IAIE HK/USA Student Exchange Program Booklet

International Alliance for Invitational Education

2016 – 2017 School year

TABLE OF CONTENTSPage(s)

Letter of Invitation3

Frequently Asked Questions4 - 6

Invitational Education Connects Two Schools7 - 8

Beyond the Textbook: An Invitational Education Experience9 - 10

2015 – 2016 IAIE International Exchange Program Participants11 – 12

Liability Insurance Coverage13

Request for Information14

Letter of Invitation

Dear Fellow Educators,

My name is Ken Wright and I am the Coordinator of the IAIE HK Project for the International Alliance for Invitational Education. Following is information to assist your school in considering the IAIE HK Exchange Program.Perhaps you already know the exchange program helps schools in the USA, Hong Kong and mainland China do educational exchanges of students, teachers and administrators. In this booklet we have provided answers to the most frequently asked questions about the exchange program. There are two articles about schools who participated in the exchange during the 2015 – 2016 school year. This is then followed up with a list of schools and the contacts for these schools who participated during the 2015 – 2016 school year. Also included is liability insurance information for schools hosting an exchange visit. Last there is a form the school and principal can complete to request more information about the exchange program.

This is a wonderful program for students and it will help your school not only to be a good schools, but a great school. Please consider this letter to be a personal invitation from me for your school to become a part of this exchange program with Hong Kong and mainland China.

Sincerely,

Ken Wright, IAIE Hong Kong Project Coordinator

IAIE Hong Kong Project/United States Exchange Program

Most Frequently Asked Questions

What is the purpose of the IAIE HK Exchange Program?

The purpose of this program is to provide opportunities to students for exposure to an environment of another culture, prepare students to become global citizens and to provide a wide variety of learning experiences.

Please provide a detailed description of the IAIE HK Exchange Program?

Participating schools in the U.S.A. will receive from Hong Kong, a group of 10-12 students led by 1-2 teachers. These teachers and students will participate in classes of the U.S. partner school for a period of 10 days to 2 weeks.

Hong Kong students will be partnered with host U.S. students in classes and activities to enhance the understanding of both cultures. Both the Hong Kong students and teachers will be hosted by the local families of the U.S. schools. In return, pending a successful trip by Hong Kong students to the U.S.A., the U.S. schools may travel to Hong Kong to visit schools who are a part of the exchange program there.

Students from the U.S.A. will have an opportunity to sign up for an exchange program with Hong Kong to enrich their international experiences. This program is designed to provide students opportunities to appreciate a variety of cultural and educational experiences so their many untapped potentials could best be developed.

This will be a great opportunity for the Hong Kong and U.S.A. schools to establish long-term linkage with the U.S. schools and be able to continue the cultural educational exchange program annually.

What are the benefits of this program to students?

The Learning Adventure of a Lifetime
Increasing fluency in another language
Meeting new people and forge lifelong friendships
Love of travel and the personal enjoyment of new experiences
Learning how to interact with people from different backgrounds and cultures by sharing in their lives
Gaining a global perspective in order to be ready to meet the challenges of the future as a person and as a leader.
Enhancing global career opportunities
Interacting with people of different cultures
Discovering more about yourself than you ever imagined

What are the traveling student responsibilities in this program?

A valid passport
Round-trip airfare
Travel documents
Clothing and other necessities
Spending money
Emergency funds for unpredicted expenses
Have appropriate medical coverage
Demonstrate model behavior when participating in the program
Provide a safe, comfortable home and a positive cultural experience

What are the responsibilities of the host families?

Open themselves to a new experience
Share their lives with a person from another country
Provide guidance, love and support to a young person who is beginning their journey into adulthood
Provide room and board
Supervise the student just as you would your own children
Involve the student visiting with the family in family activities
Enrich the exchange experience by including the student in family, community, and cultural experiences
Provide daily meals to visiting student with the family
Provide local transportation
Pay for some basic cost when hosting the visiting student

What are the responsibilities hosting school?

Coordinate overall exchange program
Develop a budget for exchange. In doing a one way exchange (A Hong Kong School coming to the US only in a school year) the school will receive a small stipend for providing this program from the IAIE Hong Kong Project. The school will be responsible for completing the necessary paperwork to document for the IAIE Hong Kong Project as to how these funds were expended (documented receipts). Any other additional expenses incurred in this program is the responsibility of the hosting school.
Receive necessary documented approval to host an exchange visit to their school with a school from Hong Kong. This would include approval at the school level (building principal) as well as well as approval from the district level.
Assign a designated exchange coordinator for the school.
Confirm that the necessary liability coverage is in place for students from Hong Kong to visit their school district. (Schools visiting from Hong Kong are required to carry the necessary medical and liability insurance when visiting a school in the U.S.)
Work jointly with the IAIE U.S./H.K. Exchange Project Coordinator in implementing an exchange visit.
Be transparent with everyone in how this program is operated and where funding comes from for this program.

What is the name of the organization who offers the exchange program and who are the contacts for this program?

IAIE - International Alliance for Invitational Education 501 (c) (3)
Dr. Peter Wong, Hong Kong, China

Mr. Ken Wright, Coordinator, IAIE HK Project

106 Gatewood Drive

Georgetown, KY 40324

Mobile: 859-321-0652

Invitational Education Connects Two Schools

By Erica Wachter

There is a thread that stretches halfway across the world, across an ocean even, and ties together two schools. This thread is called Invitational Education (IE) and it has managed to successfully tie together Anchors Kindergarten and International Nursery, located in Hong Kong, and Jessamine County Early Learning Village (JELV), Jessamine County Schools, Kentucky, USA. Both schools, though thousands of miles apart, have found common ground with each other and have managed to build a successful relationship, benefiting both schools.

Anchors Kindergarten and International Nursery, a school located in Hong Kong, focuses on students in the preprimary grades and encourages each child to develop intellectually, socially, physically, psychologically and spiritually. Likewise JELV also focuses on preschool and Kindergarten age students, helping them be successful academically and socially. Both schools include the word “inviting” in their mission statements and are intentional about being inviting to their population. They are committed to develop their schools as the most inviting place in town.

Faculty from JELV visit with faculty form Anchors, Hong Kong

The relationship between the two schools was strengthened with a visit to Hong Kong by Jessamine County Schools’ superintendent, Kathy Fields, and assistant superintendent, Jeff Castle. The pair visited Anchors Kindergarten in April 2015. Dr. Margaret Choi, supervisor of theAnchors Kindergarten and International Nursery, Anchors’ Vice-principal Irene Wang, and PrincipalJenny Cheng welcomed them into the school. Conversations about Invitational Education were initiated between the educators with both schools sharing best practices with each other. Because of the partnership of these 2 schools established few years ago, they reiterated the possibility of doing an exchange program with the teachers of both schools to exchange good practices.

This past November Principal Gina Bernard, Literacy Coach Cari Steggall, and teacher Susan Strait, all of JELV, were able to visit Hong Kong as a part of an International Alliance for Invitational Education (IAIE) project program. Principal Bernard was amazed with her visit. She states, “I cannot begin to explain how impressed we were with the students, their Ambassadors that gave us a school tour, the staff and the initiatives the staff are doing to make learning engaging and inviting.” The colleagues from Jessamine County were able to do lesson demonstrations, co-teaching and conducted staff and parent talks with their fellow Hong Kong teachers at Anchors. The team also presented at the Invitational Education Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the HK Center of the IAIE with a keynote speech on “ How has IE transformed the educational practices and unleashed the potential of children in the Early Learning Village (ELV) of the Jessamine Country in the US? ”. It was well attended by over 150 educators. Many of them came from the Kindergarten (KG) sector and included schools from Mainland China and Macau, along with schools from Hong Kong. Dr. Peter Wong indicates that “the coming of the team of Early Learning Village has made a significant impact to the opening up of Invitational Education to the KG sector of Hong Kong and we wish many more KGs in Hong Kong will be benefited in future similar exchanges.”

Likewise a team from Anchors will visit JELV in Jessamine County in Spring 2016. Similar collaboration activities will be conducted between the two schools, much like when the Jessamine County team visited Hong Kong. Both school exchanges are sponsored by the IAIE HK Center. This exchange is also supportive of the Kentucky Standard for World Language Proficiency in which students are expected to learn another language to help prepare them to engage in future global affairs, as well as to help develop cognitive skills.

There is a thread called Invitational Education that binds not only these two schools, Anchors and JELV together, but hopefully countless others in the near future.

From L to R: Susan Strait, Cari Steggall, Dr. Peter Wong, Gina Bernard, and Stephen Chu (chairman of IAIE HK). Ms. Bernard delivered the keynote speech at the Annual General Meeting of IAIE (HK)

Beyond the Textbook: An Invitational Education Experience

By Erica Wachter

Teacher Margaret Lau believes in teaching kids beyond the standard textbook and classroom. She believes in helping students “take a look at this big world.” Lau believes that the International Alliance for Invitational Education (IAIE) exchange program is just the ticket to helping kids appreciate the world and other cultures all around them.

Students from Park Street get a lesson in Hong Kong culture.

Through participating in an exchange program in January 2016, students at Park Street Intermediate School in Grove City, Ohio and at Hong Kong school Taoist Ching Chung Primary School, were indeed privileged enough to take a look at such a big world. In January of 2016, the Hong Kong school was welcomed into Park Street Intermediate School. Both groups were led by teachers who believe passionately in creating for kids real-world experiences that can’t be found between the pages of a textbook. Teacher Margaret Lau led the group from Hong Kong. She expresses, “I believe there are many ways of learning. The exchange program can provide a wonderful experience from them which they cannot obtain from books.” Teacher Ed Nelson, from Park Street Intermediate, sings to the same tune. “Our school learned that students react positively to such international experiences as this one,” he states. “When you give students real life learning situations, their entire attitude changes.”

All involved schools have been a participant of the International Alliance for Invitational Education for a number of years. Park Street has been participating since 2006, Taoist Ching Chung Primary School since 2011. IAIE opens up a pathway for schools to connect with other schools seeking similar experiences. Before joining IAIE, Lau’s destinations for the study trips were mainly Asian countries. Lau states that “with the assistance from IAIE, we could step our feet into a Western country. The connection becomes easier with the schools that know virtually nothing about us, and we about them.”

The lessons from the exchange program are far reaching. Students gain an appreciation for other cultures, outside of their own. Nelson believes that his students gained respect for other countries and learned that students in other countries do not get things that American students take for granted. Independence is also a lesson that students learned. A student from a Hong Kong school says, “I have learned to be independent. My mom always helps me to do all the things at home but when I was in the United States, I needed to do it myself.”

A student from Hong Kong learns in a Park Street Intermediate classroom.

There was even a surprise lesson for the Hong Kong students in the visit to America: snow! Many students from Hong Kong had never seen or experienced snow before. “The looks on their faces and (the Hong Kong group’s) reactions as they were sled riding and building snowmen was priceless,” states Nelson.

It’s a big world out there with so much to see. With the help of IAIE, however, students are able to see and experience more than the pictures that are in a textbook. They are truly seeing the world.

2015 – 2016 IAIE International Exchange Program Participants

Our Lady of Fatima Parish School

535 Norway Avenue

Huntington West Virginia 25705 USA

Pentecostal Yu Leung Fat Primary School

16 Fai Ming Road, Fanling, N.T.

Hong Kong, China

Our Lady of Fatima Parish School will be visiting Pentecostal Yu Leung Fat Primary School - November 13th - 23rd, 2015

Our Lady of Fatima Parish will be visited by Our Lady of Fatima Parish School - March 28th - April 5th, 2016

Park Street Intermediate School

3205 Park Street

Grove City, Ohio 43123 USA

Contact: Ed Nelson

Park Street Intermediate School will be receiving visits from Ma On Shan Li Lang Primary School and Taoist Ching Chung Primary School. Park Street Intermediate School will in turn also be visiting these two same schools in Hong Kong. Park Street Intermediate will be sending two separate groups to Hong Kong for these visits. One group will go to Ma On Shan Li Lang Primary School and another group to Taoist Ching Chung Primary School on the same dates – June 19th – June 29th.

Ma On Shan Li Lang Primary School

Lee On Estate, Ma On Shan, N.T.

Hong Kong, China

Contact: Rebecca

Ma On Shan Li Lang Primary School will visit Park Street Intermediate School - April 23rd - May 1st, 2016.

Park Street Intermediate School will visiting Ma On Shan Li Lang Primary - June 19th - June 29th, 2016

Taoist Ching Chung Primary School

Shan King Estate, Tuen Mun, N.T.

Hong Kong, China

Contact: Margaret

Taoist Ching Chung Primary School will be visiting Park Street - February 5th - 15th, 2016

Park Street Intermediate will be visiting Taoist Ching Chung Primary – June 19th – June 29th, 2016

Red Oak Elementary School

921 Union Mill Road

Nicholasville, Kentucky 40356

Contact: Angela Miller

Tai Po Old Market Public School

10 On Cheung Road, Tai Po, N.T.

Hong Kong, China

Tai Po Old Market Public School will visit Red Oak Elementary School- March 23rd - April 1st, 2016

East Jessamine Middle School

901 Union Mill Rd.

Nicholasville, Kentucky 40356

Contact: James Botts

Chung Sing Benevolent Society Mrs. Aw Boon Haw Secondary School

20 Siu Lun Street, Tuen Mun, N.T.

Hong Kong, China

Contact: Stephen Chu

Chung Sing Benevolent Society Mrs. Aw Boon Haw Secondary School will visit East Jessamine Middle School - February 5th - 17th, 2016

Jessamine County Early Learning Village – Teacher Exchange Visit

851 Wilmore Road

Nicholasville, Kentucky 40356 USA

Contact: Gina Bernard

Anchors Kindergarten & International Nursery

Fuller Garden, No 8 Chui Lok Street

Tai Po, N.T.

Hong Kong, China

Visit to Anchors by JELV – November 2015

Visit to JELV by Anchors – March 19 – April 1, 2016

Liability Insurance Coverage

IAIE provides liability insurance for schools hosting student and teacher exchange visits in the US. Schools are asked to provide certain information to complete the application for the certificate of liability insurance.

This Information Is As Follows::

Person at the receiving school, responsible for coordinating the hosting of the exchange visit.

Name of school district and school district's mailing address.

Name of school hosting the exchange and school's mailing address.

Dates of exchange trip.

Number of students and the number of adults traveling with the visiting school.

The name and address of the visiting school.

Name and email of visiting school's exchange coordinator.

Name and email of people in your school and school district who should also be sent a copy of the "Certificate of Insurance Liability". This should include the host school's trip coordinator, the central administrator responsible for business and principal of the host school.

Exchange Program

Request for Information Form

2016 – 2017 School Year

Date:

School Name:

Address:

Telephone:

Contact Person:

Email Address:

Name of Principal:

Name of exchange contact:

Please completethis form and return it electronically or by the postal service to the following address:

IAIE HK Project Exchange Program

Ken Wright, Coordinator

106 Gatewood Drive

Georgetown, KY 40324

859-321-0652

()