Maple Leaf goes on the road...

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This week Maple Leaf School held its first recruitment “show and tell” for parents interested in enrolling their children in the school for the upcoming year. A small busload of us traveled to yet another part of the city to a nice hotel/conference center for the presentation. Craig (the principal), his wife, Wendy (ESL director), myself and two other teachers were the staff members on hand. About ten students came along with us to act as translators for any parents that wanted to ask questions. Each of us were assigned a personal translator!

Also on hand were Jim Beeke, the superintendent of the Maple Leaf school system, and Peter Owen, the assistant to the Deputy Minister of Education in BC. It is a unique school in that it is the only system in the world where two countries are involved and students graduate with certificates from two different countries. Our graduates satisfy all the requirements of China and British Columbia. The stats are pretty impressive. You can check them out at

It ended up being a very successful evening with over 150 parents showing up for the information. Once again, the maturity of many of our Grade 10s never ceases to amaze me. The ones that came with us had many questions for the government representatives and are already researching and planning to attend a variety of universities overseas, mainly in Canada. As you will see if you visit the page above, 54 universities came to China last year to recruit graduates from the Maple Leaf Schools.

And more schools will be opening in the future. They are currently negotiating with Hong Kong and South Korea (a resort island off the coast). We have decided we will be able to truck around Asia for a few years if we are interested. It is very exciting to be working for a dynamic system that is growing in leaps and bounds and becoming respected around the world. Right now, they are getting about 2 requests a month to build schools in various Asian locations. Maple Leaf is currently in the process of hiring over 60 teachers for next year. Anyone interested can get more info at

Anyway, enough PR for now! Today, we are off to the Botanical Gardens which should be interesting. The rainy season is upon us but it is not steady. We get heavy rainfall at some point each day and then the rest of the day is fairly nice. Temperatures are very warm and the plants are loving all the water, as you can imagine. Apparently, this will only last for most of April and then the real heat will begin. Until the next time.

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Photos

Front row seats
Left to right: Cathy, me, Wendy, Craig. Forced to sit in the front row!!

Sunny
The school could not function without her. She translates ad lib, front office secretary, administrative assistant, all around helper for all staff...we have her number on speed dial on our cell phone for times we need a translator!!