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Exchange helps Vt. students gain global perspective

Montpelier, Vermont - July 5, 2011

The 30 ninth-grade students from the city of Chongqing in southwest China are in the Montpelier area for two weeks. They're joined by a dozen local high school students and paired with host families. A typical day has the group working on language-based activities in the mornings. On this day the theme is music.

In the afternoons, students load onto buses to hike, go strawberry picking or take a Ben and Jerry's factory tour.

The Chinese students say before arriving they formed many of their images of America from popular culture and government-controlled media; an image that was at times less than favorable.

"When I came to here I thought the American people are really friendly and kind. My host family really good to us," said Du Yuchen, a student from Chongqing.

"It's interesting. It's really different from our city," said Mei Chengran, a student from Chongqing. "The beauty is different."

The exchange is put together by the Burlington-based organization Spiral International. Local schools and community groups then line up host families and arrange activities.

"There's multiple goals here," explained Bill Merrylees of Community Connections. "There's the acquisition of verbal English for the Chinese kids but also a two-way cultural exchange. They talked about family and family life. They talked about the music they like. They taught the Chinese kids to play Frisbee. The American peer leaders are getting a real leadership experience."

Along with music and games, the visit also brings political perspective.

"Versus our government where we walk through the Statehouse, we met a representative. We spent all this time in our own Statehouse. They don't know anything about their government it's very closed to them," said Charlie Hoffert, a student at U-32.

"Before they came I thought they were going to be totally different because they live in a different part of the world," said Ethan Fielder, a student at U-32. "But once you have the experience where two students actually get to stay with you, you have a whole different perspective on what it's actually like, because you realize that we all live as one. We're all just like one people."

Students sharing a piece of the Green Mountains and gaining global perspective.

Similar exchange programs will be happening in Burlington and Winooski, among other locations, later this summer and they still need host families. If you can help, contact Ken Hood of Spiral International -- hoodkw@aol.com

Alexei Rubenstein - WCAX News