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Tag: mandarin

  • Pioneers, ambassadors and global citizens of the future

    Become an Engage with China Scholar and benefit from two years fully-funded education at A-level through our partnership with Wycombe Abbey Schools in China. Discover some of the many opportunities awaiting a young person here

    Applications open for the 2024-26 cohort of Engage with China Scholars for young British pupils to study their A-levels in China. Based on the success of our first cohort which travelled to China in September last year, Engage with China is proud to announce that its partnership with Wycombe Abbey Schools in China is expanding to enable another 30 lucky students to enjoy a full cultural immersion in China from 2024-2026. Deadline for application has been extended until 25 March.

    Pioneers they have been // Ambassadors they are // Global citizens they will be

    Including return flights, a choice of 30+ A-level subjects, wrap-around extra curricular activities from sports to music to debating and cultural trips, this EwC Scholarship programme is a life-changing opportunity. The three school sites are in the famous cities of Nanjing and Hangzhou as well as in the new energy zone of Changzhou. All of the cities are within easy reach of Shanghai on China’s amazing high speed rail network.

    I wake up every morning with a smile on my face! Thank you for giving me my dream!

    Michael S, 2023 EwC Scholar

    Find out more about what a life-changing experience this scholarship programme from a recent video featuring our scholars in China. There is plenty of information in the brochure below to help you as you consider applying. Complete an application form to give yourself the chance to change your life! Interviews will take place in mid April. Departure to China at the end of August.

    NOTE: Please send a copy of the application submission by email to us via info@engagewithchina.org

    2024-02-02-engage-with-china-scholarships-for-2024_brochureDownload
    2024-03-19-ewc-sholarship-application-form-2024Download

    Good luck and we look forward to receiving your applications.

    Follow and like us on social media platforms to keep up to date about this and other opportunities. Invite us into a school you know today!

    If two years seems too long – why not consider joining one of our two summer camps in July 2024? This action-packed itinerary will delight curious young minds and build cultural and language skills, enhance STEM learning and build global perspectives. Find out more here. Use code HJ2024 to benefit from £50 off per pupil.

  • Optimism in the air

    It may be windy, wet and gloomy at the start of 2024 but we are filled with optimism & hope for the year ahead as we continue to build engagement, opportunity & China literacy in the classroom. So why the optimism?

    Despite school budgetary constraints, covid catch-up & capacity issues in schools, multiple schools and 6th Form Colleges have already booked us in to deliver our curriculum enrichment China Challenge Days. These days will take pupils on cultural journeys enabling them to understand the impact of of China on the world today as well as encounter thousands of years of history from the technological advancements of the Shang dynasty; the rise of the Qin dynasty & the ‘Terracotta Emperor’ and the obsession with porcelain & tea in British society.

    Our third and largest, global ‘Good Cop Bad Cop’ Model UN conference takes place on 02/02 involving 350+ young people to discuss the climate crisis.

    Our first cohort of EwC Scholars have settled in brilliantly into boarding school life in China having been there already for six months. They have enjoyed cultural trips, taken part in Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, competed in fencing, public speaking and swimming competitions as well as rowing, playing basketball and music alongside their full-on academic classes.

    And that’s not all…. registrations are now open for the ‘Global Perspectives’ summer camps, July 2024 in China.

    Designed for curious, young minds who imagine a world beyond their experience, this camp will delight and inspire pupils as they discover China’s culture, history, language and tech advancement during an action-packed schedule at our partner school, Wycombe Abbey Changzhou. Use Code HJ2024 to ensure your special offer price.

    Keep checking the website for news of our EwC Scholarship application process for 2024-26 opening soon. This fully-funded scholarship will expand this year to enable an additional 30 British 16 year-old students (who will complete their GCSEs this summer) to study their A-levels in China. Interviews and selection will take place before Easter 2024.

    We wish all teachers & students a great start to the new term as they anticipate exam season. At a time when the world (& the weather) looks gloomy may the character traits of the Year of the Dragon to come, including confidence, energy & ambition, equip us all with greater understanding, cooperation & kindness, leading to better times to come.

    Happy New Year to you all! 新年快乐！万事如意

  • ‘GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES’ SUMMER CAMP IN CHINA

    Date options: 01 – 13 July 2024 or 15 – 27 July 2024

    Age groups: 8 – 17 years

    Building on our previous experience running enriching summer camps in the UK for Chinese children, we are now delighted to present a fabulous opportunity for young people to enjoy a ‘Global Perspectives’ camp in China in July 2024. Calling teachers, parents, grandparents and governors: please share these details to enable young people aged 8-17 to take advantage of the exceptional cultural and STEAM trips and activities on offer, enjoy immersive and engaging learning with bi-lingual teaching staff and leverage the excellent and modern on-site campus facilities for a multitude of sport and music options. Above all, ‘campers’ will enjoy a summer holiday building cultural bridges and opportunities and making friends for life with teenagers from around the world, including China. [Special discount through EwC, see below].

    The camp schedule has so much on offer to delight and inspire. From discovering Chinese tea culture, to learning mandarin, enjoying multiple sporting activities and visits to high tech zones, pupils will encounter many aspects of China’s modernisation, traditions and culture.

    Glbal-perspectives-camp-2024_ewc-20231215Download

    BOOK TODAY via the contact details in the brochure and remember to quote the code HJ2024 to secure your special discounted price through Engage with China. Do tell your friends about this opportunity and why not invite them to come along, too! Do let us know who is going so we can follow their excitement!

    Price: £2,275 excl. air fares, visa and airport transfers in the UK

    In 2023 we founded the Engage with China Scholarship Programme in partnership with Wycombe Abbey School, Changzhou. This is where the summer camps will take place, beside a lake and in this bustling ‘clean energy’ zone in Jiangsu Province. Situated within one hour of the metropolis of Shanghai by high speed rail, the school is within easy reach of other famous and historical cities including Suzhou, Hangzhou and Nanjing. Our scholars have settled in really well to their new life and are embracing all that the school has to offer them. You can read more about their life-changing story Golden Ticket opportunity here.

    “The school made my transition seamless. The exceptional teachers, engaging classes, and vibrant community welcomed me with open arms. Learning isn’t just about books; it’s a dynamic experience where active learning is happening. I’m so grateful for this opportunity to embrace a new world.“

    Michael S, EwC Scholar, 2023-2025

    Engage with China aims to build China literacy in UK schools. This summer camp enables young people to travel to China and discover it for themselves through an action-packed itinerary where they will make lifelong memories and friendship groups. Engage with China creates platforms to build cultural bridges; we encourage you to cross this one and open doors to a more global future.

    Want more? If you are GCSE student taking exams in the summer 2024, why not apply for our incredible fully-funded two year A level Engage with China Scholarship programme thanks to our partnership with Wycombe Abbey Schools in China? Applications close on Monday 18 March 2024.

  • ‘Chopsticks Challenge’ unleashes competitive spirit

    Visitors to the fruit-themed Summer Fun Day at the Museum of Royal Worcester on Wednesday 17 August were delighted to compete in the ‘Chopsticks Challenge’ organised by Engage with China, one of the participating exhibitors. Concentration, dexterity, and calmness under pressure were three of the main skills required of visitors as they attempted to achieve the highest score of picking up and transferring raisins from one bowl to another.  People of all ages, including grandparents and children as young as six years old, gave it their best go, with some being taught how to use chopsticks for the very first time.

    Winner, George White, aged 12, (right)

    The winner in the young category, was George White, who goes to school in Worcester. His Mum, Lorraine said, “We all had a lovely time doing the activities. The ladies at the fruit sketching and Cheese tables were especially engaging with the children, which made all the difference.” Lucy Wicks, who teaches Chinese at Didcot Girls School in Oxfordshire, showed off her mastery by almost emptying the contents of her raisin bowl in the allotted 30 seconds. Her advantage was clear when she explained that, “I spent time in China observing how Chinese people eat and they can really shovel the food in efficiently. I learnt to copy that.”

    “Learning about China through an object as simple as chopsticks is an easy access point to learning about  China’s culture, history and its impact on the rest of the world. H-J Colston-Inge, who delivered the session, and Director of Engage with China,” said. “We teach young people in schools about how much we as a nation, have wanted from China over centuries – including tea, porcelain, chinoiserie – and how its innovation has inspired our culture, traditions, tastes and fashion. Being able to immerse the visitors, by virtue of being physically in the midst of the porcelain collection at the Museum, and to talk about our huge cultural links with China, is both compelling and fascinating. It’s a brilliant way to open eyes to a whole new world, build curiosity and creativity and to see how China has been a driver of that over many centuries.” 

    Other fruit-themed activities were on offer from Engage with China. Visitors learnt about motifs in Chinese art and their hidden symbolism as well as how to pronounce and write the Chinese characters, for the word ‘fruit.’ 

    Visitors tried out calligraphy for themselves surrounded by the porcelain collection

    “This calligraphy has been so wonderful and calming,” said Rachel Needham, an attentive grandmother giving her granddaughter a great day out. “It’s been so good for the adults, too.” 

    Visitors were also able to be develop their artistic skills making their own fruity books, learning from former Royal Worcester expert artist how to paint onto porcelain and playing with words and story with the Rhianna Levi, Poet Laureate. 

    Director, H-J Colston-Inge, teaches a young person how to use chopsticks

    Engage with China is delighted to be a new partner of the Museum of Royal Worcester to develop links and outreach both in the community and beyond.

  • Y8 China Challenge Days result in invitation to return

    “Shenzhen is 13 times the size of Birmingham,” recounted one bright pupil at the end of Day Two of our China Challenge Days delivered into Walkwood Church of England Middle School this week. This is perfectly true – but many people probably haven’t even heard of Shenzhen. In the space of 40 years, Shenzhen, a previously sleepy, undeveloped coastal area in southern China with a population the equivalent of Redditch in Worcestershire, has fast become a burgeoning metropolis boasting the accolade of being China’s Silicon Valley and one of the busiest container ports in the world. It is just one of the many examples of China’s development unprecedented in history that is manifest in 100s of new cities across China that have taken shape as part of China’s economic development over the last few decades. Alongside this economic growth, fuelled by western consumption and the desire for cheap goods made in China, the ‘Middle Kingdom – the translation from the Chinese name for itself – is a renewed national self-confidence that harks as far back as the ancient Silk Roads when China was very much a superpower and other nations desired its silk, porcelain and tea. 

    Pupils learn about Chinese characters through language de-coder game

    Some 2.5 years ago a conversation with Principal, Reverend Clive Leach, and H-J Colston-Inge, Director of Engage with China, an educational charity that builds China literacy in schools, culminated in an agreement about the importance of building global awareness in school through the lens of China. An invitation to deliver a Challenge Day to Y8 ensued but unfortunately the pandemic delayed the visit until Monday this week. 

    “There’s a real buzz in school today,” said Dani Timmins, Assistant Principal. “…It is three years since we have been able to invite in any outside speakers into school and we are really excited to engage our pupils with our new curriculum which will look at China.” For H-J and her colleague, Theresa Booth, at Engage with China, it was an equal delight to be able to bring China alive in the classroom and it was music to our ears to hear Ms Timmins agree with us that, “China is a global force and it is really important that children recognise this… if we can inspire their curiosity, then they will learn more as well.” 

    Two half day sessions were delivered to 170 pupils. Activities and content were wide-ranging and included mandarin language, role play about the environment in China and its commitment to renewables, the rise and fall and rise of China as a superpower and population size through an activity involving 60kgs of rice! “To be able to do an activity like this which the school could not resource, was fantastic!” said Mrs Timmins.  

    H-J Colston-Inge said, “since we went to China in the 1980s, my colleague Theresa and I, have spent a lifetime building China literacy and opportunity between China and the UK from the boardroom to the classroom. As China continues to develop, its impact and influence on the world only continues to grow. It seems to us that we do young people a dis-service if we do not build competitive edge by opening eyes to the second largest economy in the world and it is always a delight when pupils say they want to go to China – as one did today – having been involved in one of our China Days.”

    On summarising the learnings, one pupil, Lucas, highlighted that “190 languages are spoken in China” and another correctly noted that one in four people is Chinese. H-J continued that, “it is so encouraging to hear pupil recall about the learnings and to know that they have been engaged. Working with a big group can be tricky but the pupils were a delight and a credit to the school. The warm welcome, which began on arrival at the school gates from the Head himself, coupled with the positive atmosphere which permeated the whole school, were testament to the fruits of faith ethos there and it was a privilege to work with these pupils.” Feedback from pupils and staff has been positive. One teacher, who helped to facilitate remarked on the “great resources and very knowledgeable tutors who were excellent in engaging pupils.” The best news came at the end of Day Two when Mrs Timmins said,

    I want to invite Engage with China back in next year to teach our Year 7s and make this a regular feature of our school curriculum!

    加油 as they say in China! Bring it on!