This course is organised jointly by the British Council in the UK and China and Hanban and is supported by the DCSF.  All participants on this course must have taken a minimum of 10 hours of Mandarin classes prior to the start of the course.

The course dates are 14th/15th July – 2nd/3rd August.  Groups will fly out from the UK on 13th or 14th July and leave China on 2nd or 3rd August, arriving in the UK on the following day.  The course includes:

			two days of activities in Beijing, including visits to major sites such as the Forbidden City and the Great Wall;
			on 18 July participants will go to their course centre.  The language element of the course will comprise 30 hours of intensive language tuition, at the end of which their level will be assessed.   Schools are then required to enter their students to sit the Asset Languages speaking and listening exams at an Asset testing centre on their return to the UK.  The cost of exam entries will be covered by the DCSF;
			throughout the course they will experience a range of cultural activities and visits reflecting local and national customs;
			central to the course is interaction with Chinese young people and students will have the opportunity to take part in social and cultural activities together, with the highlight of the 19 day visit for many participants being a visit to their Chinese partner’s home.

Participants will return to Beijing on 2nd August and fly back to the UK on 2nd or 3rd  August.

This year, the two main course centres are in Shanghai and Beijing.  In order to strengthen existing district links, however, we are also offering courses in their partner district to an agreed group of local authorities.  The courses in the partner districts will include time to visit partner schools and to work together with students there on projects.  In total there are 5 course centres, as follows:

			Shanghai and Beijing, the two main course centres, for which we invite applications from schools who are not in the local authorities listed below;
			Nanjing for schools in Essex;
			Chongqing for schools in Sefton;
			Nanhai for schools in Wiltshire, Medway, Warwickshire and North London.

Read about last year's course in Shanghai here