Eight days and we leave

A contingent of educators from the Tech Valley region will travel to China on November 4 to meet with education leaders there.

The 19 educators are looking to build upon a memorandum of understanding between Tech Valley High School and Tianjin High School No. 41 in Tianjin, China - which was signed last February.

“We expect to extend the relationship that Tech Valley High has with Tianjin High School No. 41 -and is already reaping the fruit from - to benefit other schools in the region,” said Capital Region BOCES Assistant Superintendent for Instruction, Dr. Kathryn Gerbino.

Gerbino, along with Diana Conroy, her counterpart at Questar III BOCES, will lead the delegation that includes representatives from Catskill, Schoharie, Schodack, South Colonie, Cobleskill-Richmondville, and Schalmont schools.

School boards across the region understand the value of developing these partnerships and support the effort, educators said.

While in China, the delegation will meet with educators in Tianjin and Guangzhou, as well as from other schools. School visits and classroom observations are also on the agenda prior to the delegation’s return to the United States on Nov. 13.

A key goal of the delegation’s visit to China is to create partnerships through which Tech Valley Region schools and Chinese schools can exchange faculty members and perhaps even students. The exchanges would likely model one currently taking place at Tech Valley High School, through which Zhiheng Yin, an English teacher at Tianjin High School No. 41 in China, is now teaching Mandarin Chinese at TVHS and learning about the American education system.

Yin, who arrived in the United States in early September and is living with a TVHS faculty member and her family, will be teaching and learning at TVHS through December.

"While these partnerships would come at a minimal cost to area schools - whose faculty hosts the educators during their stay - the benefits are tremendous," Gerbino said.

Diana Conroy, assistant superintendent at Questar III BOCES, said exchange programs between area schools and those in China serve to promote a greater understanding between the two countries.

"Not only is there this keen interest in exchange of curriculum and pedagogy but also the desire to nurture positive relationships between students, teachers and administrators. The world is becoming more volatile and as educators it is our responsibility to lead by example and foster healthy, positive connections between our nations," Conroy said.