Chinese TV show films a day at Golden’s Shelton Elementary

On a recent day in Angie McWilliams’ first-grade classroom at Shelton Elementary School, Chinese students Kevin Zhou and Antonio Liu stood at the front and taught students how to say some words in Chinese.In another class, teacher Melissa Lozano’s first-grade students were taking turns working in small groups with Mandy Meixing and Angela Liao, also visiting from China.And China’s “Kids’ English” film crew was capturing it all on tape.Thanks to an invitation from a friend in Golden, Alex Gui, host and producer of a children’s television show based and aired in China, brought his TV crew Jan. 26 to Shelton Elementary School to capture the American school experience.It was very exciting, not only for the Shelton community, Principal Karen Brown said, but also for Golden, Colorado and the country, considering that this was the only school visited by the show.”This was a great cultural experience for us, as well as for them,” Brown said. “We’re excited that they came to be a part of our community for a day.”The crew consisted of Gui, cameraman Ting Li and his assistants Na Wei Na and Echo Xu, and four cast members between the ages of 8 and 10 and their mothers.They filmed “Kids’ English,” a segment on a daily show that airs on a major Chinese radio and television network called Guangdong Radio and Television, or GRT.The segment featuring Shelton should air in China sometime near the end of February.”Kids’ English” teaches viewers an English word and one English sentence during each segment, and sometimes has special editions for other cultural learning experiences. For example, Gui said, it may focus on cars, so people learn about different makes and models or fire engines and police vehicles. Or, the program may focus on eating out in a Western restaurant.”It’s all stuff that originated in Western culture,” Gui said.Gui’s friend Kyle Westgard, whose fourth-grade daughter attends Shelton, recommended the TV crew come to Golden. Colorado is an area in the U.S. that is not well-known in China, Gui said.The visit was great not only for the experience for both cultures, Westgard said, but also for U.S.-China relations. Twenty million people will see the segment filmed at Shelton.”This will show the Chinese audience what an American elementary school setting is like,” Westgard said.This is Gui’s second time traveling to the U.S. and his first to bring the show. The group spent one week in Los Angeles before coming to Colorado for another week.While in Colorado, the group visited Red Rocks, skied at Loveland, spoke with the chancellor of the University of Denver, toured Coors Brewery and had a barbecue with the Westgards in Golden. They even watched the Denver Broncos win against the New England Patriots during the Jan. 24 playoff game.At Shelton, whose students represent 22 countries and 16 languages, the Chinese students interacted with American students. They played soccer at recess, ate lunch together, watched a spelling bee and spent some time in various classrooms to teach Chinese words or phrases.Margaret Liu, one of the mothers on the trip, said visiting Shelton was a “very good experience” for her son, Antonio, one of the cast members.Here, students “are very free and can gain a lot of knowledge,” Liu said. She added students can read what they want and study individually, but can always ask questions or get help from the teachers.Liu was so impressed she said maybe, someday, Antonio will come to the U.S. as an exchange student or to attend a university.