The Princeton-in-China speech training is just what it sounds like and YES we're talking about the elite school from the east coast! Somehow through her connections and hard work my teammate Connie was able to get a group of teachers from Princeton to go to our unknown, second-tier university for nearly a month of training which just ended a few days ago.
Some of our school and administration was against it from the beginning especially Dean Rao - who is ironically thanked several times - because of the cost and hassle. Really? This is Princeton we're talking about here! You don't turn that down even if you sink the college funds for a few months. Anyway Connie along with common sense, won out and I don't think that the leaders of our school got any kickbacks for this session which is usually seen as something they are entitled to. Perhaps that was the real reason for their lack of excitement but I can't say for sure. It was - for once - all about the kids.
Here is a video link of the training conference. Though it is a little long it gives you a good picture of the classrooms that we use and the energy our students have. This is fun for me to see since I know all but 10 of these students and a few of them are very good friends. What an amazing opportunity for them! Good on ya Constance!!!
http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/3Fzb2x90dwU/?resourceId=0_07_10_28
1 comment:
Thanks for posting Caleb! A worthy but difficult task to get approved! I'm SO thankful I was able to (PTL). It's absolutely TRUE that there was NO kickbacks or guanxi (sp?) paid for this program, AND the students didn't have to pay a cent (or fen) to be able to have this opportunity. The only thing it cost them was several meetings with me beforehand, threatening that they'd better give 110% in the pursuit of excellence and commitment, to participate with passion in every single session, until the course was complete, OR they'd face MY wrath.... of course they all did it and did it WELL... I'm so proud!!!
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