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Our first language and cultural tour to China Twelve boys from Years 9 and 10 joined with the Headmaster Michael Urwin and Head of Chinese Ms Nancy Ting in the September holidays for our first ever Chinese language and culture tour to China. The purpose of the visit was to sign a Sister School agreement with the Number Four High School in Ningbo, a coastal city about four hours drive from Shanghai in Zhejiang province. The tour group spent five days at the School, two days in Xian and five days in Beijing. The boys enjoyed a four night homestay with students from the School – some of whom were proficient at English and others who had almost no English at all.
Off to Japan again Below The group rode around the Ancient City Wall in Xi’an
Mitchell Trovati and Michael Zhang (both of Year 9) give us some insights into their trip to China
BGS Japanese teachers Midori Cranston, Kathryn Counihan and Hiroko Hunt once again led a group of boys to Japan for a language and cultural tour.
“ We went to two hours of Chinese language class each day at Ningbo Number Four High School “ “ At the Dumpling banquet there were types of dumplings that I had never seen before and they all tasted really good.” “ The Terracotta Warriors... the first thing I noticed was that the place was huge, much bigger than pictures show. The statues were all perfectly carved and arranged in battle formation. Everything was just amazing.” “ The Summer Palace was one of the most beautiful places I’ve been.” “ The Great Wall...Looking at it for the first time, I thought, “How in the world did they build it?” It was massive. Climbing it was really physically demanding...Once we finished though, I thought it was worth it, especially for the great view and the toboggan ride down to the base of the mountains.” “ We all made new friends, learnt new things, had many laughs, and got to use what we’ve learnt in Chinese classes to communicate in the real world. “
Above The boys are trying to figure out how the nightingale floor of Nijo Castle works. It was a veranda surrounding the castle which made nightingale sounds every time someone walked on it. This would alert the guards when even Ninjas walked on it.