Final Departure Meeting April 7

Our final departure meeting will be held on Thursday, April 7 from 4:00 to 6:00 at the State Office Building, 165 Capitol Avenue, Room 307A. At the meeting you will receive your electronic ticket and passport with a Chinese visa entry. You will also need to pick up your gift packs for your sister school. There will also be a distribution of gifts that need to be taken to China for our group gift situations.

Directions to the State Office Building can be found at:

http://www.state.ct.us/sde/Directions/index.htm

China Partnership Update (New)

A twenty-two member delegation will be in China, April 15-25, to establish sister school partnerships. The China Exchange Initiative will provide name and address information during the week of March 28. All schools now have matches with schools in Shandong Province and Yhuhai:

1. Timothy Edwards Middle School, South Windsor and Taian Experimental School of Shandong

2. Waterford High School and Shouguang Xiandai Sr. Middle School, Weifang
(Weifang is also the sister city to Waterford.)

3. Buckeley High School, Hartford and Yung Wing Elementary School, Yhuhai and Yhuhai No. 1 Middle School
(Buckeley High School has a relationship with Yhuhai, Guandong Province, because of the unique relationship between Connecticut and China. In 1854 Yung Wing graduated from Yale University, becoming the first Chinese student graduate from a western university. Between 1872-1875 he was the sponsor for 120 boy students who attended schools in Hartford and the surrounding region.)

4. Zibo Teaching Academy Affiliated Primary School and Franklin Elementary and Union Elementary School
(Two school districts in Connecticut share the same school in Zibo.)

5. Seymour Middle School and Qingdao No. 53 Jr. Middle School

6. Long River Middle School, Prospect and Qingdao Yucai Middle School

7. Thompson Brook School, Avon and Yantai Shuang Yu Xue Yuan (Bilingual Jr. Middle School)

8. Weston High School and Qingdao No. 17 Sr. Middle School

9. Mark T. Sheehan High School, Wallingford and Yantai No. 1 Sr. Middle School

10. Manchester High School and Yantai No. 2 Sr. Middle School

11. Westbrook High School and Qingzhou Experimental High School, Weifang

Draft Program Schedule for Saturday, March 19

The third meeting for the Connecticut-Shandong Sister School Delegation, April 15-25, 2005 will be held on Saturday, March 19 at Seymour Middle School. Here is the draft program schedule:

8:30 - 9:00 Arrival and Refreshments

9:00 - 10:00 Names, Money and Key Phrases: A Lesson in Mandarin, Xiaomiao Zhu

Break

10:15 - 11:00 Mini Assignments: Journals, Ethnographies and Reflections, Dan Gregg

11:00 - 12:00 Five Cities and a Geography and History of Shandong Province, Jeff Wang

12:00 - 12:45 Lunch

12:45 - 1:15 Packing for China: What to Take, What to Leave and Getting the Most for Your Space, Dan Gregg

1:15 - 2:00 Itinerary, Committees and Final Preparations, Dan Gregg

Navigating the Website

The revamping of the website is now complete. For general information regarding all China programs use the home website page: http://dangregg.com/ For Connecticut-Shandong Sister Schools 2005 you can go directly to: http://dangregg.com/blogger/blog_csss2k5.php I suggest you set your favorites to dangregg.com and then click on the blog for Connecticut-Shandong Sister Schools 2005.

Be sure to check the photo galleries from time to time. Right now they are somewhat disorganized but I will be working on them to place photos in their proper places. All photos can be download for you use.