Shandong Training Groups Coming

This is an alert that the two Shandong training groups scheduled for this fall have now received permission to come to Connecticut. After the Sichuan earthquake all government funded training groups going abroad were put on hold. Just hours before the closing cermonies of the Olympics it was announced that groups could continue with their plans. From information I have received, the Connecticut Shandong School Partnership Program will be the only Shandong education group K-12 with permission to go abroad.

Since the internal process has just begun, I anticipate that the groups will probably arrive in the United States in mid to late November. They will need to be back in China before December 25. We will work around Thanksgiving to make sure the homestays do not conflict during that time. It takes a minimum of two months to just process the internal paper work before being able to obtain interviews for obtaining visas. Over the next week I will be discussing possible dates with the Shandong Provincial Department of Education for both groups. Each group will have approximately 20 participants. Hosting and homestays will be required for all of the participants.