Chinese friends enjoy visit

Posted on: Nov 13, 2018

Delano’s friends from Tianjin, China, visited during the final week of September, stopping in during Homecoming festivities.

The guests, two teachers and five students, toured the new facilities, attended pep fests and other events, and made classroom visits.

“We see much new equipment, the swimming pool and diving area,” said Cai Yihua, an English teacher at ZiYun (Purple Cloud) High School, which has had a sister-school relationship with DHS since 2005. “I think the school is well organized and the students are very happy every day, especially the younger students. They are so cute.”

While music ensembles and other classes were familiar to the visitors, there were some extra features at Delano like shop class and art.

“Some classes we don’t have, like (the art class) where they make the clay,” said Yihua. “I think it’s right for the students’ careers, their future.”

Other differences between the schools were immediately apparent to the guests.

“In our school the students dress in uniforms,” said Yihua. “Here they dress in what they like.”

Delano’s campus also covers a much larger area, while Purple Cloud has a more compact footprint but is five stories high.

“Our building holds more students,” said Yihua.

The second teacher on the visit, Li Li, is the director of the physical education department at ZiYun, and took particular interest in the new athletic facilities, including the stadium.

“I think it’s very cool,” he said through translation by Yihua.

Favorite moments from the visit included time spent in the high school science rooms and interactions with Delano’s younger students.

“I enjoyed in the chemistry class how the bubbles made a fire on the hand. I thought that was so cool,” said Yihua. “In our school students do some more simple experiments.”

She added that one of the highlights of the visit for the Chinese students was time playing games with their younger Delano counterparts.

“I think they are having a good time,” said Yihua, “especially when they were playing games. They were very happy.”

That experience was a favorite for the Chinese teachers too.

“Learning with our students in the classroom was our favorite part too,” she said. “It let us feel like we were students in school, feel younger.”

Because of the longstanding relationship between Delano and Purple Cloud, the visitors said there were few surprises even though it was personally their first visit to Delano and the United States.

“Because we have been in touch for many years, and because your students have come to China and we know many Chinese staff that have come here, they teach us something about Delano High School. So we know about it,” said Yihua. “But when we come to Delano in person, I feel like the teachers are very friendly. They have warm hospitality. We appreciate it very much.”

Because their experience had mostly been limited to Delano and the school at the time of the interview, the Chinese teachers were not able to share much about their general impressions of the Twin Cities region. They were, however, complimentary about their immediate surroundings.

“I think the city is very tidy and beautiful,” said Yihua.

While the future of Delano’s relationship with Purple Cloud is uncertain due to longtime Delano organizer Lanette Faul’s impending retirement next spring, Yihua expressed a desire to maintain the connection.

“We want to keep our friendship and let our students know more about each other,” she said. “We want our school to have better development. We learn from each other, and all of us develop better in the future.”

Post Categories: Elementary School, High School, Intermediate School