Song Lize receives MSU Extension 2020 Key Partner Award
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EmailMSU Extension honored Song Lize for his longtime partnership with Michigan 4-H during the annual Fall Extension Conference held virtually on Sept. 29.
Michigan State University Extension awarded Song Lize with a 2020 Key Partner Award on Sept. 29. The Key Partner Award recognizes those that have made significant contributions to support and promote MSU Extension programs.
MSU Extension honors Song Lize for his longtime partnership with Michigan 4-H. Since 2003, Song has been the contact person for the partnership with 4-H Youth Development and the Binzhou City Education Bureau, Shandong Province, China, through the Michigan Children’s Art Exchange with China. The exchange celebrates its 30th year.
The Michigan 4-H China Project began in 1988 between Michigan 4-H and Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China, as a global education-through-the-arts program that has reached close to 500,000 Michigan youth in grades K–12.
Song, researcher of the Education Science Institution on English Teaching in Elementary Schools, provides teaching and learning guidance for the teachers of English students, and tests the learning results in Binzhou, China. In Binzhou, there are 259,000 students in primary schools, 124,000 in junior high and 66,000 in common senior high with half of the students in junior high entering vocational schools. He is responsible for 600 English teachers working in senior high schools, giving advice and helping the students in learning. The exchange program involves all the primary schools and kindergarten in every county and district in Binzhou.
Each year, Shandong, People’s Republic of China, sends as gifts 100 translated pieces of Chinese children’s artwork to Michigan. Song does the translation work, and enjoys and distributes the 100 pieces exchanged of Michigan children’s artwork. An annual evaluation summary is conducted each year from the participating counties in the exchange with overwhelmingly positive results. The exchange allows youth participants to become more confident in their art abilities, communication skills, and understanding of the world we live in. It is a teaching tool that introduces another culture to the youth in both countries. Song, a compatible, supportive, and positive partner, understood the child development and global connections goals of the project from the beginning.
The MSU Extension Key Partner award recognizes those who have made significant contributions to creating, improving, supporting, or promoting MSU Extension programs. Song Lize and the Binzhou City Education Bureau, Shandong Province, China, truly demonstrate the name “key partner.”
