Good Afternoon! Welcome to the 2014 – 15 Academic Year at #42 Shijiazhuang Middle School, also known as Hebei International School. We the foreign teachers welcome you to the adventure of learning English, Italian, and Japanese language and culture. When we study a foreign language, we enhance our appreciation of our native language, we open ourselves to new ways of thinking, and we develop new understanding of the world beyond our own neighborhoods.
We have travelled from our own countries, Japan, Italy, England, and USA, to embark with you on this great adventure in the life of the mind. We’ll meet some storms, some doldrums, and some wonderful breezes. Through it all we’ll sail on. We will seem different from your Chinese teachers, because we are. We have different assumptions, different expectations, and different styles. But we are the same as your Chinese teachers in this way, we all want to help you to grow and learn what you need to know to develop your own lives.
Are you ready for this adventure? If you’re scared, it’s a sign you know that big things are ahead. If you’re confident, it’s a sign you’ll be tested. We’re all “in the same boat” and together we’ll sail.
Onward then, let’s go.