the school district’s new outdoor learning centre at Haywire Bay.
One of the directions Yule would like to take is to bring more groups of international students to experience the natural beauty of Powell River.
Hugh Prichard of Terracentic Coastal Adventures is helping to organize some of the outdoor activities at Haywire Bay and in the area.
Prichard commented that the Haywire Bay facility is well-suited for students who may not have had a lot of outdoor experience and it helps to promote Powell River as a “destination classroom.” He believes it can be used to develop a program based around outdoor education that will bring more international students as part of a way to help the school district as it faces declining enrolment.
“It would be specifically for these students that are coming from heavily industrialized countries and urban areas where they have very little natural or wilderness spaces left,” said Prichard.
He commented that the skills students learn in outdoor education, like innovation and environmental sustainability, translate well to what top Fortune 500 companies are looking for in their employees.
Outdoor activities include taking the students out on hikes to learn about forest ecology and out onto Powell Lake in canoes or on stand-up paddleboards.
“Most of the learning is hands-on and experiential,” said Prichard, “and helps them to build on their English skills. They are having a genuine Canadian wilderness experience but they’re also learning and practicing their English.”
The students’ visit is the first step of a partnership that Yule helped to establish with the directors of the Sino Bright school when he was in China November 2012 on a ministry of education inspection of BC offshore schools.
Yule said that a few of the students who have come on this trip will stay in Canada for the year as longer term international exchange students, potentially leading to families staying here while their children attend school.
Yule said he is looking at establishing an exclusive partnership between Sino Bright and the school district to create firmer ties for the future.
The students arrived in Powell River July 9 and will stay until August 17. Those studying BC curriculum are staying for six weeks while the others who are studying Washington State curriculum are spending a month in Powell River and then travel to Seattle.
The second group of students is visiting BC from Beijing for a 10-day Canadian Summer Adventure program. This exchange is organized through a partnership between Beijing International Education Exchange (BIEE), a non-profit organization affiliated with Beijing Municipal Education Commission which would be equivalent to BC’s ministry of education, and the BC Council for International Education. This year the exchange is for junior high school students from 13 to 15 years old, but it changes from year to year. Last year the exchange brought Chinese senior high school students to visit.
This year is the third consecutive year that the adventure program has been organized in partnership with the BIEE and it is the second year in a row students have come to visit Powell River. Approximately 50 BC students went to Beijing as part of the exchange. According to Fiona Zhang, who is a BIEE organizer on the exchange and also one of two chaperones, the program focuses on and encourages cultural awareness and diversity and gives the students opportunities for outdoor adventure and sightseeing.
“It’s so beautiful and the people are so friendly,” said Zhang. “I think my students love the place, the people...everything here. I hope they will be able to make good friends with some Canadian students and their homestay families, and I hope I can help strengthen this bridge of friendship.”
Rachelle Warman, who operates Westwind Learning Center, is heading up the local organization of activities and homestay families for both groups of students.
“The summer camp is an invaluable cross-cultural learning opportunity for Powell River residents and Beijing students,” said Warman. “For many of the students, it is their first time visiting Canada and experiencing British Columbia’s beautiful landscape.”
Kathy and Gerry Bennett, who are no strangers to opening their Wildwood home for international students, have a number of boys staying with them over the course of the six weeks. They described having the Chinese students at their home as “fun.”
“We’re sitting outside at the picnic table every night eating dinner and they said ‘We don’t do this in China,’” said Kathy.
Soon after the first three boys arrived at their home Kathy and Gerry decided to take them for a true west-coast Canadian experience: swimming at the beach followed by a campfire complete with wiener and marshmallow roast.
“They really seem to be enjoying themselves and they are nice kids to have around,” said Gerry.
