China Tour
Purpose of the Tour
This annual tour is designed for Year 11 Chinese students of PEGS. The objectives for the students are:
- to improve their standard of Chinese language
- to study at our sister school, Datong High School, in Shanghai for ten days in order to experience Chinese schooling
- to strengthen the friendship between the two schools
- to visit important places in China to increase students’ knowledge of Chinese history, culture and current affairs
Datong High - PEGS' sister school in Shanghai
Datong High School, established in 1912, is one of Shanghai's key municipal schools with a long history of success. It has educated tens of thousands of students, producing some renowned academics, including Ding Shisun, Vice-Chairman of the Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) and sports people such as Tao Luna, shooting champion at the 2000 Olympics, Sun Wen, captain of the Chinese Women's football team and Zhu Jianhua, the former world high jump champion. Approximately 2500 students attend the school.
Located in the centre of Shanghai city, the campus covers 4 hectares and has facilities such as a gymnasium, sports fields, a library with a 500-seat reading room, a modern computer network system, various laboratories and rooms for extra curriculum activities. Recently many of the school's resources have been upgraded and expanded enormously. For example, there is now a fully equipped dormitory where exchange students and teachers can stay.
The goal of the school is to foster qualities in students to enable them to face the choices and challenges the future will present. The school motto is "all-round development" and every effort is made to cultivate the potential of every student. Apart from academic success, the school has a symphony orchestra with 80 members, a folk orchestra, a dancing group and student societies such as a choir and a literature society.
Ms Alex Abela, PEGS Middle School Science coordinator, taught in Shanghai during 2004 as part of a three month teacher exchange program. In return Mr Jiang Haibo from Datong High worked at PEGS for three months.