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A student-centered education philosophy makes big difference
By Bonnie Cai |
January 30, 2013, Wednesday
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I'VE been working in international schools for 12 years and here at the British International School Shanghai for five years. I do enjoy my teaching here compared with my previous local teaching life. Lots of sharing, everyone listens to each other and turns suggestions into action. There is a friendlier atmosphere between teachers and students, which was a nice surprise for me and I am really loving and enjoying every minute.
A local school has more students in each class, it is really much more of a challenge for teachers to take care of each student. I once taught 56 students in a class. When I think back to my previous teaching, I often wonder how I could have improved the care and consideration given to each student. Here in an international school, we have less students per class, thus I have more space to engage the students in interactive learning. Both the students and I enjoy it. A student-centered educational philosophy is in action here. Planning and delivering lessons according to students' needs and monitoring the results of assessment and tracking progress are the priorities; very different from local teaching.
With the wide range of nationalities of the students I am teaching now, I have experienced some misunderstanding due to cultural differences. Once I remember a boy was not pleased when the students were required to compare their heights, figures or ages with each other while we learned the sentence pattern of "A compares B is 鈥" He criticized me for comparing each other based on appearance. From my understanding, it was just comparing facts; and any Chinese student would do it without considering it a problem. I had not thought about it from his angle, it was clear he was concerned about individual feelings. After exchanging our thoughts and ideas about this, he understood what I had really meant but, I also learned to consider differences in cultural understanding and feelings that are unique to all of us. When I repeated that lesson, I asked students to compare people in pictures without making it too personal.
At the British International School, I have run an after school club teaching Chinese culture to IB students. We have started with a lion dance accompanied with Chinese drums. While doing this, the lion group has to unite as one person, thus they learn the key spirit of the performance is unity and cooperation. This is also the most important spirit among Chinese people.
The international school experience has done wonders to broaden my view of education. I hope students in China can benefit from better education via their teachers.
A local school has more students in each class, it is really much more of a challenge for teachers to take care of each student. I once taught 56 students in a class. When I think back to my previous teaching, I often wonder how I could have improved the care and consideration given to each student. Here in an international school, we have less students per class, thus I have more space to engage the students in interactive learning. Both the students and I enjoy it. A student-centered educational philosophy is in action here. Planning and delivering lessons according to students' needs and monitoring the results of assessment and tracking progress are the priorities; very different from local teaching.
With the wide range of nationalities of the students I am teaching now, I have experienced some misunderstanding due to cultural differences. Once I remember a boy was not pleased when the students were required to compare their heights, figures or ages with each other while we learned the sentence pattern of "A compares B is 鈥" He criticized me for comparing each other based on appearance. From my understanding, it was just comparing facts; and any Chinese student would do it without considering it a problem. I had not thought about it from his angle, it was clear he was concerned about individual feelings. After exchanging our thoughts and ideas about this, he understood what I had really meant but, I also learned to consider differences in cultural understanding and feelings that are unique to all of us. When I repeated that lesson, I asked students to compare people in pictures without making it too personal.
At the British International School, I have run an after school club teaching Chinese culture to IB students. We have started with a lion dance accompanied with Chinese drums. While doing this, the lion group has to unite as one person, thus they learn the key spirit of the performance is unity and cooperation. This is also the most important spirit among Chinese people.
The international school experience has done wonders to broaden my view of education. I hope students in China can benefit from better education via their teachers.
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