Travel China Roads is a non-profit organization, led by Josh Vance of Exeter that traveled to China this summer to build relationships and English skills with students.

The two teams of teachers taught English in Beibei, Chongqing, located near the Yangtze River and in Weihai, near the coast adjacent to Korea. While there, teachers taught a class designed around a book that was written by Travel China Roads to meet individual needs of the students, covering topics such as, love, family, entertainment, culture and job preparation.

Director of Travel China Roads, Josh Vance, has been an active member of the organization since 2001 and said that each experience in China has been unique.

“I have nothing but good experiences in developing friendships with many students,” said Vance. “Our goal is to provide top-quality education to the Chinese students that we teach and our program is designed around helping them speak and listen to American speakers.”

The Chinese education does teach English, however Vance said that it is British-English, which can cause confusion.

“We spent a lot of time working on functional language that they would use if they were in America,” said Vance. “We encourage our teachers to develop relationships with students and it creates a wonderful opportunity for cultural exchange and language growth.”

In small and large group settings, the teachers introduce idioms that students enjoy. An example provided by Travel China Roads is, ‘it's raining cats and dogs', one that students particularly enjoyed.

In an overview of their time in China, Travel China Roads documented unique experiences. In Weihai, one class of University students, as well as University teachers, found interest in improving their English, in preparation to assist with the Olympics next summer. This summer was the organization's sixth visit to Beibei, where students ranging from elementary to university schools took part in the program.

“Students young and old throughout China are interested in preparing for the Olympics as they want to be able to communicate with the visitors to their country,” said Maren Vance, Josh's wife. “This wasn't an interest isolated only in Weihai. In fact, the motivation with many of the students in Weihai was their interest in travel and business with the U.S.A.”

“We've been able to help proof-read for student's college entrance exams,” said Vance. “One student that we helped in the past now attends Yale,” he continued. “We are glad to be able to continue contact with them.”

Vance said that China offers beautiful site-seeing opportunities and that the group of 17 teachers from California and Oregon greatly enjoyed their visits to the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square and the Great Wall.

“It is a beautiful country and everybody is very genuine,” said Vance. “But we are there for the Chinese students and teaching English is our priority.”

Vance said that the three weeks in China were a success and looks forward to orchestrating next year's trip. For more information about Travel China Roads, visit www.travelchinaroads.com.

Print this story

Email this story

Return to Index