A Visit to Hanban

On the afternoon of April 16, the China Connection Delegation was treated to a presentation at the office of Hanban. Ren Shaifong, in the Division of New Initiatives, had been with us since the first day we arrived. In fact, she is the person who picked me up at the airport the first night in Beijing. Shifong accompanied us to the Hanban offices which are located close to the Nikko Hotel where we were staying. We were to meet with Madame Shu, the Director of Hanban, but she was unexpectedly called away. We had heard Shifong speak highly of Madame Shu, and we had looked forward to meeting her. In her place, Mr. Wang Luxin, Division of New Initiatives Director, told us more about Hanban and their interest in promoting the Chinese language throughout the world. After a PowerPoint presentation, Mr. Wang representing Hanban and Paul Miller representing NAIS signed the Memorandum of Understanding making the China Connection 2007 official. Following the signing, we exchanged presents. Hanban gave each of us a book that, with the help of a "magic pen" will pronounce Chinese sentences for us.

Hanban hosted a banquet that evening in the hotel where we were introduced to Madame Lee, the woman who had organized the teacher candidates. I enjoyed sitting next to her during the evening and hearing from her what I should look for when looking for an excellent teacher for Highlands School.

Following dinner, the China Connection delegates met to discuss the interviewing process that would begin Tuesday morning. Eighty-eight candidates were vying for what we thought would be six positions, and we wanted to make sure that each candidate was treated fairly and respectfully. We wanted time with each candidate. We devised a system where we would have two teams; each team consisted of two pairs. With the interviewing help of Susan, Mark Segar's wife, and Paul Miller from NAIS, this was possible. Each team (in two pairs) would interview half of the candidates so that each candidate was able to interview two times during the first round. From those interviews we would be able to recommend candidates to the other team and decide on who would be interviewed for the final round.

Everything seemed to be falling into place, and the next two days would prove to be successful with excellent candidates and difficult decisions abounding.