Labor Day is past, which means that summer has ended. But what a summer it was! From June 28 to August 16, SPIRAL International expanded our American English and Culture Camp to cover 4 states and 17 schools! Thanks to hard work and cooperation with the coordinators and local communities, SPIRAL International accommodated 555 Chinese students from grades 7 to 12 in about 150 different host family homes. In addition, there were nearly 140 American student ambassadors involved in the camp. This gave us a ratio of 4 to 1 between Chinese and American students which is outstanding. That meant that every 4 Chinese students had an American student ambassador as a partner or tutor when they were doing small group discussions. This is SPIRAL International’s characteristic “each one teach one” philosophy.
The Chinese students enjoyed every moment in U.S. not only studying English in the mornings, but also the cultural experiences in different group activities or with host families. Plus, they established profound friendships with the American students and host families in the short time they were here. Some host families have already told us that they are looking forward to hosting students next summer! Furthermore, the American student ambassadors said it was a great opportunity to learn about Chinese culture, and they promised to participate again next year as well as inviting their friends to join in. Most of them are considering learning Chinese and are strongly interested in taking a trip to China to visit their Chinese friends.
As a result, SPIRAL International is organizing a trip to China for the American student ambassadors next April during their spring break. The Chinese students are looking forward to their visit!
After the camp, SPIRAL International hosted an end-of-summer coordinators’ meeting in Brattleboro, VT. Fifteen coordinators attended the meeting as well as the staff from our main office. During the meeting, we shared information and experiences. We discussed the challenges and problems, and shared suggestions. Everyone felt the meeting was really helpful for communication between sites. So, SPIRAL International plans to have a similar meeting to train the new site coordinators next spring.
When we look back at SPIRAL International’s success this summer, we realize that 555 Chinese students is not a huge number, but it was challenging for us to accommodate so many and still keep our American English and Culture Camp at its usual high standard.
This is exactly what we want to achieve. We will continue our efforts to help more Chinese students have the opportunity to study short or long-term in the U.S. At the same time, we will also help more American students learn about China and the world.
We would like to express our appreciation to all the coordinators, schools, teachers, host families, American students and Chinese students again. Thank you for all your support! We are looking forward to seeing everyone again. We can’t wait for next summer!