By Azeem and Sophie   

        On October 21, 2013, nine International students, majoring in International Comparative Education in Beijing Normal University, visited Beijing Dongcheng Huimin Primary School as a part of regular cultural exchange programe between the two insitutions.

        All teachers and students in the school welcomed the excited visitors with open arms. There was a welcome sign on a big screen  which said 'Welcome African Friends'. All the students were really excited and curious about what would happen next. 

        One student of the school introduced each presenter in fluent English, and everyone started focusing on the presentations. Whenever the international  presenter’s introduction about their countries had finished, one Chinese student came out to tell one’s summer holiday story. Sometimes, they gave some quiz, and everyone participated actively. International visitors were surprised to see how well the students could speak and understand English.

        Marvon, the first presenter from Zimbabwe, introduced her country with a variety of visual aids which caught everyone's eyes. She introduced the culture and traditions, famous foods and cuisines, lakes and parks, forests and famous animals in those forests.

        After Marvon’s session, one Chinese student shared her traveling experience from her last summer holidays. She went to Changbai Mountain (which are located at China and North Korea borders) with her parents during her last summer holidays; she showed her pictures in Changbai Mountains. She asked some questions from the students, and those students who answered the questions, were given prizes.

        Sydell was the second presenter from Liberia. She started her presentation with the geography of her country, and later showed traditional clothes, traditional wedding clothes, traditional food, famous lakes, wild animals, political persons, football players and Nobel Prize winner from Liberia.

        After Sydell’s presentation, another Chinese student shared her experience of visiting the Taishan Mountains, located in the Tai’an city in Shandong province. She showed some of her pictures while climbing the mountains and they were really amazing. She asked some questions as well and one of foreign visitor (Azeem) answered her questions and got prize.

        Third Chinese student came up with the story of her travel to South Korea. She went there in the last summer holidays with her parents. She visited children’s parks, and amusement parks in South Korea. She shared some of her pictures with teddy bears and playing in the parks.

        Fourth Chinese student shared her experience of participating in summer camp. He met many foreign kids during summer camp, and she learned very good activities from teachers and foreign class mates. One of her activities was disabled lunch.

        The third and last foreign presenter, Frank from Ghana, made students stand up and enjoy singing and dancing together. His presentation was full of fun, and student’s really enjoyed learning about Ghana with Frank. He presented his country Ghana with name Mother Ghana. He started his presentation with the map location of Ghana, and capital of Ghana (Great Accra). He explained his country’s flag in a very well manner. He shared the culture, traditions and famous foods, political persons, historical persons who contributed a lot in Ghana’s independence, museums, castles, parks and lakes in Ghana. At the end of his presentation, he entertained the students with dancing. He brought three students onto the front stage and teach them traditional Ghana’s dance. It was really fun-filled learning session for the local students about Ghana.   

        Last presenter of that session was a young Chinese student, he presented the famous places of Beijing in a quiz style. He showed the picture of a place first, and asked the student’s to identify that place. Again the ones who answered correctly were give the prize.

        This visit was not only entertaining, but also really informative. It gave both Chinese and international students a rare opportunity to look at the rich cultures of different countries. Such tours also increase international cultural harmony.