After a group of students from Highgate Primary School returned from a 10 day trip in China, Mr William Dean (Headteacher) expressed that the experience was 'life changing'.
Upon returning from China, the students were set the challenge of writing about their experiences and their work was collaborated into a fantastic news report. It is really thought provoking to understand how China is observed through the eyes of the students. Their take on the hot pot dining experience is particularly interesting;
'We sat around large round tables and at each place there was a steaming bubbling pot filled with what looked like a clear soup with spices, mushrooms and berries. Each table also had plates and plates of different ingredients and yummy things which we were expected to drop in to the pot. There were noodles, torn bits of white cabbage which looked like crumpled tissue, bok choy, wood ear mushrooms, fish balls and what looked like slices of ham. At first I didn't know what to choose! I settled on several strands of delicious seaweed, shrimp dumplings, angel hair noodles and tight bundles of plain noodles. Once your food was cooked, you had to fish it out with chopsticks and put it in your bowl'.
The trip was arranged and supported by the Confucius Institute for Traditional Chinese Medicine (CITCM) at LSBU. CITCM and HIghgate Primary School have a long standing partnership, with CITCM providing great support to Highgate's Mandarin programme.