The Alleynian 705 2017

INTERNATIONAL

In Suzhou, Dulwich Chinese students learn all their subjects in English, with many of them taking up to five A-Levels at the end of their schooling

International Leadership Conference, held at the Jing An Kerry Conference Centre in downtown Pudong. When we had spent the night at a nearby hotel and made our way to the centre (somehow punctually), we were met by the Head Boys and Girls from Dulwich College Beijing, Shanghai, the two Suzhous, Seoul and the recently founded Zhuhai. The bond we all formed with this group was truly heart-warming and we quickly overcame our cultural and nationalistic differences before knuckling down for the three-day conference, which involved workshops in public speaking, teamwork, event planning, communication and teaching. We all felt truly fortunate to be part of this special inaugural event, which culminated in the establishment of the Dulwich College International Student Leadership Committee (DCISLC), which we hope to be a long-standing international tradition between the different schools. Overall, despite the thousands of miles between us, we formed a group with whom we have maintained close friendships and we have, I hope, laid the foundations for a bond that transcends countries and can last long into the future. Student

of Mandarin, we waved goodbye to the Pellegrinos and moved onto our visit of Dulwich College High School Suzhou, which lies about an hour by train outside of Shanghai. There are two Dulwich Colleges in Suzhou, which sit directly next to each other: one an international school that teaches International Baccalaureate to students with non-Chinese passports, the other a Chinese school that teaches A-levels to Chinese students who, unbelievably, learn all their subjects in English, with many of them taking up to five A-Levels at the end of their schooling. We were welcomed into a brief lunch meeting with the Head Girl and Boy from the school, Nicole and Alan, who gave us a hugely informative tour of the school and took us to our respective lessons, before we gave a speech to the students about our school in London and why we were visiting them. Once again the warmth of the reception we received was overwhelming and Shehzore even got a few laughs with his feigned excitement on seeing girls for the first time. On finishing our time in Suzhou, we made the trip back to Shanghai, where we would be spending the next few days attending the Dulwich College

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