Posted by William Tolley at the Center for Teaching Quality on Tuesday, 06/10/2014
There are currently more than 6,000 international schools around the world, serving nearly 4 million students(link is external). Sadly, this rich source of cosmopolitan human potential is barely tapped by teachers in the United States. Worse yet, very few international school teachers maintain contact with teachers back home. Using the United States as a model, here are five reasons international school and home nation teachers should strive to communicate, collaborate, and coordinate:
1. Ready-made global connections.
Have you ever considered a global penpal group? Or wanted your students to present their work to a global audience in preparation for careers that will require this type of experience? There are thousands of international schools in pretty much every country in the world waiting for you. And most of these schools are nearly all English-run and administered.
Finding a public school to connect with or searching the ministry of education’s website may require language skills you do not possess (assuming the site exists!). But emailing the Head of English at most international schools is easy. International Schools Services also offers a great resource for finding connections with its interactive map of international schools locations(link is external) and contact information.
2. Third culture kid connections.
Third culture kids(link is external) are a growing phenomenon around the world—including in the United States. According to Ruth Van Reken, who coined the term, “A third culture kid is a person who has spent a significant part of his or her developmental years outside their parents’ culture. The third culture kid builds relationships to all the cultures, while not having full ownership in any.”
Given immigration trends and the anticipated growth of international schools, this demographic is clearly going to increase in our lifetimes, forming a fascinating human community you and your students will want to know. In fact, you may find that many of your students relate well to the TCK phenomenon (think about it: how many of your students are recent immigrants or first generation Americans?). Watch the video “So Where’s Home?”(link is external) and tell me you don’t want your students to have regular contact with these kids.
3. Happenings at home shape changes abroad.
Last year, the wife of my school director in Brazil asked me if our school should adopt the Common Core. Why would a small international school in the south of Brazil need to consider common state standards?
Well, the answer becomes obvious when you consider that there is no international agency creating and distributing materials, curricula, and professional development. Where education goes in the USA, international schools follow. (The ripple effects are profound and sometimes ridiculous. Why, for example, do our poor elementary school students need to learn what an “inch” is? The horror!) Nevertheless, it’s essential that international educators keep up to date with developments in the USA. Close PLN interaction with U.S. teachers through social media and virtual networks like the CTQ Collaboratory are essential to this.
4. International schools model conditions teachers want.
When I taught in East Harlem, I met with five groups of 34 students every day, stretched outdated textbooks between them, scrambled with my colleagues to schedule the laptop cart three weeks in advance, sweltered in the non-air-conditioned classrooms every June and September, commuted an hour each way every day, paid out of pocket for materials and professional development, and barely covered my rent and expenses each month after federal, state, and city taxes.
Teachers are willing to put up with a lot in order to teach. We all know that most teachers don’t expect mansions and Maseratis: they just want teaching to be a little easier. Smaller class sizes, better and current classroom materials, relevant professional development, and a salary that places us safely in the middle class. International schools excel at creating these conditions, and, although many are expensive, private, and tuition-based, others, like mine, are nonprofit institutions that charge far less than the roughly $20,000 per student(link is external) spent each year by New York state, or even the U.S. average of $10,000. A dialogue between teachers and teacher leaders from both national and international arenas would provide perspective and model better conditions for home.
5. Your dream sabbatical.
Research shows that experience in other countries makes us more flexible, creative, and complex thinkers(link is external)—as if we needed more than common sense to tell us that! If you’re in a district that allows sabbaticals (or just regular protected leave), why not make your next break a work holiday teaching in Shanghai or Cairo or Yokohama?
Or, to think about it another way… Do you have children? Do you want them to learn Chinese, Arabic, or Japanese? Hey, why haven’t you hiked the Himalayas or taken a selfie in front of the Taj Mahal yet? It’s never too late: get some international school teachers like me in your PLN and start planning the trip of a lifetime—without ever having to leave your hometown or the love of your life, teaching.
Modern Learning Lab 