If you are reading this blog in 2021, you know that the 2020 trip to China never happened. I hope everyone stayed safe during the recent pandemic. And I hope that we will be able to return to international travel soon. In the meantime, I will be organizing an online international visit and I will keep you posted on the particulars.

Just a quick reminder that although there are still a few spots left on the study tour to China in June 2020, they are filling even though it is 10 months away. Please join the HCC Early Childhood Inclusive Education Program as we tour the cultural highlights of Beijing, Xi'an, and Shanghai along with an exploration of the Chinese educational system.

Always wanted to be on the Great Wall???

Want to walk among the Terra Cotta Warriors? 

Stroll along the waterfront (The Bund) viewing the Shanghai skyline??

other activities:

Jade Buddha Temple

Walk the walls around the old city of Xi'an

The Temple of Heaven

Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square

Visiting preschools, public schools and colleges

Now's your chance. Fully escorted with activities such as a tea ceremony, a Chinese acrobat show, and a rickshaw tour of the hutongs (old alley neighborhoods). Please join us. Bring your friend, your spouse, your favorite teacher. But do so while there is still room. Click below to find out more information, list yourself as "interested", or register for the trip.

www.efcollegestudytours.com/2240616vw

Education in China Education in China www.efcollegestudytours.com

Laurie R. Noe, Ed.D.

Professor, Early Childhood Inclusive Education 

Scandinavia Study Tour

Join us in May 2019 on our next tour of Finland and Sweden as we explore the Forest Schools and some of the best public educational systems in the world.

We will also be visiting key cultural attractions, eating wonderful local cuisine, and maybe even trying out the local pastime - sauna.

Contact me at LNoe@housatonic.edu

We are back in Connecticut. But we have been inspired by the work of the Mariposa Foundation. Here is a picture of us with other long-term Mariposa volunteers under the image of the three Mirabal Sisters. Those three butterflies (Las Mariposas) were killed because of their activities against the dictator Rafael Trujillo.

Beach Day

One dead man's beach.

Enjoying a swim in the Atlantic.

The swallow caves.

Being rescued after our boat dies.

Sculpted heads on the cliff near the beach.

Professors jewelry shopping on the beach.

A bit of everything

Today we woke up at our hotel, went to work at Mariposa, and ended the day in the shops of Sosua.

We worked directly with the Mariposa girls teaching them origami, making snowflakes, and reading with them in English and Spanish. We also cleaned storage areas and the HCCs professors met with the Mariposa volunteers to talk about way to improve their instruction strategies. It was a very fulfilling day.

Working, playing, learning

Spent today at the Mariposa Foundation and ended the day at the beach in Cabarete.

A great first day in the Dominican Republic. Toured Santiago and a great museum. @.5 hour bus ride over the mountains to our beachside hotel. Tomorrow we begin work at the Mariposa Foundation.

On January 4th we are heading to Cabarete in the Dominican Republic for our Service Learning trip. We will be working with the  Mariposa Foundation. check back here to follow our experiences.

This time it will be the Dominican Republic. We will working on a service trip to empower children on the north coast of Dominican Republic. 

We need to wait to learn exactly what the project will be. Only 6 days to sign up to join us. Either way, check back to get updates and images when we get there.

HCC ECIE graduates, Jannelse Gonzalez (l) and Alyssa Tejada (r), both teachers at the Oriental Dragon Preschool and Kindergarten, join me for a photo at the Temple of Heaven in Beijing.

This time it's China.

I am heading for China to visit HCC graduates who are teaching preschool in Beijing at the Oriental Dragon International Preschool and Kindergarten (ODIPK). While there I will visit that school and another kindergarten in Mongolia; speak with preschool and kindergarten teachers in Mongolia; and strengthen connections between the HCC Early Childhood Inclusive Education program and our colleagues in China.

Thursday Aug 3 is touchdown in Beijing. Follow along as we document HCC's reach to another continent.  If you are interested in seeing our study tour of Scandinavia, my Fulbright work in Peru, or HCC in South Africa, simply scroll back through this blog.

The play space at the Stockholm airport. 

We're on our way home.

A wonderful music and dance festival with folks playing Nyckelharpa and dancing the Hambo, or was it a Polska?

Each of the 900 Nobel laureates are displayed on ever-moving banners on the ceiling of the Nobel Museum.

Our last night and my last chance to have seared herring with lingonberries. We'll be back home tomorrow after an amazing trip.

 Amazing natural light at the University of Helsinki Library. A great tour. 

A ferry boat trip to the fortress island of Suomelinna and a visit to the Toy museum there. Ran into several field trips greeted by period-clad characters (sort of like Sturbridge village). 

Ok, a bit creepy.