Thursday, February 13, 2003

Chinese teacher comes to Pond Cove

Published in the Current

A Chinese teacher, Wu Shumei, better known as “Mei,” will be visiting Pond Cove School for the rest of the academic year, sharing Chinese culture with the school’s students, as well as children at the town’s other schools.

At a welcoming party, Mei spoke with neighbors, kids, parents and friends about her school in China and her family, as well as her time in Maine. She is from Jiangxi province, in southeastern China, and teaches high school English at Linchuan High School Number 2.

She is working with the allied arts team at Pond Cove, bringing Chinese arts to the elementary school classrooms, and will also teach Tai Chi and other aspects of Chinese culture to high school students. Mei’s mentor teacher is Shari Robinson, the school’s librarian and media center supervisor.

She has also helped the South Portland Branch Library with its Chinese New Year festivities.

“I hope I will do a good job,” Mei said. She is excited about meeting the students and the teachers, and hopes to learn about American educational practices, as well as perfect her English. The Pond Cove team is very excited to have her – a number of teachers told the Current how great it is to have Mei there.

She is on an American Field Service program and has already visited a school in Readfield for several months.

She is staying with the Belden family, and is helping them teach their daughter Lydia about her heritage. The Beldens adopted Lydia from the Jiangxi region of China several years ago, and learned from Mei that her original Chinese name is that of a village near where Mei lives.