Reported by the Telegraph-Journal Newspaper on Dec 21, 2006

　　　 The cultural learning has gone both ways.  While nine Chinese students spending a semester at KennebecasisValleyHigh School are here to learn English, their classmates are learning about Chinese culture.  On Monday night, the Chinese students and their Chinese teacher put on a variety show in the school theatre to help classmates learn about their culture.  KVHS is one of four New Brunswick schools involved in the program, which began with an agreement between New Brunswick and the Beijing Concord College of Sino-Canada to bring Grade 12 students to Canada, explained KVHS principal Bob Munro.  He said he initially signed up to help his students learn about other cultures. The KennebecasisValley isn't exactly a culturally diverse community, so Munro hoped students could "vicariously learn about Chinese culture" while the Chinese students are here improving their English.  The students are integrated into three regular classes and have one class a day for English reading with a student tutor. The final class is mathematics and is taught by a teacher who has come from China with the students. Math class, typically taught in Mandarin, follows the Chinese curriculum, which is more advanced than New Brunswick students of the same age would see, said Munro.  The Chinese math teacher instructs Chinese students in all four New Brunswick schools via real-time video.  Munro said it's the fifth year his school has been involved in the program.  The students arrived in mid-September and will remain until the first semester ends next month. Student Jade Li, 17, has enjoyed her experience at KVHS.  "I've enjoyed my time so far. I'm really lucky. I have a wonderful host family and I have made a lot of very good friends," she said.  She has had lots of opportunity to speak and listen to English, but still finds it difficult sometimes to keep up with the regular curriculum in her English-only classes. She hopes her English improves enough to allow her to enrol at YorkUniversity in Toronto next year.  She said she'll never forget her drama experience at KVHS. She was in the chorus for the school play Romeo and Juliet. She said KVHS's play was very different from her school play back home in Beijing. Munro said each of the students is paired up with a local family and spends the entire semester living with them. It's another way to ensure the immersion is total. The school tries to limit the number of Chinese students in the same class to help reduce the temptation to revert to their native tongue.  That's also why the program limits the number of students in each school to 10.  Munro said the Chinese students often have a difficult time keeping up in their three total-immersion classes. He said it's a "sink or swim" scenario in those classes.  "The objective is to do a regular class in English at the level that a Canadian student would have, but that's not always practical. Their linguistic abilities range quite a bit."  The marks that are sent back with the students will specify whether the curriculum has been modified to compensate for any language difficulties.  Once the Grade 12 students return home next month, a group of Grade 11 students will arrive to begin their immersion program. Grade 10 students are also involved in another component of the program, although they're only in Canada for two weeks.