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September 25, 2013

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Home » Supplement » Education

SUIS prepares students to thrive in future

September 25, 2013, Wednesday | Print Edition

For many parents, providing a good education for their children is a top priority. In an increasingly complicated and interdependent world and in an era of accelerating technological sophistication parents can, understandably, become perplexed about what a “good education” really is.

In recent years, there has been a paradigm shift. The previous certainties and continuities have been upended with the explosion of knowledge, the impact of the Internet and social media and the realization that the acquisition of knowledge alone will not be sufficient to ensure a sustainable future for the students of today. Their portfolio must increasingly consist of skills, aptitudes, attitudes and capabilities alongside the knowledge they have acquired during schooling.

A parent recently opined on his son’s education: “We want our child to have skills that will help him to cope with any changes, no matter what happens in the future.

“These should include problem-solving skills, the ability to communicate at high level, work with others, gather and analyze information and be able to interpret financial and economic data, global concepts.”

Following some personal research this parent enrolled his son in Shanghai United International School’s Hongqiao campus. The International Stream of this school — part of the Xiehe Education Group — has been singularly successful in developing an outstanding primary and middle school on this campus.

All students study Mandarin

Chinese students and students of 30 other nationalities learn together every day, and Mandarin is studied by all students for five hours per week at their level of proficiency. The IB Primary Years Program followed in the primary section and the modified English National Curriculum program followed in the middle school both seek to greatly enhance their range of skills and aptitudes, attitudes and competencies.

At the campus, middle schooling focuses on developing adolescents of quality and stature. Students aged 11-14 require a great deal of attention. “We provide a tailor-made curriculum system for each middle school student. The purpose is to promote academic, physical, emotional, spiritual, aesthetic and mental development for each adolescent student,” said Martin Donnellan, co-principal of International Stream.

“In addition to meeting students’ academic learning needs, we also educate — a much richer word than simply ‘teach’ — our students to acquire qualities and characteristics which are recognized globally in the well-rounded person as they become 21st century citizens. We provide our students with a unique and comprehensive education, equipping them with the variety of abilities they will need in their journey toward further education and life in the future — calmly and confidently.”

The school’s Chinese language learning system is different from other international schools. Students are required to spend significant time on learning and practicing Chinese, especially students in the classes of Chinese as a First Language (CFL). Their Chinese language ability is equivalent to those students at the same age in the local education system.

Class size of 20 or fewer

For Chinese parents, English language acquisition has always been the “plus” in international education, and so students in a bilingual teaching and learning environment such as at SUIS are able to achieve greater success — in both languages. All SUIS curriculum subjects, apart from Mandarin, are delivered in English and while looking for a level of English at or approximating that required at the point of entry, a very sophisticated language support system assists those students not yet at a level to follow comfortably all general classroom instruction.

The use of information communication technology in classroom instruction and in research throughout the school develops students’ understanding of the power of this technology, its breadth of application and its challenges when students are faced with the interpretation of data, where discernment is called for as opposed to the simple regurgitation of data trawled from the web — the skills of living and being in the digital age.

The PE curriculum is designed to help students learn more about healthy lifestyles and enhance their sporting abilities as active participants while also emphasizing the centrality of sportsmanship. All of this will enable our students to immerse themselves into intense work and life with great energy in the future.

The arts curriculum caters to all students, whatever their level of ability. In the music curriculum, the school offers instrumental tuition, composition and participation in theatrical performances. Students can also choose fine arts, drawing, crafts, design and technology, textiles and cooking.

With a class size of about 20 students or fewer depending on subject setting, students are very well known. Teachers are aware of students’ progress, growth and potential ability and can spend more focused one-on-one time with them when required. When students leave the campus, they leave as confident, inquisitive, sociable young people open to the opportunities that will be presented by the next stage in their learning journeys.

 

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