Language curricula in international education place increasing significance on student ability to produce and analyse a range of text types. The Language Acquisition and Language B Courses of the International Baccalaureate Middle Years and Diploma Programmes are good examples of this trend. Chris Jay reports how the “Field-Tenor-Mode” anayltical approach can build understanding of English texts.
Kate Shepherd reviews three novels with stories that will engage and challenge young adults. The Family with Two Front Doors is based on the author’s real family while The Big Bazoohley is written in the zany style reminiscent of Roald Dahl. Words in Deep Blue is centred around a bookshop where we are drawn into the lives of the two main characters.
Leah Davies examines the stimulating opportunities for learning and skill development that a well-thought out buddy program gives everyone as students from upper elementary grades interact with children who are at least two years younger.
Chris Baker arrived in August 2016 to take up a new teaching position as Head of Science at The British School, Bucharest. He discovered a Science Garden. He saw a ‘Rewilding Zone’!
Businessman, entrepreneur and, yes, accountant, Tim Hill thinks a new app developed with the support of The Electronic and Software Technologies Network for Wales, might not only help students of Business Studies, but also open up a new area for teaching more general life skills to young people.
Educational technology is central to the construction of a modern program of learning, argues Matt Harris. To be properly implemented and sustained over time it must have the committed support of a transformational leadership team.
We all have to deal with the issue of bullying – much of which is thoughtless rather than cruel. The effects, however, are the same. T. J. Coburn – Director at the International School Dhaka (ISD) shared a very personal story with his students earlier this year to illustrate the point.
David Boddy talks to ITM’s Andy Homden about a new careers initiative designed by the Royal Society of Medicine to encourage more applications to schools of medicine from a wider range to school leavers.
The growing number of students learning in English is a global phenomenon. At this UK boarding school, the EAL provision is led by the school’s International Student Counsellor, Debbie Taylor, who looks at how Giggleswick School has developed a successful programme of support.
Dr. Richard Lofthouse reports on a new digital outreach initiative from Oxford University. Launched originally with a UK audience in mind, Oxplore asks “big questions” that are relevant to students around the world.
The digital revolution has brought many benefits, but librarian Uma Shankar Singh argues it can also pose a significant threat to cultural diversity in an international school.
A consequence of the ever-increasing popularity of international schools is the growth in the number of children learning in a language other than their first. This can open opportunities for the individual but, as Carolyn Savage explains, continuing to develop the mother tongue is vital to enhance learning.
Giving students the opportunity to think for themselves in an unforgiving environment leads to the best kind of learning as David Gregory explains. What’s good for Outdoor Ed is also good for the classroom.
Despite widespread concerns over declining library usage, the impact of instant access technology and budgetary constraints, Uma Shankar Singh believes libraries are of vital importance and are set to remain exciting and innovative areas in school.
Dr. Sarah Waters examines the value of a practice that dates back to classical times, but which, she suggests, is entirely relevant to the 21st Century.
Outdoor Educator David Gregory describes a very different building project and the benefits it brings for those students participating.
This two day course, run in association with Infinite Learning, Dubai examines a consistent and repeating methodology for developing Year 12 & 13 students as independent learners, capable of writing, speaking and thinking under pressure, ready to leave school successfully.
Looking at a city
A planned Math field trip for an MYP 4 class in Amsterdam morphs into something a little different but no less fun, as Donovan Carroll reports, and suggests we could all become scavengers!
David Gregory is a specialist Outdoor Education instructor who has also worked in schools and as a teacher and form tutor. Here he suggests a powerful technique used on outdoor courses and trips could be applied in class to really good effect.
Trinity All-Through School in London has been planning and implementing a three-step strategy to address the needs of student wellbeing. As Rob Thomas, the school’s Executive Head Teacher, argues, this work is a timely response to the mental health needs of young people.
Roz O’Shea had already taken the plunge to “go international” when she left the UK to teach in SE Asia. Moving on she found what she considers to be her true calling – teaching Health Education based on a completely different set of cultural ideas in New Zealand.
An action research project at The British School, Kathmandu, has undertaken a revealing exploration of the efficacy and impact of out-of-school tutoring.
Grace Kelly firmly believes that Franklin’s maxim, “Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I will learn” holds true when investigating the benefits of collaborative learning.
Designing a new secondary school campus to be linked with a well-established primary school in Geneva has offered the opportunity for developing innovative approaches to teaching and learning. Anne Keeling reports.
ITM talks to Dr. Ger Graus OBE, Director of Education at the London KidZania. His recent research has implications not only for schools in the UK, but also for international schools.
Laura Dortmans looks at how artworks and artefacts can be used across all areas of the curriculum to unlock new knowledge.
Philosophy for Children – P4C – is attracting the attention of an increasing number of international schools around the world. One organisation supporting the programme is the British based charity, SAPERE (Society for the Advancement of Philosophical Enquiry and Reflection in Education). ITM recently spoke to SAPERE CEO, Bob House, about their latest international initiative.
The first set of linear A levels have come and gone in the summer of 2017. There are challenges, but the new regime is a great leveller and if students are prepared well, they will have every chance to shine. Andy Homden offers six tips for successful teaching of linear courses.
Is analytical thinking undervalued? Andy Homden thinks so. Without it, critical thinking is so much more difficult, if not impossible, to teach. Here he explains why.
April 13-16, 2016 and one hundred and twenty PE teachers assembled at Surrey Sport Park in Guildford, England to attend the annual ECIS PE conference. This conference has been at the heart of professional development for international Physical Education teachers for the past 28 years. It started in 1988 in Birmingham, England at the main ECIS three-day conference.
Hemingway described writing as having to “ sit down at a typewriter and bleed,” and for many pupils writing is perceived as a painful exercise. Dave Smith has stumbled into a role that finds him dispelling this perception and making writing ‘cool’ and accessible.
During a recent PD session at the Joseph Chamberlain Sixth Form College in Birmingham, UK, one of the school’s new Academic Mentors, Anastasia Lapik, learned about the work of Carol Dweck, which got her thinking about her own education.
Sam Howey-Nunn, has been inspired by two remarkable women, the 19th Century computer pioneer, Ada Lovelace and the actor, Zoe Philpott. Sam and Zoe are now collaborating in the production of a a new touring show: “Ada, Ada, Ada”. ITM caught up with Sam to find out more about Ada Lovelace, and how her life is being portrayed in this new performance.
All too often we hear employers complaining that schools do not sufficiently prepare students for the careers they wish to pursue, nor for the workplace. Patric Elder looks at the new International Baccalaureate career-related programme, which is designed to combine the rigour of the IB with the demands of the workplace.
Inspiring a love of learning in students is a challenge all teachers face and often relish. Vicky Hill describes an unconventional and innovative approach to developing a passion for learning at Island School, Hong Kong, which has proved effective and very enjoyable for all involved.
How do you get people – adults and children alike – talking about Maths? Even those who “don’t like it” or “can’t do it”? Franz Schlindwein has one or two ideas about getting people to do just that.
Jennifer Wathall, Head of Mathematics at Island School, Hong Kong suggests in a new book that the key to winning students to the subject lies in the explicit development of their conceptual mathematical understanding.
In this, the first article in a series concerning what constitutes a truly relevant, modern curriculum, Simon Veness and Andy Homden offer their “21st Century case” for drama.
The idea of building a memorised body of knowledge has become unfashionable. If we are living in the Knowledge Economy, the knowledge is at our fingertips and accessed on-line. The cloud, it is said, has changed everything: what children are learning at school now will be outdated by the time they leave university, so why bother? Progressive thinkers would regard the learning of more factual knowledge as less important than the development of transferable skills, creativity and critical thinking.
Andy Homden reflects on some of the changes that schools starting new linear A Level courses might consider as they start the new A2s, and asks if there is anything to be learned from practice in IB Diploma schools or even from pre-modular A level teaching.
Matthew Syed, Harper Perennial, 2011.
Sportsman and journalist Matthew Syed makes an important contribution to the Nature v Nurture debate: his analysis has implications for teaching.
Why is the ability to learn independently so important? Andy Homden suggests that unless students learn to think for themselves, take the initiative and display the kind of self–discipline that gets things done, they will neither fulfill their potential nor be ready for the expectations of higher education and the world of employment. But – they have to be shown how.
The importance of knowing how
Students become independent learners when they know how to do things, but the ability to master increasingly complex tasks at secondary level, takes both time and practice under the right kind of supervision. Planning and then writing an informed and relevant academic answer using properly marshalled evidence in the form of an essay is such a task.
Independent learning, virtual learning, differentiation and many other terms are sometimes used in discussions about how we best cater for the needs of students without considering how we make things work practically. Raheela Shaikh provides a helpful explanation of how she has developed her “Flipped classroom” style to make it work in practice.
Predictive testing in British International Schools is an important mechanism used to inform them about the expected progress of individual students and groups. But is this measurement of added value robust and accurate? A comparison of raw results between different departments can be misleading. Eddie Rowe raises some questions about the use of objective testing to make comparisons between departments in the same school and the validity of such testing to measure a school’s ability to “add value”.
Sasha Haldane
Reflecting on a British style international education in the 70s and 80s, human rights and criminal lawyer Sasha Haldane identifies a number of different factors at school that prepared her for the legal profession: the inspiration of a charismatic principal, the enthusiasm generated in the school’s debating club and the application of critical thinking developed by the study of a “different” kind of history course. She hopes her own children will have similar opportunities at school in the 21st Century.
Charlotte Seewald
Online learning, e-learning, virtual education and computer based instruction are just some of the terms used to describe the delivery of part or all of a course using a computer. Not surprisingly, the exponential growth of online learning is a source of lively debate and, it has been suggested, explains, in part, the increase in home schooling or home education in many countries across the globe*. Charlotte Seewald, Assistant Director at the University of Nebraska High School, identifies some of the key characteristics of the successful online learner.
Catalysing 21st Century Creativity: Only Connect
Andy Homden
Andy Homden thinks that the work of Professor Chris Toumazou at Imperial College sheds light on what schools should be doing to unlock long term student creativity in an age of intense professional specialisation.
The experience of direct learning
Question: How do four year olds learn?
Answer: In any way they can!
Everything at that age is new. All learning experiences are direct – audible, tangible, visible. Children learn by tasting and smelling. The engagement with the immediate environment is direct, and learning is by total immersion. Andy Homden argues that this kind of Direct Learning should play a much bigger role as children progress through primary into secondary.
After two stints teaching Biology in Indonesia and Singapore, Jon Avon makes a strong case for the value of fieldwork. With interest in environmental studies dwindling in Grades 11 & 12 (Years 12 & 13) he thinks that it has never been more important to get students out of the classroom and into the field. In his view nothing motivates students to take an interest in ecology more than a well-conducted field trip. The preparation and responsibilities can be daunting, but the return on the hard work is well worth the effort. Here he offers advice for getting on the road in the right kind of way.