The Confucius Institute at Bangor University successfully held its first “summer camp”, which lasted from July 8 to July 20. The program is also known as an “education summer camp”, since all its participants are graduate students majoring in teacher training from the School of Education at Bangor University.With support from the Confucius Institute Headquarters (Hanban), China University of Political Science and Law (CUPL), the Chinese partner to BU Confucius Institute, made elaborate preparations for the summer camp. CUPL arranged field trips to Beijing Royal School (BRS), a private school, and Fengtai No.1 Middle School, a public school, and arranged discussions and interactive activities with students and faculty on those two campuses. Besides the general Chinese language courses and lectures on Chinese culture, the camp also specially arranged a workshop on “ China ’s education system”. The camp members listened attentively, spoke actively and took notes carefully in class. The participants were deeply interested in China ’s nine-year compulsory education system, the curriculum in China ’s primary and middle schools, the locally-applied teaching methods, the arrangements for a semester, extracurricular activities, the gaokao(the National College Entrance Examination),etc. In the workshop, camp members drew comparisons between China ’s education system for primary and middle schools with its British counterparts. In the field trip to BRS, they got a panoramic view of the life and studies of students in various grades, where they also took part in an English class.During their visit to Fengtai No.1 Middle School, which was closed for the summer recess, under the guidance of its president, the British visitors were welcomed by several teachers and students from the school’s English corner, Peking Opera society and Taekwondo gym, who specially returned to attend that get-together. The two sides discussed the school’s curriculum, and they also exchanged ideas concerning the development of emotional intelligence. In the closing ceremony, the camp members shared their experience and thoughts on that fruitful and unforgettable trip. They also expressed joy because of the opportunity to interact with Chinese primary and middle schools teachers and students in person.
The participants expressed their desire to fully utilize the resources of BU Confucius Institute in their future teaching following graduation.They also wished to make contributions to the following areas: adding Chinese elements in their teachings, boosting Chinese language teaching in Britain , promoting the exchange of British and Chinese culture, and enriching multicultural education for British students.
Opening ceremony of the summer camp
A workshop on China's education system
A visit to the lab of Beijing Royal School
A discussion with Chinese students
Watching Peking opera performed by Chinese students
A real taste of Peking Opera
Practicing taekwondo with Chinese students
A group picture with teachers and students fromFengtai No.1 Middle School
