NHS Prepares For Visitors From China

By Eliza Hallabeck

The art department, athletic department, and the culinary department are only three parts of Newtown High School that are working toward making the school comfortable for the administrators, faculty, and students who will be visiting the school in late January from China.

Students, community members, staff, and administrators are all adding their names to a long list of volunteers.

“It’s been a lot of work, but it’s so worth it,” said Assistant Principal Jason Hiruo, “if I can get this started for the kids.”

During two after school presentations on November 24 and 25, Mr Hiruo provided information for faculty and students who are interested in helping from January 29 until February 7 when administrators, students, and staff visit from a potential sister school in Liaocheng, China.

While the visitors stay in town, Mr Hiruo will be meeting with them, he said, to further the connection between NHS and the school in Liaocheng that could become a sister school by the next school year.

Mr Hiruo said tours of the district’s schools, special dinners and field trips are all part of the plans that are being prepared for the visitors’ stay.

“We have about 80 percent of the staff who are interested and are contributing somehow,” said Mr Hiruo.

Students at NHS who volunteer to help could have students from Liaocheng shadow them for a day, or for part of a day if there are conflicting schedules, according to Mr Hiruo.

The students from Liaocheng will also go with the students to any after school activities that they participate in, which could include clubs, sports, or events like Fun Fridays at NHS.

“Their going to be sitting in on clubs,” said Mr Hiruo.

One of the field trips that will be included in the stay will bring the visitors to New Haven for a tour of Yale University. He said he hopes a historic tour of Newtown and the schools in the district will also be part of their stay.

“Just so they can see how the students progress in Newtown,” said Mr Hirou.

Ceremonies will also be held during their stay, and social studies teacher Martha Parvis will be in charge of the ceremonies.

Mr Hiruo and Ms Parvis visited the school in Liaocheng last school year, and were welcomed with ceremonies, signs, and parties.

During a meeting of the Board of Education in September, Mr Hiruo told the board some of the differences between NHS and its potential future sister school. The school in Liaocheng is called a middle school, but it is comparable to a high school because schools in China are grouped differently than they are in the United States.

The students’ routines are different, and places like the school’s library, which is three stories high and holds no books, are on a larger scale.

During the presentation on Tuesday at NHS Mr Hiruo said, “Their school cafeteria had two floors, and that is because their male and female students were separated. And they serve over 1,000 students in 20 minutes.”

The cafeteria at NHS can hold 440 students with tables or 950 students with chairs installed.

Teachers will also serve as shadows during the visitors’ stay, Mr Hiruo said.

“I’ll be working with the host families as well,” said Mr Hiruo.

Host families from the community are still needed to have students stay with them for the duration of their visit to Newtown. Mr Hiruo said part of his work with the families will be helping them to recognize cultural differences of which the students may not be aware.

Potluck dinners will also be held to help the families feed the visitors.

Mr Hirou said the relationship between the two schools is mutually beneficial, because each school is looking to expand on its language departments.

“We just want to paint a picture,” said Mr Hiruo regarding the visitors’ stay next month, “just give them a great American experience.”

In a related event, the Western Connecticut Chinese-American Performing Arts Association will be presenting a Chinese Performing Art Show at NHS on Saturday, December 13, at 3 pm.

From here on in, Mr Hiruo said he hopes NHS will be able to receive and send exchange students and teachers between the schools.

“We’re just getting started,” said Mr Hiruo. “This is just the initial process.”