China Exchange Program Helps Educators Gain New Experiences

Zhao Wei, a junior high school principal from China, noticed plenty of classroom differences during the week she spent at .

For one, Wei said, much more attention is placed on students in American schools.

“It’s a lot different from China, the focus on individual children,” Wei said through an interpreter in a recent roundtable discussion at the school district.

Wei visited from Nov. 12 to Nov. 18 as part of The China Exchange Initiative, and spent her time shadowing Assistant Superintendent Heidi Ondek and observing middle school classrooms and activities. Wei is from Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province, China.

On Wednesday, midway through her visit, Wei answered questions in the roundtable discussion at the district offices. Ondek said she was looking forward to the discussion as she was curious to learn more about the principal’s impressions, too.

One aspect of her Quaker Valley visit that fascinated Wei was seeing windows on classrooms.

“In China, you can’t see what’s going on in a classroom unless you enter a classroom,” Wei said.

Wei was quite communicative, but spoke limited English. Her interpreter at the roundtable was Kaitlin Kelly, a Quaker Valley graduate working on her MBA at Carnegie Mellon University. Kelly, who is fluent in Mandarin, helped facilitate the conversation between Wei and several attendees.

Wei will host Ondek for a week in April to complete the exchange. Ondek is only one of four Pennsylvania administrators participating in the exchange program this year. Funded by the Freeman Foundation, the shadowing program encourages intercultural learning based on the belief that people in the United States and China need to “develop understanding and friendship” to forge partnerships.

“I am excited for this first exchange for Quaker Valley and the hope and potential it represents for the future of our students and staff as we extend our global reach,” Ondek said prior to Wei’s visit.

In discussing some of the differences between the two countries, Wei said in China the government place an importance on learning English, and kids have no flexibility in deciding otherwise.

“Certain priorities are set at a high level and [schools] are executing on those,” Kelly explained for Wei.

During her visit, Ondek and Wei visited all four of Quaker Valley’s schools as well as places in the community, focusing on diversity, special education and the arts. Wei’s school in Hebei Province is similar in size to the . Shijiazhuang NO. 89 Junior High School educates 427 students, compared with Quaker Valley’s 450 middle school students.