Days 42 - 50 - Additional Language Learners

It's been a good eight days or perhaps more, not having documented my learning journey through this blog. Having said that, I have not really abandoned the project but was unable to use the time effectively due to some extra commitments.

One of my biggest learning during these eight days has been about Additional Language (AL) learners. I have met teachers, additional language learners and concerned parents who want their children to pick up the language but don't know how to support them. 

Last week I attended a meeting of the AL teachers and one of the most interesting things that I learnt there was that every single Language quote in Mandarin is not attributed to Confucius! OK, I am exaggerating, I do know that! Just that I could not resist laughing when the presenter shared a quote which was assumed to be that of Confucius and she said "Not all Chinese quotes belong to Confucius!" It is typical to have Chinese associated with Confucius. It is an easy reference, easy assumption.....perhaps because we don't know better. In my view we don't have much understanding of the Chinese culture and the embedded, inherent values that go with it. 

I have been preparing for an interview about International Mindedness by a professor in the University of Melbourne. I have been trying to work on some of the questions that he is going to ask me. One of the questions is "What is the best indicator of international mindedness?" I have been reflecting on it since the last few days and my best response is that the best evidence of international mindedness would be when an Asian teacher would be able to bring his/her pedagogy with pride at the same table as a Western teacher and both would be able to draw upon the best practices from each others' cultures. For now, the balance is extremely skewed and the Asian staff (more so the mandarin staff) is particularly restricted to taking pride only in its culture and supporting lessons which do not encompass the vast pedagogical practices which are an inherent part of that culture. 

This might sound strange because I am a strong believer in the inquiry-based pedagogy. However, it bothers me that we might be losing a strong culture of learning because those cultures are losing pride in their practices. If we are truly international-minded we should be examining their beliefs, values and cultural norms before applying a standard fit of inquiry to their pedagogies. It is a challenge to all leaders in the authentic international contexts.

I have taken the role of helping facilitate the AL teachers interest group. As always, I realise that the more I work to train/facilitate teachers, the deeper my understanding becomes. The new research paper from the IB gives an interesting insight into the AL learning. More than anything it is simply gratifying to read that the challenges are felt across the community, particularly with languages that are considered to be 'not very useful'. 

This brings me to the stress families undergo in regards to AL learning. Whether the parents are getting a child to learn a language due to its usability in real-life contexts (eg talking to grandparents, using the language for business, etc.) or usability to pass the exam requirement, the challenges remain similar. (I am now planning a workshop on this for parents.)  

One of the key things is for schools to rethink their AL philosophy. Mother tongue versus AL is great; however for a number of nationalities English has now become a naturally acquired language. It can have a tinge of the local lingo and accents to become Aussie English, English English, American English, Hinglish, Singlish etc but it does come naturally to many because they are immersed in it. In addition, Mother tongue in many cases does become literal.... it is what the parents use amongst themselves but their children have no context as they are speaking English. 

How does a child in such a case learn the language? 

More reading needs to be done, however one thing that is clear is for teachers and parents to develop an interest in the AL and make the context for use, relevant for the learner to get motivated. 

More to come.......

Day 41 - Balance in teaching and learning

The weekend's given me some time to reflect on my Maths PD. I particularly liked the fact that the workshop leader talked about a balance in the curriculum, citing research acknowledging the place for procedural fluency, adaptive reasoning, conceptual understanding, strategic competence and productive disposition in maths teaching and learning. The ACER research gives this in detail.

Today I read the article on John Hattie's visit to Alberta - Key to better education. His statements provide an interesting alternate view on constructivist approach. I quote
"The personalized, discovery style of teachers can work, but only after students have accumulated the right amount of knowledge so they’re ready to dig in deeper, Hattie says. “I have no trouble with all the constructivism notions at the right time, but if they dominate, I think they miss the point completely.”

In his book Five Minds for the future Howard Gardener talks about the necessity for students to master the information within the major disciplines like maths. He talks about the disciplined mind that needs to retain information that may not necessarily be intuitive. He also talks of synthesizing and creative minds that need to be cultivated along with respectful and ethical minds.

All above resonate with what experienced teachers have been doing all this while - providing the right balance in the curriculum. The PYP talks about the concepts, knowledge, skills (in the new model skills is replaced by approaches to teaching and learning), attitudes and action and it is again vital to ensure that there is a balance in these components.

Pleased with the learning that validates my own approach towards teaching and learning.

Day 37 to day 40 - A myriad of experiences and learning!

So I haven't been able to update my learning days for a while now. Last week was super hectic at work but some beautiful gems came my way as a result. 

An intense school certification visit ended on a great deal of learning. Not only did I learn more about my work, I learnt more about myself, how I behave under pressure, how it affects my physical being and how it affects me mentally. It was funny how this 100 days of learning made me look at myself with a lens, from a separate plain as I was going through the daily motions. I realised that I need to eat extra healthy, keep extra reminders to keep breathing normally as my breathing becomes shallow when I am under stress. It was good to have my work friends and colleagues drop into my office to keep checking on me........ relationships matter.... a lot, more so in times of absolute busy-ness! 

Some of the major learning during this visit was the technical vocabulary used by other departments. I had heard the terms scheduled, preventive and predictive maintenance before; however, this was the first time they made some sort of sense to me. (Esp, after having googled them!) I quote from wikipedia!

• An individual bought an incandescent light bulb. The manufacturing company mentioned that the life span of the bulb is 3 years. Just before the 3 years, the individual decided to replace the bulb with a new one. This is called preventive maintenance.
• On the other hand, the individual has the opportunity to observe the bulb operation daily. After two years, the bulb starts flickering. The individual predicts at that time that the bulb is going to fail very soon and decides to change it for a new one. This is called predictive maintenance.
• The individual ignores the flickering bulb and only goes out to buy another replacement light bulb when the current one fails. This is called corrective maintenance.

Wow!

This week I met an interesting guy. He reminded me of myself because he was bursting with ideas, had loads of energy (which his continuous cans of coke added to!) and was ready to take on the world..... then and there! I also realised the effect he was having on people around him. It reminded me again of the need to keep a reign on ideas and read the group which is to implement the change and the ideas. The pace of change needs to be in sync with the understanding as well as the energy levels of the group the change is going to be applied on. It will be interesting to see how we lead the change. 

The mooncake festival at school was another reminder of the cultural diversity I have the privilege of experiencing at very close quarters. While the Hofstede's cultural dimensions have opened my eyes to the possibilities, the habit of constant reflection and analysis now helps me to see beyond these dimensions. I am particularly intrigued at the changing facets of these dimensions with the changing demographics, education, English proficiency and the third culture seeping in. This needs a deeper reflection, observation, more reading and perhaps a PhD! If only it wasn't this expensive!

The most enjoyable learning I had this week was through my professional development course on mathematics. I have always been interested in maths but this session was absolutely brilliant. The workshop leader provided us with some amazing maths challenges and I particularly fell in love with Pascal's triangle! I also loved the website http://nrich.maths.org/frontpage which provides excellent open-ended maths inquiries for learners. My colleague and I started a particular activity and we just couldn't let go. This is going to be Micky and my favourite site for a while now, knowing his love for maths!

Happy with the very productive week in terms of work and learning. :)

Day 36 - Sustainable Ganesh Chaturthi

I have always enjoyed Ganesh Chaturthi, particularly the singing and the food! I have not had many occasions to go to houses that set up the Ganesh idols for the festivities but whatever few I have had, have been wonderful.

Having said that, I get very concerned when the festival cycle comes to an end and devotees happily immerse the colourful idols of Ganesh in lakes or rivers. I feel very concerned at the environmentally un-friendly way of bidding goodbye to the god and immersing plaster of paris idols with the accompanying fabric/plastic/metal etc in our  water bodies. 

I decided to research on the impact of the festival in our water bodies. The only data I could get  was some references to a study done by the Central Pollution Control Board. I haven't been able to corroborate it and do not know the validity of this source. (http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report-ganesh-visarjan-how-it-impacts-our-environment-1887519), however this seems to be the only one readily available on a google search. Anyway... 

A related study on lakes by CPCB in 2010 found that:
* The acid content in the waters increased
* The TDS (Total Dissolved Solids) increased by a 100%
* The Dissolved Oxygen content increased during the day due to the agitation of waters during immersion and reduced at night when organic discharge increased

* The heavy metal content sampling showed a ten fold increase in metals such as iron, while copper content in the sediments increased by 200 to 300%. 

The point is that immersing an idol made of non-biodegradable material, with paints which may have harmful chemicals, does not make the human society better, which in my opinion is the intention or the rationale of all religions and religious festivities. 

I celebrate Ganesh Chaturthi but do not set up an idol separately for the occasion. If I would I would definitely make it with flour or clay, the old-fashioned way, which is certainly more sustainable. (We need to stick to the old traditions our previous generations had... they were in harmony with the environment.) 

I received this interesting new take on Ganesh Chaturthi from a friend on whatsapp which has been my learning for the day.

So this idol has been made using 28 kilos of chocolate. The person who made this kept it for the celebrations and then in the end, immersed it in milk (instead of the water bodies) and distributed the milk in the local orphanage. How sweeeet is that? :)

I love the creativity and comparative sustainability of this project. More power to such creative genes and may the celebrations continue! Happy happy everyone!

Day 35 - Of Darwin and Maslow!

So a dear friend tagged me on his post today and we somehow managed to reach the topic of survival. He mentioned how we were brought up with the concept of survival related to the basic food, clothes and shelter and how he disagreed with the concept. 

So I googled the definition of survival 'the state or fact of continuing to live or exist, typically in spite of an accident, ordeal, or difficult circumstances.'

This brought me to think that survival at each state of Maslow's hierarchy changes its lens. 

Retrieved from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow's_hierarchy_of_needs on 1/9/2014

At a very basic level, you need the food, water, air, etc. for survival. As you go higher your survival becomes kind of 'high-profile'. The need for love, belonging, self-esteem becomes so high that the world seems worthless if that doesn't happen. The need at that time becomes so high that it can impact the survival of a being. Depression may result due to the absence of these needs, and affect the physiological strata ultimately.

Of course, there are variations across age groups, times, cultural influences and even other models. I guess survival and the definition of 'difficult circumstances' both are relative. 

Not bad a reflection based on a FB chatter!