I’m a little bit sad today. Partly because it is the last day of term, and my goodness the tired is, well, tiring. But mostly because a fabulous German exchange student who has been in my L2 chem class is heading back to Germany next week. We had a party to wish her well and most (some of the boys didn’t listen) bought some food to share. We talked about what people were doing in the holidays, about time differences so we could skype Clara during a class time, how jealous we were of Clara going back to summer. I helped a kid who is also leaving with an extra internal they are doing over the holidays (to get L2 NCEA before they also leave for the UK next term) and it was just an awesome chilled hour with cool kids.
This hour quietly reminded me of the importance of recognising and celebrating diversity, as well as maintaining our own unique ‘kiwiness’ (or Germanness). Of how modelling inclusive behaviour in schools can help create tolerance and understanding, and an interest is places away from our immediate home. The football world cup has also been a talking point, our softly spoken Japanese teaching assistance flooded with tears when I talked to her about how well Japan has done in the game against Belgium, and she should be proud. She replied they are not the All Blacks, but I am very proud of them.
So it was a good reminder of the small things that make relationships work, make connections form and make learning happen. From finding a hour of code activity in Arabic for our new Syrian student, learning Te Reo, ‘gentle banter’ of sport events, taking time to uses translator tools to talk to new international students….. all of these actions benefit not just the international student/ESOL student, but also other students learning how to be kind, patient, and to learn about other cultures in their turn
I will miss ‘The German’ and I wish her well – and I am very thankful for this reminder today
ibpossum takes on tech 