A trip too good to pass up . . .

Why the interest in English and China? Because two weeks from tomorrow I will be on my way to China as part of a College Board group sponsored by Hanban. How did this happen?

Last fall I was invited to become a member of the National Superintendents Roundtable. Normally I wouldn’t consider joining an organization such as this, but because the invitation was a result of my engagement in the SOL conference and its connection to Peter Senge’s work I made the decision to accept.

One of the first communications I received after joining was information on the Roundtable’s annual conference and an invitation to apply for a trip to China. Given our financial situation, going to the conference was not something I was planning to do and based upon other trips to China I had seen, the cost would be prohibitive even in a good budget year. But, because of the Roundtable’s relationship with the College Board the possibility was one I found difficult to not pursue.

The trip is one full week in China with the total cost to each participant being only $900. Hanban picks up the remainder of the cost including all travel, lodging, and meals. The trip includes three days of visiting schools in Heibei Province sandwiched between meetings and sightseeing in Beijing. The only problem thus far is that I must first fly to Newark, N.J. and return home through Newark to take advantage of Hanban paying for the flights. With the flight times it also meant needing to spend the night in Newark on both ends. Even with the fourteen hour flight from Newark to Beijing I decided that it was still too good to pass up so I picked up these extra costs.

My goal is to establish relationships with schools that want to engage with students and teachers from Tahoma. I’ll share more of the details and planning as the departure date gets closer.