A Week of Visitors

I spent most of the day today with students from our sister city school in China.  They have been here since last Tuesday.  In the past week they have seen more of Fort Wayne than most of our students have seen, and our kids  have lived here all their lives.  That is the same process that our students will encounter when they go to China next June.

My role in this today was to take them to Sweetwater and Ivy Tech.  These students and their adult companions were courteous to everyone even though I am sure that they didn't understand much that was being told to them.  What I realize was missing was interaction.  There were two times in the whole day that I could detect that these students were connecting with what we had to show them.  The first was when we were in a studio where they recognized a musical artist who had signed an autograph on a photo.  The second was when the guide said that Justin Bieber is a client.  That brought quite a solid expression of excitement from the whole group.

My idea of connection is doing things directly with our students.  I know that the Chinese students went to ballgames, bowling, skating, and other activities with our students, but there is so little that these students have experienced in a Fort Wayne Community School classroom day.  That was what we used to do when we had our sister city in Japan.  The Japanese students experienced the full day in our classes.  We, as teachers, experienced these students and their lives and adapted those experiences to our lessons.  We all got to know their names and gained so much from each other.

I realize that this is a totally different world now.  It is evident that we have to be more aware of so much more and be politically correct.  But at what cost?  Hopefully, as North Side develops its sister city connection over the years, stronger connections can be established.

Final note - the Chinese students spent quite a bit of time texting on their IPhones.  Teenagers are teenagers everywhere!