Negotiating a School Exchange Schedule
You are the student coordinator for a sister-school exchange between your Brisbane school and a school in Chengdu. Twelve Year 11 students will visit for ten days in July. The Chengdu coordinator has sent a proposed itinerary: arrival Sunday, three full days of classes, a two-day trip to Leshan, one day of cultural performances, and departure on the tenth day. Your principal has three constraints: students must attend at least four full school days, the visit must include one community service activity, and no more than two consecutive days may be spent outside Brisbane. A parent has also emailed asking why the Leshan trip is necessary at all, since it reduces class time. You must reply to the Chengdu coordinator in Chinese and to the parent in English.
1. Identify the scheduling conflict in the Chengdu proposal and explain, in Chinese, a revised plan that satisfies the principal's three constraints.
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The proposal gives only three full class days, but the principal requires at least four. The Leshan trip also creates two consecutive days outside Brisbane, which is allowed, but combined with the cultural performance day it risks a third day away from school depending on how it is counted.
A workable revision: keep arrival Sunday, then run four full class days (Monday to Thursday). Place the community service activity on Friday morning within school grounds or a nearby partner organisation, so it counts as a school day. Hold the cultural performance on the following Monday, and schedule the Leshan trip for Tuesday and Wednesday, which is exactly two consecutive days outside Brisbane and satisfies the limit. Departure remains on day ten.
In Chinese, the reply should state the constraint clearly, for example: 目前安排只有三天正常上课，不符合我校至少四天的要求。建议周一至周四安排全天课程，周五上午安排社区服务，下周一为文化表演，周二至周三前往乐山，这样既保证四天上课，也不超过连续两天外出。
2. Write the reasoning you would use to justify the Leshan trip to the parent, without dismissing their concern.
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The parent's concern is legitimate: the trip does remove two days from the classroom. The justification is that the exchange has two goals, language development and intercultural understanding, and the Leshan visit supports the second in a way a classroom cannot. It also gives students a shared experience to discuss in Chinese lessons afterwards, which supports speaking and listening outcomes.
A good reply acknowledges the trade-off, explains that the four-day class minimum is still met, and notes that the trip is bounded to two days so it does not erode the academic component. Avoid claiming the trip is compulsory or that it has no cost to learning time; the parent will notice the overstatement.