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Experiences in isle classes
surprise, enlighten visiting
Chinese educators

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By Crystal Kua
Star-Bulletin

A slide of the Great Wall of China came up on the projection screen in Cindy Werkmeister's Asian studies class at Farrington High School, prompting a "whoa" from the teens.

"Have you ever walked on it?" senior Roger Uganiza inquired of the speaker at the front of the room.

"The Chinese believe the one who hasn't been to the Great Wall is not a true man. I have been there many times," David Wang responded with a grin.

Standing in front of this class is a milestone for Wang, a computer teacher from Guangdong province in China, because it's the first time he's tried out some newly learned teaching skills on a group of American students.

"It was a challenge for me because it was the first time I gave a speech in English," he said.

Wang and other colleagues from the same Chinese province visited Farrington last week.

International graduate students read multicultural stories to elementary-school children while other speakers made nearly 50 class visitations across the state to talk about global issues.

Since September, Wang and his fellow teachers from China have been taking teacher-training courses at Honolulu Community College. They will be here in Hawaii until January.

"The main goal is to get some knowledge about education in America, your education system, and the way the instructor teaches in class," said Wang, who showed the class historical places in China. "Our main purpose is to introduce some of the teaching techniques to schools in China."

The teachers, some of whom adopted American names during their stay, said they were thrilled with the response from their American students.

"I'm very happy," said Thomas Zhou who gave the students a lesson on Chinese writing. "I think they (the students) are very exciting, friendly, kindly.

But the students said they also learned from their Chinese teachers.

"They gave us some information that we could use, like famous places you could go," said Uganiza, who asked many questions during the presentations.

Wang said that's the biggest difference students here and in China. "Students here are more active. They like to ask questions.

Wu Qzan Qing, who lectured the students on the women's dress called Qipao, said she was nervous about getting up before the students after watching a movie that portrayed American teens as "little monsters."

But she soon found her fears to be unfounded. "The students were amazingly friendly. I enjoyed it."

Werkmeister, who was honored during the week for her work in global-awareness activities in the classroom, said events like this help students realize they are part of a larger global community.

"It's a peek at what the world has to offer, what life is like in other countries," Werkmeister said. "Part of my lessons is to show them problems that affect the whole world, and they can hopefully maybe make a difference."

Teachers who want to access the names of the more than 100 volunteers on the East-West Center's global speakers' bureau list can check the Internet year-round at http://www.eastwestcenter.org.