June 12, 2007

Dear Parents and Students,

You are being contacted with this opportunity because of your or your child's status on "Honor Roll" at the Pennsylvania Leadership Charter School.

You are cordially invited to attend a Pennsylvania Leadership Charter School trip to China. (Parents are also invited!) This trip will be 4 weeks in length, and will begin on October 6 and end on November 7, 2007. Airline times, visa details, vaccination information and other trip details will be clearly communicated to you once we have received your deposit for this trip. We are asking for a non-refundable deposit of $600, to purchase airfare. Total cost per person is $2100. This will include airfare, meals, entry fees to all museums, transportation within China, dorm and home stay. This will not include costs for inoculations, visa, limousine travel to and from the airport, or spending money within China. We are planning to have at least 3 teachers from PALCS with us, in addition to as many parents and students who are excited to attend. Teachers right now are Mr. Goebel, Mrs. Quinn, and Miss Samuels, biology teacher.

While in China, students will be required to log into the portal each day to complete their online PALCS courses for approximately three hours. There will also be three hours of Chinese studies each day, with about 5 students in each class. For this, students will receive 1/2 credit in world languages: Chinese. Classes are held on a University campus in Shijiazhuang and taught by highly trained and experienced instructors (all teachers are fully certified and hold degrees in teaching Chinese). Classes include Mandarin fundamentals, Middle Kingdom culture and history, and calligraphy. We will also try to give you a chance to do some community service by teaching English to Chinese students who would like to learn! Further, some science students will have a special internship.

For the first week, we will be staying in a dorm setting. Then we will have 2 weeks of home stay, and then the final week will be back in the dorm. This may change a little bit, as we confirm our plans. All host family homes have hot water, modern appliances, and most have high speed internet. Mr. Goebel and I are visiting each family ahead of time during the summer to make sure that this family will be a good match for you.

For the last week of the trip students will be touring around Beijing and visiting some of the most famous sites in China, including the BaDaLing section of the Great Wall, and the Ming Tombs.

We have 20 spots available for this adventure. If you think this might be something you would like to do, please respond by return schoolmail no later than June 18, 2007 or contact us by phone at 610-701-3333 Ext. 1145 no later than June 18, 2007. If we hear from you we will call to talk more about the itinerary and trip, and to see if this is the right opportunity for you.