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A True Exchange for International Baccalaureate Students at Westlane
INDIANAPOLIS, IN (August 17, 2015) – Over the summer, 11 Westlane Middle School students, boarded an airplane and took off for an 11 day trip to China. It was part of an educational tour to bring to life what they had been learning all year from books and Westlane Chinese Teacher Ling-Yu Yang. And it was part of a program called Chinese Education Connection, which helps to connect schools in America, to schools in China.
In China our Westlane students shadowed Chinese students at Westlane’s sister school in Zhoushan, Zhejiang Province. Our students enjoyed events planned and hosted by their Chinese counterparts; events like a talent show and dumpling making. “Visiting a foreign country like China is a true practice for our American students, of all of the concepts that we teach through the International Baccalaureate framework,” said Chinese teacher Ling-Yu Yang. “My students made me very proud as global communicators. We are producing great products through our global teaching at Westlane and in Washington Township.”
This week, there will be 18 Chinese students, their principal, and several teachers and parents arriving in Indianapolis from China. They will be met by the same Westlane students who they hosted in China over the summer. This time, Weatlane students will host, and are planning a variety of events and activities so that their friends from China can learn about life in America and specifically Indiana.
“This is such a special exchange,” says Westlane Principal Linda Lawrence, who also made the trip to China over the summer. “These students are learning beyond text books, beyond multi-media; they are seeing, smelling, tasting, and experiencing a culture truly very different than their own. And as we teach through the IB learner profile, students are becoming inquirers, open-minded, risk-takers, and communicators.”
