The school board will make $102,400 from Chinese students who visit Halifax schools to learn English this year.
The students, who are here staying with house families for up to three and a half months, pay $800 a month to join classes at elementary and junior high schools that have room for more students.
Some of the profits of the program, which sbegan three years ago, are used to provide extra English as a second language instruction to participating schools. The rest goes into the board’s general coffers.
“Any profits that we make will impact positively on what we’re able to offer our own students in our own programming,” Olsen said.
As part of the program, Olsen and 13 principals travelled to China in January for eight days where they toured historic sites and schools, and presented Nova Scotia’s curriculum at a conference.
The trip cost $33,070, or $2,410 per person.
The board said participants, who earned their full salaries during the trip, paid for it through union grants, school-based funds from international students and personal income.
Some accessed a joint professional development fund, which is operated by the Nova Scotia Teachers Union and school board, and paid for by the province. Because the trip included a conference, the participants could apply for a grant of up to $1,000.
