The High School Affiliated to Tsinghua University and its sister school Berkeley Preparatory School in the United States held an inter-school online exchange program
Starting from October 8, 2020, Tsinghua High School and its sister school Berkeley Preparatory School in the United States will carry out an eight-week online exchange activity。Twenty-six high school students from Tsinghua High School and 26 American students from sister schools who are studying Chinese form one-to-one learning partners to participate in the online exchange program。
Due to the impact of the epidemic, this exchange was conducted by means of online meeting。Each student will have one hour of online communication with their partner once a week。During the meeting, students spent 30 minutes in Chinese and 30 minutes in English, taking turns to communicate and learn from their partners in their native language, and help each other improve their language skills。
High 200616 Lu Ke On and partner Jarah Williams;High 200423 Shen Yuchen and partner Makayla Doyle
As early as the end of 2019, the two schools agreed on a visit and reception plan。Originally, Tsinghua High School was scheduled to go to Berkeley Preparatory School in Tampa, USA, for a 10-day on-campus exchange in February 2020, and live in the homes of their respective partners。In March 2020, sister schools in the United States will pay a return visit to Tsinghua High School。However, due to the impact of the novel coronavirus epidemic, the visit and reception of the two schools could not go ahead as planned。The two schools do not want to miss the opportunity to exchange and dialogue with each other, and overcome many difficulties to meet and communicate regularly through the network platform。Taking this opportunity, students can practice their English level and help their American partners learn Chinese, understand the current situation of Chinese and American society, cultural traditions and other content。
Gao 200209 Zhao Yifei Ma and partner Lila Bo Williams;High 200925 Wang also has partner David DeCoursy
High 200729 Xinran Wu and partner Aoife Shannon
Students from the two schools had their last online exchange on November 22。During this period, the students not only learned about the real American high school life, curriculum content and extracurricular activities through their American friends, but also introduced them to the culture and characteristics of Tsinghua Affiliated High School。Some American students also visited the campus of Tsinghua High School through mobile phone "cloud"。The students said it was a meaningful cultural exchange experience。
Berkeley Prep School, founded in 1960, is a co-educational private school located in Tampa, Florida。Berkeley Prep's motto is "Discipline, hard work, integrity."。In line with the purpose of "cultivating outstanding talents who make outstanding contributions to society", the school puts forward strict requirements for students in three aspects: moral, intellectual and physical。Every year, Berkeley graduates are admitted to prestigious universities in the United States, including Harvard, Yale, Columbia University, Princeton University。
In 2013, the High School Attached to Tsinghua University and Berkeley Preparatory School signed an exchange exchange agreement to establish and expand the exchange activities between the teachers and students of the two schools, to help the visiting teachers and students understand the culture of different countries, and to strengthen the language learning。According to the agreement, teachers and students of the two schools will exchange visits every two years。Adhering to the attitude of peace, respect, honesty and mutual trust, Tsinghua High School maintains positive and smooth contact with sister schools in Hong Kong, the United Kingdom, Germany, the United States and other regions and countries that have established cooperative relations for many years。Affected by the epidemic，Although the out-of-town interschool exchange program is temporarily suspended，However, the school fully relies on "Internet plus" technology，Break the limitations of traditional communication work，Actively explore new modes of online communication，Strive to create a broader exchange platform for students，In order to achieve the goal of improving students' language ability, critical thinking and independent thinking ability，To cultivate outstanding talents with a global vision for the future。
Students' impressions:
I am honored to be assigned such a great partner as Zachary Zinober。Distance creates beauty, and although the beginning of all the good things was not perfect, as "hard" as the first time we met, I was very lucky to meet good people in good projects。I hope we can invite Zach to China next year and meet together!All encounters are small luck, congratulations on the end of the project, thanks to the leaders of the two schools can give me such an opportunity!
-- Gao 200711 Huang Ruohan
I felt honored to have an opportunity to become a foreign friend to Jarah as well as a Chinese cultural messenger.
We have met many difficulties during the exchange program. The most frustrating one is the time difference between China and the US. The time is usually either very early for one or late for the other, so it was rather hard for both of us to be on time each time. However, patience helped us overcome the problem and we were tolerant, doing our best to wait for each other.
In a word, I will definitely treasure the friendship I gained and the experience I had was unforgettable. I’m very grateful for Jarah to take her time to communicate with me. I hope we will keep in touch and have a better future in our own fields.
Just finished the last exchange program, I feel very sad, the short eight exchanges came to an end, the time really passed too fast。I still remember the expectations for unknown communication partners at the training meeting before the exchange. During the first communication, I had a somewhat stiff conversation with my communication partners, which was like checking a running account and my fingers became cold due to nervousness。The one-hour communication time allowed me to truly understand the life of American students for the first time, and at the same time, I had more opportunities to practice my oral English。Later, as we got to know each other and talked more and more, I gradually got to know Truex Banan. I knew that he liked playing football, was learning programming, and didn't like math any more than I did。We are like a pen Pal, although there is a gap between countries and time, but still maintain the simplest friendship。At the end of the day, we talked about whether to continue the communication, and we both chose to continue, hoping that such a simple communication relationship can last for a long time。
High School affiliated to Tsinghua University
Administration center declaration
