Reading Reviews

Reading Review One
Student Teaching Abroad Inter-Group Outcomes: A Comparative, Country-Specific Analysis
Bin Bin Jiang, Debra Coffey, Robert A. DeVillar, Sandra Bryan
Journal of Global and International Studies

The view this article, please open the following link: Student Teaching Abroad Inter-Group Outcomes: A Comparative, Country-Specific Analysis

I chose this reading because it relates directly with what my peers and myself are undertaking. We are learning how to become better teachers. I believe that the Teaching Across Borders program truly facilitates our teacher-training program by giving us ways to connect with diverse people in our ultimate goal to reach and teach them. In this article, 12 students experienced the same setting that my peers and I am experiencing. They traveled to unfamiliar settings to teach in a foreign school with differences from their familiar school programs.

Two different groups of student teachers in this reading found themselves in Belize, Central America. One group traveled in 2005, one in 2008. It compares the findings of what the student teachers went through in their experience, relating to the cultural, professional, and character developmental impact teaching had on them in a foreign country.

The article also talks about the ever-changing society we live in, specifically the change in ethnicity among students in America in the past decade. Multiculturalism has sky rocketed, making Caucasian students the new minority, and multiracial students are now the majority in our classrooms.

“This axiom is particularly relevant as teacher ethnicity is predicted to remain predominantly white over the next few decades, even as the diversity of student ethnicity continues to increase, reflecting ethnic and racial backgrounds other than white.” pg. 37

Students who have at least one foreign-born parent have increased, along with students who are foreign-born themselves. Students who speak a language other than English at home have also drastically increased. These findings remind us that when we say “minority”, we are not talking about only multiracial students anymore. Instead, we are experiencing the fact that the multiracial students we are teaching are the new majority, and differentiation has become a necessary normal practice teachers face everyday. This relates to our program because by teaching in a different country we are learning how important it is to realize that the “majority” to us is only relative to our culture. The reality is that we are gaining experience teaching all different types of students who we do not see in our typical Canadian classroom. We are also learning how it feels to be the minority, and to not fit in. It is as if we are now behind the eyes of a student who may not speak our language, share our religion, or connect to subject matter the same way a student born in Canada does. Also, a student born in Canada is now part of a mass-mix of culture we must differentiate to teach, not a majority or minority. Everyone is minority now.

There are many factors that arise when teaching in an unfamiliar environment. Some of these factors, also called themes in the article were Instructional Engagement, Professional Development, Emotional Preparedness, Cultural Responsiveness, and Student Teacher Observations. I find myself undergoing all these themes at my school, Lokelani Intermediate. These are normal themes that will arise in overseas teaching. When it comes to the Instructional Engagement, it can be difficult to engage students in a classroom in Calgary. Engaging students in a new classroom as well as a new culture can be daunting, and very difficult, especially if we find it difficult to relate to locals, for example, not knowing how to speak the language. This makes instructional engagement a new, greatly challenging experience for student teachers.

For the theme Emotional Preparedness, everyone is different. The constant among all student teachers traveling across borders is that we will be in an unfamiliar setting at one point in the experience. Sometimes we can only expect the unexpected. This is the best way to learn. I am learning quickly that I have a lot to learn in my practicum, in which there are many similarities, but also a variety of new student minds to learn from. Emotionally, I am undergoing new feelings of being on my own, and growing as a teacher in a new classroom with a new group of learners. It makes me feel similar to the students in the article, with the welcome I have felt in Maui. The partner teacher, Mr. Arakawa is accommodating, and gradually introducing me to teaching his students. The students are excited and fully open to speaking about what their culture means to them.

The article discusses “transfer of learning” as an overarching goal.

“Teachers work diligently to see students at various educational levels experience this transfer of learning.” pg. 39

I am learning that for me, my ability to transfer knowledge to the students in Maui is quickly becoming apparent. I am bringing the knowledge from my experience to the new setting. For example, for learning how to count rhythm, I am asking Mr. Arakawa to try using numbers to give the students the tools to count rhythm. Just as with the experience of the student teachers in the article, I am gradually introducing this transfer of learning, starting by copying my partner teacher’s methods, and adding in my own style. I have also picked up some new techniques that work from my partner teacher. I believe the students will learn more if I gradually introduce my way of learning, and perhaps they will learn more than they thought they could.

“The end-of-program questionnaire results indicated that all members considered that the international teaching experience had had a positive impact on their teaching, and 10 out of 11 members in both groups deemed this experience to have increased their instructional flexibility as well as their curricular choices.” pg. 45

Like the student teachers in the article, I am experiencing a great positive change. This experience is bringing me closer to being a teacher who will adhere to my student’s needs and requirements for learning. I am learning that there are many ways to teach one concept. For example, Mr. Arakawa uses multiple examples of listening in his classroom in order for students to know how the music should sound. In my experience, this has been almost frowned upon in a Canadian classroom, as playing music for a class is like “giving away the answers”. I have pondered this concept, and watched the students learning in his room, realizing that perhaps it is not wrong, just different. In a new-age world, what is the harm in giving students the tools to hear how something should sound? We have many tools now that “give us the answer”, such as Youtube and Internet access. Yes, we must learn how to interpret music in our own way, so that we will be prepared to read music we have never seen or recorded before, but perhaps there is a balance. Nevertheless, I am learning new ways of teaching and contemplating the ways I have taught in my first few years. There is always more than one way to do something, and at times, we label differences as negative, when it only is what it is; not better or worse, just different.

We are developing as professionals every moment of our practicum experience, and student teaching in a new country truly gives us the experience of a lifetime. This is valuable knowledge and situations that we will be able to pass on to future experiences, in or out of Canada.

Reading Review Two
Practice Note: An International Dimension in Practice Teaching
Phoebe Nilsen, Springer 2005

The view this article, please open the following link: Practice Note: An International Dimension in Practice Teaching 

I chose this article because it gives a good run-through of expectations and preparations that arise when student teachers go abroad to teach. There was information on how to deal with different cultural barriers. It explained how to adapt and even take advantage of the culture difference. What may be an intimidating task can turn into a learning experience for traveling teachers and local students. The article explains the tasks necessary for student teachers to take in order to make the most out of the experience of teaching abroad. For these reasons, I decided this article could help me find key ideas to ponder and actions I can take while I’m at my school to improve my development and take advantage of the great opportunity that is student teaching in a new country. 

In the article, a group of Norwegian student teachers from Nord-Trøndelag University College This article explains why teaching abroad is such a valuable experience, what the students gain from the time they are away, and how they grow as developing teachers. It also explains how the project developed, including the amount of time students spent abroad, and the content of what was to be done while abroad. Also discussed is how the students could gain more experience based on different locations due to language barriers and how to work with them. An importance was put on observation done by student teachers in a foreign classroom. Also explained is the intermingling of cultures and the valuable knowledge foreign teachers can give and take, as they learn about the different culture and methods in their new schools. Furthermore, instructions for the home institution and the practicing schools are discussed in detail. The article emphasizes that the student’s role is crucial in gaining his or her own learning experience. Taking responsibility for individual learning is necessary in order to gain the multitude of knowledge offered from another classroom in another culture.

The first step in any traveling, learning, or new experience is being prepared. All of the student teachers are going through a period of prepping for their experience and each of our preparations will be different based on where we are going, the status of the school, the living accommodations, the subject we will be teaching, and what knowledge of the country we already know, for example, if we speak the local language.

“It was considered necessary for students to receive pedagogical and cultural preparation to help them notice local creativity and resourcefulness, for instance, in the absence of material wealth, and to learn to value and respect the foreign educational culture as well as their own.” pg. 526

To me this excerpt means that prepping ourselves is our responsibility and can prepare us to face unexpected circumstances, be prepared to present ourselves, and interact more with places and people of the culture while we are at out destination. I have already felt and seen the preparation process that my colleagues and me have gone through and are going through. It can be frightening to travel to a new land to be a teacher, but I have learned that after settling in and figuring out the school’s and the culture’s routine, learning blossoms.

This article aided me in my TAB experience because it emphasized what I have already begun to find out for myself. I am quickly realizing that I am totally responsible for my experience here at Lokelani Intermediate School and the risks I take in the classroom will be the lessons I gain.

“They were encouraged to take responsibility for their own learning, and were advised to complete the student-information form and get in touch with the supervising teacher to negotiate the plans for their visit and to indicate their interests and wishes prior to arrival.” pg. 530

Everyday in my classroom, I know that what I put into my experience, I get out of my experience. My partner teacher, Mr. Arakawa is already giving me ideas of lessons to teach the students, and suggestions of how to go about the topics. After the class is finished, Mr. Arakawa discusses with me the positive impact of the lesson and also what I missed or could have gone over in more depth. Whatever amount of time I spend with my teacher and in the classroom with the students will be the amount of experience I can grow from.

Overall, the experience of teaching abroad can be extremely beneficial, and the more we know and come to understand our surroundings, the more we will be able to learn off of these understandings. The more we learn off of these understandings, the more we can offer to the people of our surroundings.

Reading Review Three

Transplanting Active Learning Abroad: Creating a Stimulating Negotiation Pedagogy Across Cultural Divides

Pedagogy in International Studies

Michael R. Fowler, University of Louisville

To view the article for this review, please click the following link: Transplanting Active Learning Abroad: Creating a Stimulating Negotiation Pedagogy Across Cultural Divides

I selected this article because I believe it focuses on universal issues that arise when one is forced to work with different cultures to achieve common goals. This is what we are experiencing as we continue to work with new students and teachers in our TAB experiences. This article focuses on negotiation, and the emerging of different viewpoints from diverse people around the world. The article explains western teachers going to Laos and Vietnam, collaborating with officials in negotiation exercises. This requires active-learning scenarios, where participants come together to discuss and work out problems using each other’s different ideas. New ideas can help deliver momentum in the classroom. It is usually easier to come to conclusions when more people are there to help input ideas. New ideas can come from teachers to students, students to teachers, and in the TAB atmosphere, teachers to teachers as well. In my experience at Lokelani Intermediate School, I have been exchanging ideas with my partner teacher, Mr. Arakawa, and experimenting with new ways of delivering knowledge in an unfamiliar classroom. From the beginning of my experience at the school, I observed and copied his methods while inserting my own new methods to teach the students music. This worked extremely well, as the students could understand where I was coming from, and we worked off of previous knowledge to get where I wanted them to go. For example, in the warm-up, the students played a scale. I had the students play the same scale with the same value of time, but I was able to add a new articulation or dynamic. Mr. Arakawa tells me that he likes my ideas when I introduce them to his class. It helps both of us when we can work off each other’s teaching ideas.

The article also discusses some necessary steps to take when teaching abroad and how to begin successfully working with people foreign to you. One vital task in the classroom is labeling names to faces.

“…something as fundamental as putting names and faces together early in the course is an especially important task, as it breaks down interpersonal barriers and symbolizes the instructor's concern for each student...Many westerners find… Asian names difficult to remember and to pronounce.” (pg. 160)

At my school Lokelani, there are several students with Hawaiian names. Some of these names are: Ku’ulae, Honu, Pumehana, Kaiona, Kaili, Kilisitina, and Kealohilani. Some other students have names from other cultures, like Jhamaima, Jeresray, Dashanika, and Shimiah. At first, I felt intimidated by what were “unusual” names to me. My partner teacher decided that we could have the students create nametags to hang over their stands during class so that we could quickly respond to them by name in the classroom. This also helped Mr. Arakawa because he is still learning the grade six names, as they are a new class since this January.

Reading about the negotiation process, I realized that it truly sets up an engaging atmosphere. This is something teachers should strive for in every classroom. In order to be engaging, students must be able to relate material to real life experience.

“The essence of participatory learning… "is an active search for meaning by the student" (Cullen, 2004:5).” (pg. 155)

Working with what students already know gives an easier route to getting a response you want from the class. For example, I know a few of the students in band also take algebra, and so I worked off this idea when presenting a musical equation to them. Mr. Arakawa also gave a speech this past week to the grade sixes about hanging around with the right crowd. He emphasized how important the people he chose to be friends with influenced his life when he was their age. This way, he was engaging the students by putting himself in their shoes, and I believe they listened to what he had to say because they could relate it to their own lives.

“The novelty of active-learning processes and the enthusiasm that they often generate can nurture a bond between a foreign professor and his or her students.”

In the beginning, Mr. Arakawa was always telling me, “You gotta bond with the kids, yeah?” It’s a similarity between what I’ve experienced already in Education – you must form a bonding relationship with your students if you want them to be on board with you. They have to feel safe, and trust that you are going to push them to the next level and you aren’t just there to hassle them and watch them fail. You want them to succeed and the kids need to know this.

The article also discusses setting up a situation where cultures are forced to correlate and respond to one another. This is exactly the situation of TAB. As participants of TAB, I believe we are learning a lot more than we think by just being present in our surrounding culture. Not only are we learning about our student’s daily lives and what living in their country is all about, but the students also learn off of us as foreigners in their home. For example, one day a student at Lokelani asked me, “How do you say goodbye in Canadian?” Funny as it was, the student learned in that experience. Canadian isn’t a language. We speak English just like in Hawaii. Along with this example, the local teachers pay attention to whenever I say, “eh?” at the end of my sentences. I feel embarrassed and angry at myself when they catch me, but they tell me there is nothing wrong with it, it’s just interesting how a commonly known stereotype such as Canadians saying “eh” might be true. 

One might ask, how different is the culture in America from culture in Canada? I was asked in my last Reading Review to address this concern. How different is America from Canada? I have observed and decided that there are many similarities between Hawaii and Alberta, but also unique differences. Some of these differences present a challenge when teaching abroad. As the article reads,

“Plainly, surmounting these difficulties in a foreign environment, replete with language and cultural barriers, can be especially challenging.” (pg. 157)

Some differences that might pose as challenges in the classroom at Lokelani are:

Budget

I notice the school resources are different. Instruments in Alberta are quite attainable, depending on the amount of money a school has. For the most part, every student has their own instrument they can rent from the school that they play in class and take home to practice. Here, the students must share instruments by washing mouthpieces and using the same instrument a previous student used in the last class. Observing this, I notice that the school budget is different. The students at Lokelani are offered a “reduced/free” lunch program, where they can have a free or reduced priced lunch in the cafeteria. Many students must eat in the café since this is their only option. Along with this, the majority of parents of the students at Lokelani work at hotels, so it is a lower economic area, not poverty, but not upper class.

Like in Canada, the band kids here travel to perform in the local shopping centres, community halls and nearby cities. Traveling from Maui to Oahu is similar to traveling from Calgary to Edmonton. Similarly, students at Lokelani put on a mass-band concert, two community service concerts, and end of semester concerts. While Calgarian schools would use their budget to rent out a concert hall such as the University’s Rozsa Centre, middle schools here only rent out the community centre for their school concert. Again, I think this depends on how much money the school in Calgary may have. I know however, that the high school band programs in Maui are very successful, traveling with a large marching band and colour guard that practice regularly and perform at school events such as the football games. When it comes to travelling with instruments in Maui, the students must load a truck, such as a U-Haul or have parents help drive equipment. There are no large tour buses to rent like there are in Canada, where students would load the bottom of a Greyhound.

Living on an Island

Maui focuses on the idea of relaxation, and less stress. This made me question whether the attitude is seen in the schools. I know that in Maui, the island way of life influences the locals. There are so many outdoor activities to do here. While this is not detrimental to family life, it can become a conflict between school and outdoor hobbies. It’s not a distraction, but it’s something else on the plate. For example, at another school Mr. Arakawa taught at in Haiku, he noticed 3-4 kids wouldn’t come to school when the big waves were active. Opposing this, in Canada, you don’t want to leave the house when it’s below 25 degrees Celsius. So maybe a Canadian would be more inclined to stay inside and study instead of going to a beach and catching a wave.

Another difference is that Lokelani School offers an Ukulele class. This is due to the history of the culture, and the recent popularity of ukulele in Hawaii. The students love to carry around their ukuleles in school and play for their friends. This is almost a fad here now among a lot of boys who look up to Jake Shimabukuro, a recent local ukulele player who rose to fame among the islands.

Less Competition

Here, the schools used to have a large “Parade of Bands” concert where they would display their band in a gym. This has been abolished now, as there were philosophical conflicts between the band teachers. Is competition healthy or detrimental to students in music? In Canada, we have the Alberta International Band Festival, where schools come together, perform music and receive a grade of satisfactory, good, excellent, or superior. This makes me question what we want in schools. Participation? Or competition? What is the motive behind these festivals and “Parade of Bands” presentations? Does healthy competition create a driving force for success in music?

From talking to local teachers, I’ve realized that Oahu high schools have more competitiveness to their sports and music programs. I have learned that Oahu is a faster moving island than Maui, and Maui is more casual this way.

Here, the “middle schools” – or “junior high schools” in Canada – go from grade six to grade eight. In Canada, junior high goes from grade seven to grade nine.

On the other hand, some differences I notice are positive, such as:

Racism

I am teaching a vast mixture of races here. The majority of students are not Caucasian, as it would be in an average school in Calgary, depending on the location in the city. The majority of students here are a mix of races including Filipino, Chinese, Japanese, Portuguese, Vietnamese, Caucasian, etc. Therefore, as Mr. Arakawa puts it, racism is almost nonexistent. There is no dominant race in the school.

Motivation

Students are motivated to play the music in the school. I think this is more to do with the way the music is presented to the students, and the way my partner teacher engages the students more than a cultural trait. Mr. Arakawa engages the students by playing a rough recording for them before they play the music. This is different, but works excellently when students have a little amount of time to learn new pieces of music. The students enjoy coming together in their spare time in the classroom and rehearsing the music themselves. They count themselves in and run through the songs. I find this is surprising and a great positive motivation for the classroom. I feel as though I wouldn’t see this in a classroom in Canada.

Technique of Music

Fundamentally for technique and musicality, Canada and America are the same. We both play for the parents and serve the community. The developmental process of tone, technique and musical concept goals to achieve is the same. Interestingly, I suppose music is a universal language, so the concepts would be the same all over the world, depending on what type of music you are playing.

Overall, I feel that this article best sums up the experience of learning in a new culture, and what it means to learn by doing. At Lokelani Intermediate, I notice many similarities and differences from Canada that help me shape the teacher who I will eventually become. I feel that in a short amount of time I have already learned more than I thought was ever possible to learn teaching at a school in the vacation destination, Maui.