Fifty educators from the Hubei province in China arrived in Memphis on April 11, 2011 as guests of the Confucius Institute at the University of Memphis (CIUM). After days of meeting with University of Memphis dignitaries such as President Shirley Raines, Provost Ralph Faudree, Vice-Provost Shannon Blanton, College of Education Dean Don Wagner, College of Arts and Sciences Dean Henry Kurtz, Dr. Chrisann Schiro-Geist, and Chair of Excellence in Urban Education Beverly Cross, the delegation began their studies of local schools this week. School visits include the Lausanne Collegiate School, Memphis City School District, St. Agnes Academy, St. Dominic School, Williamson County Schools, the University of Memphis, and Rhodes College to name a few.

Chinese delegates focused on the International Baccalaureate (IB) program at Ridgeway High School and Lausanne Collegiate School. While at Ridgeway, the delegation focused on the Chinese language and IB program. At Lausanne, they focused on studying the school’s unique research-and inquiry-based process approach to learning offered in grades PK through 12th grade in addition to its application of the IB program and school-wide, Lausanne-developed, pre-IB strategies. The delegation visited numerous classrooms at St. Agnes and St. Dominic focusing on the use of innovative technology as a teaching resource. The delegation will focus on the development of a second language program when the visit Williamson County Schools. The delegation will continue to observe classrooms and attend lectures and workshops focused on teaching methodology, collaborative learning, differentiated instruction, and additional pedagogy utilized in U.S. schools.

The president of Hubei University, Xiong Jianming, also joined the group for a special meeting with Dr. Raines and other University of Memphis administrators. Hubei University is the partner school associated with the Asian Studies and International Trade (ASIT) program at the University of Memphis. The Hubei delegation is the third large delegation that the CIUM has hosted in the last three months.