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SLUH bids farewell to Xie and Yi

St. Louis U. High Chinese exchange sophomores Michael Xie and Lisa Yi are preparing to return to China on May 28. The two sophomores have spent nearly a semester at SLUH and have made many new friends during their visit.

Yi told one story about how she was being picked up by her host parent. The host parent saw her walking down the hallway and was surprised to see how many people Yi already knew. “Everyone is very friendly. Everyone says ‘hi’ to you,�? Yi commented.

Xie said, “All the SLUH teachers are really nice. They give me a lot of help with the language and the subject. I think all the students are really nice, too. We have really fun classes.

One of Xie’s favorite classes was Barb Osburg’s English class. Often times she would allow him to talk about China. “(One time) we used the whole period to talk about the New Year and different things in China. Also, she gave me a chance to talk about the Chinese characters, Xie said.

Yi’s favorite memory was the choral concert. “I loved the chorus concert. It was pretty sweet,�? said Yi. “I enjoy chorus a lot.�? Her favorite song was “The Word of God.�?

Chinese teacher Ching-ling Tai said, “They are all top students. So, you can’t say one is better than the other or worse than the other.�?

One thing Tai is looking into adding next year is some form of health insurance for the students, because according to Tai when Yi was sick, it turned into a “big mess.�?

Tai hopes to expand the exchange program to send SLUH students to Nanjing Foreign Language School over Spring Break and the surrounding weeks.

Yi concluded, “I feel very comfortable at SLUH ... had the most fun in school here.�?

Xie summed up his experience here saying, “Overall, it was really great.�?