A traditional Chinese lion dance, performed by the Hong de Cultural and Athletic Association, during the welcoming ceremony for the Chinese exchange students exploring Alberta this summer.

The Wolf Creek Public School is fully embracing their Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed earlier this year between them and the Li Wan Education Bureau in the Guangzhou Province of China, by hosting about 60 Chinese students in Lacombe this summer.

On Thursday the Lacombe Composite High School said goodbye to 33 Chinese students who head back home today after spending a week here, and welcomed a second group of 31 students that will be here for 12 days.

Superintendent of Wolf Creek Public Jason Lovell says the Chinese students are paired with 25 local student ambassadors who help show them around, and he's amazed how quickly they bonded, not just through site seeing, but also during their daily English as a second language class taught by teachers and accompanied by their Canadian ambassadors.

“The language enrichment part is a really important part of this program, and it’s a little unique in that sense because programs often just focus on excursions and experiences, which are really important, but we really wanted a blend of educational opportunities with some of those cultural experiences and the sights and sounds of Alberta.”

Currently they are simply touring those exchange students around the province for the summer, but they have plans to expand the program.

Lovell hopes to be able to eventually offer half or full year exchange programs for students from both countries.

“The next step, and this is what awe are planning for in March, is actually the school-to-school MOU, which will be a formal ceremony in China in March. So Lacombe Composite High School is certainly one of the schools, we’ve also looked at Iron Ridge Junior campus in Blackfalds as a second school, and we have other schools in our school division who have expressed interest that want to be a sister school. This could grow into eventually a lot of grade 9 to 12 schools having a lot of sister schools in Guangdong, China.”

The Chinese students and their Canadian student ambassadors took in K-Days, Banff and Lake Louise, as well as the Kraay Family Farm.

Wolf Creek plans to send between 20 and 30 high school students from the district to China next spring.

Officials and students from the Wolf Creek Public School and the Education Bureaus from China.

(Superintendent of Wolf Creek Public Jason Lovell addresses the crowd at Lacombe Composite High School on Wednesday July 26th, 2018)

原文链接：https://www.lacombeonline.com/local/wolf-creek-public-schools-welcome-chinese-exchange-students-for-summer