Chinese Students' Visit Fosters International Friendship

SPIRAL International has brought some foreign friends to Amherst in order to bring cultures together and forge pathways to international friendship.

A total of 30 students and three teachers from Chongqing, China have been staying with Amherst host families as they explore American landmarks and culture. They arrived on Saturday, July 5 and will be staying until Tuesday, July 17.

Their visit to our country has been quite eventful, with trips to the NH Statehouse, WMUR News 9, local police/fire stations and a lovely day at the beach. They are scheduled to visit Harvard University, hike Pack Monadnock and go on a farm tour.

The program is being run through Amherst Middle School, with teachers Linda Farrington and Deb Curran co-directing the program. They brought the Chinese students to the Amherst Village Green on Tuesday to have lunch and meet with Superintendent Peter Warburton.

The students certainly seemed to be having a good time and were excited to share their experiences in America so far. (Note: the students have taken on American nicknames during the trip)

“This is my first time to America, and I think it is a very good experience,” said Belle. “I have made friends and think it is a good chance to practice my English, and I am very happy because we got to visit the police station and fire station.”

Belle said that America is very different from her home in Chongqing, which is a city of 28.8 million people, located along the Yangtze river in Southwestern China. She could never have a picnic on the grass in her hometown, since there are very few places to do so.

Tommy said that he likes the environment here, because Chongqing is a very congested area that is having problems with pollution. The sky is much clearer here, plus the culture is more relaxed.

“We can enjoy the life in America, the life in China is busy,” he said.

Another student called Stan was shocked to hear about American reality television, where contestants do things like eating bugs in order to win money.

Richard Hart is one of the sixteen families hosting a foreign student and said that the experience may be exhausting, but it is also a lot of fun. He said that the Chinese visitors really enjoyed contra dancing, which consists several partnered folk dance styles in which couples dance in two facing lines.

“The kids had smiles on their faces and were dancing for almost the entire night,” said Hart.

SPIRAL International, located in Burlington, VT, is an educational organization that promotes inter-cultural learning, understanding and relationships through international student placement services and exchange programs. It also helps international students enroll in American schools and colleges and connects participants to home stay families.

It was founded by Linda Farrington’s father, Dr. Kenneth Hood, who is an emeritus faculty at the University of Vermont with many years of experience working in Asia.

Farrington said that her father’s vision is international peace between cultures like America and China.

“If you engage young children in conversation and play and develop relationships, in the long term, it will help to diminish some of the bigger problems in the world”

This investment of goodwill looks to have payed off with both the Chinese and the Amherst students who are serving as ambassadors in the program. AMS student Lizzi Hart said that this is her second year as an ambassador and that it is still a great time.

“It has been great and fun to see the different cultures,” she said.

Student ambassador Kyra Parenteau added that it is interesting to find out just how different life can be in another country.

“They said they had never seen the ocean before,” she said.

Students like these may have a chance to explore other cultures if a proposed foreign exchange program at Souhegan High School is approved. Superintendent Peter Warburton said that the school board is considering bringing Chinese students into the high school, and should come to a decision this summer.

Warburton said that SPIRAL’s vision of inter-cultural understanding is an important part of shaping the future of the world through our students.

“When you can get different cultures together, it can help in so many ways,” he said.

Read more about the experiences of the Chinese students and their host families on their SPIRAL Internation Amherst blog.