Interviews to the principals.

Last week, my classmates and I interviewed our principals Ms Polin and Ms Kellogg about their summer visit to China. We had great time with them. It was my first time to talk to principals so close in class. In fact, I was nervous at the beginning. Especially, I felt even scared when my teacher Henry told me that I should be the first person to asked questions to the principal. Yet, I felt relaxed when I saw my teacher Henry sat with us and my classmates so well prepared to go together. Thank you everyone who was fighting with me together. Fight? Ha-ha, I am just kidding. It was interesting and unforgettable. Cool!

Let's go back to the interview. We did ask the principals a lot of questions, which just like the bombs, fell from the sky at one target. So Surprised! The principals never knew who the next questioner was and what he might ask. We had asked Ms Kellogg that what her strongest impression was about China after the trip. I felt very surprised at her answer. She answered that she had been to Beijing. She was impressed by the tall buildings and the structures of the buildings, the shopping malls and so on. She also noticed that the city was expanding. She said that: “The bus had been running for two hours, but I still saw the buildings, those had been built, being built, going to be built, they are everywhere." During the interview, Ms Kellogg told us another surprise. Ms Polin and she were invited by the people who were singing and dancing in public square in Xi’An. It showed that people in China welcome and accept people from other countries and willing to share happiness with them. I remembered that I also saw some foreigners when I was in China, but as a high school student, who knew some English, I was afraid to talk to them. They, and I, were just like people in two different worlds. Yet, the old grandfather in Xi’An spoke in his poor English: "Welcome to Xi’An, come and join us." How simple the sentence was! It took many years to say and come true. Now, It was just like a bridge that right cross thousands miles to connect China and America, so other countries, and it also made the globalization and friendships among countries become better and better. This earth is our earth; we are on the same boat!

Ms Kellogg told us a lot about the trip, so did Ms Polin. Ms Polin's strongest impression about China was that there were so many people, buildings, and high-ways in China. As a visitor, it was her first time to China, so she should be scared to get lose or got separated. In fact, she also mentioned the competition was intense in China. She said that: “If you think you are smart, you probably will see that there are at least ten people as smart as you right next to you." It meant that it was easy to get separated if you don't catch up with the steps of others, and the steps of the progresses of everything. Ms Polin said that she glad to see the old buildings, villages and so on, because they preserved the Chinese culture and knowledge. She liked Chinese culture and felt proud of it. As Chinese, we should felt even prouder of it. She also mentioned her other surprise was that the disable on the street need help desperately, but no one was paying attention to them, even the government didn't take care of them. She cried for that. It was a comparison here. In America, there are public shelters, homeless help centers and so on, but in China, no such things. It related to the social problems and political problems that the governors need to face.

In education, Ms Polin couldn't tell so much because the time was short and they didn't have chance to speak to the students face to face. Yet, she did say her impression about Chinese education. She said that teachers in China would ask students to memorize things in order to take tests. That teaching style couldn't give students enough room to show their creative ideas and develop up their potential into valuable skills, but she knew that the old teaching style was being changed. It was why educators in China wanted to exchange experiences with those in foreign countries. Again, it showed the bridges among countries in the world.

What I have said above are some of the issues that we talk about together with our two principals. We did have talked a lot with them. My dear principals, teacher and classmates, thank you very much for giving me such great time!