Hi. My name is Heather Hughes. I started the Mandarin program at
SJA in August 2010. In 2011 my students and I were given the rare
opportunity to go to China for free with Hanban (China's Ministry of Education)
and the Webster University Confucius Institute; I took 11 students
(which was the size of the first SJA Mandarin I class) to Beijing and Xi'an.
Since then, I have taken students to China every other year through
EF Educational Tours. In 2019, we had the biggest group ever with 30 students.
The trip offers many opportunities to see glimpses into the real lives of Chinese
people and to experience Han Chinese culture in real life. We tour important
historical sites, take classes, shop, visit a school, take in Peking Opera, eat
different specialty dishes, and much, much more. This trip allows the young women
at SJA to learn how to independently navigate a strange environment which gives
them confidence that helps cultivate leadership skills. It broadens their knowledge
of and about the world, and it deepens their acceptance of others through learning more about humankind.