MCKENZIE BRIDGE, Oregon (STPNS) -- FINN ROCK: McKenzie students had special visitors on October 15th, when a group of teachers and administrators from China dropped by. After school specialist, Ginny Budd, speaks fluent Mandarin, having lived quite a few years in China. She greeted the visitors in their native tongue and made them feel at home.

Education in China focus-es heavily on early childhood. The delegation is here, conducting research and training with Dr. Meeker at Structure of Intellect Systems in Vida. SOI stresses general education, reading instruction, remedial education, gifted education, training and retraining, and career counseling.



The visitors have a school in China and are using the assessment tools and curriculum materials of SOI. They are also residential guests of Dr. Meeker.

During their visit to Finn Rock, they were very interested in the kindergarten and asked to spend the bulk of their time in that classroom. This was an opportunity to observe local kindergarten students participate in learning while gaining a sense of what’s going on during a day at McKenzie.

Additionally, the group toured the whole district and saw many classes in action. The Chinese were very friendly and interested in both students and facilities. They were especially interested in the new gym as they were big basketball fans. The visitors were excited to hear that McKenzie’s 2012 Girls Basketball Team won State, while the Boys Basketball Team of 2012 took second place at State.

In addition, many questions were fielded about curriculum and books – which generated surprise at the number of the materials available to students.

At the conclusion of the visit, kindergarten teacher, Mrs. McCracken, presented each visitor with a McKenzie Eagles T-shirt. Staff and students were proud to play hosts and show off a great learning atmosphere.