Mayor Daley participated in a ribbon-cutting ceremony on May 10 to officially open the Confucius Institute in Chicago (CIC), a Chinese language education center supported in part by the Chinese government, at Walter Payton College Preparatory High School.
The Mayor was joined by Dr. Qidi Wu, the Vice Chinese Education Minister with whom he had signed an education agreement during his first visit to China in 2004. That document provided for the establishment of a branch of the Confucius Institute in Chicago.
The opening of the CIC is a result of the partnership of the Chicago Public Schools and Shanghai Eastern Teachers’ University. Only three other cities in the U.S. are home to a branch of the Confucius Institute: New York, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. Chicago’s is the only one in the U.S. affiliated with a K-12 school district, rather than a university.
The day after the ceremony, Mayor Daley traveled to Beijing to discuss varied topics including Chicago’s bid for the 2016 Olympics.
One of the objectives of the Mayor’s trip was the continuation of the Sister School Abroad relationship. The Mayor planned to meet with the Chinese Minister of Education, and to visit a university and a sister school. Robert Davis, director of the Chinese World Language Program for the Chicago Public Schools, joined the Mayor on his trip.
Following their visit to Beijing, the delegation planned a stop in Shanghai to interview Chinese language teachers and discuss an education exchange to bring them to teach in the Chicago Public Schools.
Confucius Institute in Chicago: http://www.confuciusinstitutechicago.org/index.html « BACK |
