Visiting Monticello Academy Broadens Jhong Hua Bilingual Elementary School Students’ Horizons
Led by Principal Li-Chuan Chan, 12 students and staff from Keelung Jhong Hua Bilingual Elementary School visited Monticello Academy, West Point in Utah from May 6th to May 12th. The students from both schools had a good interaction, made new friends from different backgrounds. These two schools eventually signed up an MOU to explore more opportunities for students in the future.
Due to the connection of the Education Division of Taipei Economic and Culture Office in San Francisco, the two schools have collaborated online for a year, such as preparing for sessions together, developing bilingual immersion classes, promoting international education, finding topics that the kids were interested in and letting students learn through making discussions or videos. The students from both schools communicated via Google Classroom and emails. This in-person visit after COVID was what everyone looked forward to.
The students from Jhong Hua attended many classes at Monticello with the local students, such as art, science and history, math, music, mental math, and literacy block. They also stayed with the local host families, and had a chance to deeply interact with people from different countries.
Jhong Hua Bilingual Elementary School and Monticello Academy also signed an MOU. “This is very fruitful,” said Principal Chan, “Monticello and Jhong Hua already have several collaboration projects, and now we are going to have more.”
Chan stated, she enjoyed the children’s “Big Discoveries” from this trip. They were able to observe the surroundings, feel and absorb everything different from their hometown. This helped them broaden their horizons, learn that the world is big, and there is always something new to be explored. She was very impressed with the students striving to overcome their obstacles and merge into classes that are very different from those in Taiwan. The teachers also had a lot of new discoveries and massive discussion. All of these made this visit a great success.
Dane Roberts, the Executive Director of Monticello Academy, welcomed the visitors from Jhong Hua Bilingual Elementary School
Group photo of the students and faculty of Jhong Hua Bilingual Elementary School and Monticello Academy, West Point
Li-Chuan Chan, the Principal of Jhong Hua Bilingual Elementary School, signing the MOU with Monticello Academy, West Point