4 NANJING UNIVERSITY STUDENTS SHARE CULTURE, LANGUAGE

By STEPHEN HAMMILL
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

The Independent Day School-Corbett Campus has brought globalization to its doors in the personages of four university students from China.

Jun Liang, 24, Jie Yan, 22, Rain Yu Guo, 21, and Vanessa Xuan Yang, 21, arrived in Tampa in October to learn about education in the United States, specifically the M.O.R.E. teaching method, which stands for Multiple Options for Results Education, and which is taught at the Carrollwood school.
Founded in 1968, Independent Day School is a fully accredited independent school located at 12015 Orange Grove Drive in Carrollwood. There are about 550 students enrolled from Pre-K through eighth-grade.

“The students just adore them,” said Karen Waksman, head of public affairs for the Carrollwood school. She’s noticed a charged atmosphere since their arrival. “Their English is quite good, and they’re insatiable learners.”

The Chinese students are assigned to different classrooms in both the elementary and middle school throughout the week to work with students and teachers. They make presentations to the students most days, while teaching writing and language two days a week after school to both students and parents.

“We’re a team,” said Vanessa Xuan Yang, speaking of her three companions.
She finds IDS exceptional when compared to some other schools she’s visited.

“The students are very happy to come to school,” she said. “They have an international approach here. Everything is positive – you don’t hear negative words.”

“We four work together,” concurred Rain Yu, who has been teaching and observing all grades.
Rain said she and her fellow travellers are proud of their country and culture, but she wants to learn about others. She’s noticed how excited the students are to have them around. 

“You can tell from their smiling faces,” she said.

The Beginning

In November 2006, education leaders from around the world met in Tampa to discuss global trends in education and school development. These meetings were part of the International School Connection’s Global Summit, co-sponsored by the Independent Day School-Corbett Campus and the Museum of Science & Industry.

Earlier that year, the school connection gathered in China to discuss the upcoming summit. Joyce Swarzman, headmaster of Independent Day School, attended. While there, she met many eager Chinese education students from Nanjing University. It was decided that four of those students would be invited as guests of the Florida school.

The four students arrived one month before the summit to acquaint themselves with the campus and to share techniques with the staff.
Swarzman said Independent Day School is able to achieve balance in its learning environment through the M.O.R.E. approach, which is research based. It uses strategies such as positive phrasing, whereby teachers avoid focusing on negative statements when communicating with students.

“Instead of focusing on one area, we focus on multiple areas,” said Swarzman.

The school embraces technology at its very core. On a recent day, Swarzman was approached by two third-grade students, who showed her, with great pride, the first tomato grown in the school’s vegetable garden. Swarzman excitedly instructed the students to e-mail her all of the information, which they ran off to do. According to Swarzman, such interactions are commonplace during a school day.

The school’s specified vision is for its students to be educated as global citizens, and to work with people in other parts of the world on common projects and activities.

The school is equipped with SKYPE, a software tool which lets the students communicate by voice over the school’s computers with friends and family in China. The same goes for the entire school, which uses the program to talk to students in other countries.

The four students adapted to their new surroundings by embracing them, learning about culture as they teach.  During the Christmas holiday, they raised goods for a local food drive. Instead of being assigned to a single class, each student mingles with multiple age groups, working on teaching different activities, such as language, traditions, even business and economics.

A professor from Nanjing University in China helps sponsor the four while in America, and the Independent Day School sees to their lodging and other needs. They say the time spent here has been invaluable and they look forward to practicing what they have learned when the return home in February.

The Approach

The focus on globalization and internationalization at IDS stems from its headmaster. Swarzman said a global perspective is critical for young people today.
“We’re preparing for the world the kids live in today and for tomorrow,” she said.

“What you’re seeing is schools all over the world seeing the future, taking pride in what they have and also learning about the world around them.”

Swarzman’s reputation has helped her school garner attention from educators across the country and even the world. She’s developed a think tank for top educators by opening IDS’ doors, allowing public and private teachers to observe its educational practices in action. 

Every student at IDS takes Spanish as a foreign language. Swarzman said the school will continue to teach Chinese culture after the Chinese students depart and may add Chinese language courses in the near future.

The school has a similar program set up for the coming semester, where university students from Spain will come to teach and exchange ideas. Swarzman sees an invaluable lesson in promoting pride in one’s own culture while learning to appreciate others, something that comes from making personal connections like the ones her students have made with Jie, Rain, Jun and Vanessa.

“All of our visitors have great pride in their countries, but are so appreciative of learning about ours,” she said.
Jun said the children are always full of questions for them, about daily life in China, their school system, even the holidays.

“They want to know if we celebrate Halloween,” she said, with a laugh.

“They want to know what kind of houses we have,” added Jie. The boys of IDS have gravitated toward Jie, the only male in the group, as noticed by an abundance of high-fives that greet him on campus.

Rain Yu is most impressed by the teachers at IDS. Her experiences at the school have her most excited about the theory and practice of the M.O.R.E. approach and the uses of positive phrasing.

Getting to know more about successful educational models in America was just the beginning for them.  Swarzman has seen the connections being made on a personal level and the impact they are having on everyone involved. In many ways, these four have become part of the lives of the students, faculty and parents of IDS.

“We are so very grateful for the gifts they have given us,” she said.

Perhaps the biggest gift, according to Swarzman, has been “getting people to appreciate something new, to get rid of stereotypes. We are blessed. We’re learning so much from them. They are wonderful representatives of their country.”

Everywhere on campus the four of them go, children anxiously greet them.

“Ni hao, ma?” a line of fourth-graders shouted to them in passing. It is Mandarin for “how are you?”

“Everyone here is so motivated,” said Jie. “The kids are happy here. They treat each other with dignity and respect.”
Jie noticed the youngsters have a lot of time allotted for social activities. He was initially curious about the academic side of things, and how it might be affected by all the extra-curricular time.

“Here, every kid has a different learning style,” he said. “The social and academic sides are both promoted. The kids really know how to get along with each other.”

Every student in China must learn English, usually at a young age, and Spanish is gaining in popularity there as well. The average Chinese citizen’s cultural knowledge of America far outweighs the typical American’s knowledge of the Asian giant, Swarzman said, adding there are signs the gap is closing thanks to efforts like her school’s.

“Combining rigor with joy – that’s the art today,” said Swarzman. “People think you can’t be joyful and stimulating at the same time. You can.”