Guangzhou Huamei International School held a grand Christmas Open Day onDecember the 23rd, 2014, which was also a display and external exchange for theschool. Some special activities included bilingual teaching demonstrations,regular classes, featured class teaching demonstrations, warm parent-childinteractions, and an oral Chinese competition of international students. Therewas a specially invited parents lecture, an international teachers’ lecture, a HuameiAlumni activity and more, attract hundreds of parents, students and alumni. Allthe activities were focused on students and their parents. It left a deepimpression on guests by the quality of the students and school’s finemanagement and the close interaction between home and school. It can besummarized in a sentence:“International Teaching; Quality StudentAchievement”.

Internationalized Activities

The School’sEducation and Teaching achievements were not just on written display; it alsoinvolved all kinds of visual activities. On this day, Huamei’s Education andTeaching presented their unique international features. The international educationdemonstrations attracted lots of parents and students to visit, consult and tocommunicate with people who have similar interests. They recognized and appreciatedHuamei’s achievements and teaching approaches.

In the bilingualteaching activity, the naïve and lovely kids from the kindergarten caught allthe visitors, including parents, students and journalists, attention. They weredeeply attracted by their engaging and active performances. Then the parentsand kids following the teachers to the playground and took part in theChristmas activity called “Mysterious Christmas Gift”; did exercises togetherand played games together. The warm family affection turned the cold outdoorwinter wind into a warm spring breeze. The climax was the appearance of SantaClaus, who carried a large package of presents for all the kids. The happy kidswere all around Santa Claus jumping and laughing with presents.

The blissfulatmosphere also filled the Primary and Middle School. A large quantity ofparents was attracted by the Middle School American GIA Course, the High SchoolAmerican Gifted Course, and the Parallel Class. As well as regular teachingclasses, there was a lecture called “American Culture” which was given by internationalteachers responding to this year’s series of activities around the year ofAmerican Culture at the school. From the lecture, the guests gained a deeperunderstanding of American culture’s characteristics. Then there was a comparisonof the differences between American and Chinese culture. The Primary School Departmentalso invited parents to attend the lecture and here a world view was presented.It attracted many students and parents, demonstrating the school’s emphasis oncommunication between school and home.

The featuredcourses – the American GIA Course and the German Language Class drew most ofthe parents’ attention. To have a better understanding of our Primary School’sfeatured classes; the parents were sitting quietly at the back of theclassrooms. The fluent communication between Chinese and international studentsin both Chinese and English further presented Huamei School’s motto to mixeastern and western education. The parent-child game and the display of lifeskills and self-care of the kindergarten, primary, and middle children reflectthe achievements of school due to its unique operation and quality-orientededucation. Many parents and journalists showed a deep interest in our featuredcourses at the Principal Introduction Meeting and the American GIA CourseIntroduction which was held in the primary school lecture theatre.

In theInternational Class of the Primary School, the kids from many differentcountries were together singing, making dramas and sketches and other kinds ofperformances in Chinese. Though their Chinese levels are varied, with our teachers’help it’s no longer a problem for them to complete these shows. The visitorswere all applauding their oral Chinese.

The International Education Programs Attracted theMedia’s Attention

On this open day,China Entertainment Television’s program “Teenagers See China” was attracted byour school’s teaching and came to take photographs. Wen Zhixuan, who is fromthe fifth grade American GIA class, acted as host for the program and led us invisiting the American GIA classes, the foreign nationality class, the kindergartenChristmas Party and others. There was an interview with our vice-principal, WanZhenmei, who is responsible for the course projects.

The fluent Chineseand English expression and the excellent, confident performances in front ofthe cameras were appreciated by the filming crews. Besides that, our school wasofficially authorized as one of the four “Cambridge Schools” in mainland China. Ajournalist, Mr. Li, who is from Guangdong Qiaoshang News, came to interview ourvice-principal, Chen Xiaoying about some issues related to Cambridge School.And the Guangzhou Daily also interviewed focusing on how to enter the MiddleSchool from Primary School.

Hilarious Christmas

The lights arestill bright in the cold winter of Huamei, and the party for Christmas and NewYears created memories for all the Huamei people. All the teachers andstudents, the returning alumni and the parents all got together at the campus playgroundto enjoy this excellent evening party. Every teaching department had alreadyprepared their special programs; there were English dramas that displayed ourschool’s language programs; German dramas that displayed their distinct country’sstyle; dynamic street-dancing; an attractive chorus; and an American MusicDisplay highlighting American culture. The wonderful show by the teachers andstudents highlighted the passion of all those present and was very appreciated.Though it rained lightly during the party, the smiles and the laughter stillremained on the faces of both performers and audiences. The winter night wasfilled with a warm and happy atmosphere.

Christmas Open Day–the School’s Alumni Come Together

Every year theChristmas Open House Day at Huamei is an important day to all Huamei alumni.Because this day triggers so many of their valuable memories, especially theChristmas party, which is a symbolic activity at Huamei, it stimulates a lot ofshared memories. When the alumni come back to their school, they traditionallycompete in a basketball match. The alumni are sweating and enjoying beingcheered by the school. At the dinner time, they came to the campus’s new cafeteriaand that surprised them so much that they said:“What theymiss most is the food at the school’s cafeteria after they left the school.There is nothing that can compare with it.” At the Christmas Party, one of thealumni, Huang Shan, sang a beautiful song about the school, creating anotherschool highlight. All the alumni showed their gratitude for the school’ssupport and guidance. When they saw their teachers they were so grateful tothem that many could hardly speak. The kids who were running yesterday had now becomeelites in many different fields. They took some time to come back school toshow their appreciation even though it was not a weekend or holiday.

The Christmas party of 2014 came to an end.The school showed all the visitors its uniqueness. It is not a school that justfocuses on kids’ scores, but it is a school filled with a cultural atmosphere.It is a school full of joyful learning, a beautiful campus, and a warm caringenvironment.