Officials from School District 47 are expecting the highest number of visiting international students this summer yet and are looking to increase the number of homes available for homestays.
This winter the district signed an agreement with a Chinese school called Sino Bright which operates some British Columbia off-shore schools in China. The deal will bring grade 10 and 11 students to Powell River during the summer for cultural and educational experiences with an aim of convincing them to stay for the following academic year.
BC off-shore schools provide international students, often Chinese, with the opportunity to learn BC school curriculum with provincially certified teachers in their home country.
Brooks Secondary School vice-principal Shannon Behan returned from a two-week visit to six Sino Bright schools, some of which are off-shore schools, in and around Beijing last month. She reported that her trip was a success, meeting many students and Canadian certified teachers. She was warmly welcomed. “Chinese hospitality is overwhelming,” she said.
“During the day I had presentations at the schools, teacher evaluations and administrative meetings,” she added. In the evenings she made presentations to parents about Brooks and went to social events in restaurants.
District superintendent of schools Jay Yule said there are currently about 70 students signed and confirmed for the four-week summer program in July, but that number could grow.
Yule said the students will be taking some courses at Brooks, visiting the Outdoor Learning Centre at Haywire Bay and taking some side trips to Vancouver, Victoria and Whistler.
“We’ll be looking for homestays at that time, where people can take either a student or a few students,” he said, adding that quite often families will take two or more.
A homestay consists of welcoming an international student into a person’s home to live there for a short period. The students are able to see how Canadians live and have a fully immersive cultural and language experience. Canadian hosts are also given a unique cultural experience as they learn first hand about the students’ home, culture and language.
Yule said the district’s homestay coordinator will meet with people who are interested in participating. “They’ll come and sit down with them in their own home and talk about what homestay entails,” he said.
Readers interested in having students from China stay with them this summer can find more information about what is required by visiting the district’s website.
