Teaching at ISB

So, what is it like, teaching in China? Well, I suppose if I were teaching in a Chinese school, it would be markedly different than what I do every day. If you stepped into International School Beijing, you would see a school that looked remarkably like an American school. The building itself is HUGE and the school is very large by international standards (1850 students in EC3 – grade 12), but smaller than the middle school or high school in Eden Prairie! Having the whole school in one building means that you hardly ever get to the other divisions or meet people outside of yours.

ISB is an international school, but teaches an American curriculum. The school population is predominantly (over 50%) North American, with the next largest group Korean. In order to attend the school (and I think most international schools in China) families need to be working under a Z visa, which means that no Chinese nationals attend the school. Because of their unique status, though, Chinese who hold passports from Hong Kong and Taiwan are allowed. You might imagine, then, a school with a predominance of white faces, but no. The overwhelming majority of students are ethnically Asian. Some have just arrived in China after living their whole lives in the States or Canada and speak with a distinct Chinese accent and are very traditional in their attitudes and values. Others have lived in China all their lives and sound like your neighbor. Others, especially diplomatic children, have moved every 2-3 years, often in the middle of a school year, for as long as they can remember. When you step into a classroom, you may see 1-3 white children in a class of 17-20.

ISB also has a large China Link program, designed to promote Chinese culture, history, and language among students and staff. Although French is available from 1st through 12th grade (and Spanish at the high school level), over 1500 students take Chinese. China Link also highlights cultural opportunities around Beijing, schedules outings, and helps staff to arrange for hotels and guides when we want to travel in China.

We have extracurricular activities for grades 1-5 5 days a week—crafts, sports, music, etc. Teachers are required to offer at least 1 activity a year and many are run by parents or other local people. Some are in Chinese, but most are in English. Middle school students take enrichment classes during their day. There are sports teams, theatre, orchestra, band, etc. just like any other middle or high school. Teams play in tournaments around Beijing and also travel to Hong Kong, Tokyo, Singapore, etc. for tournaments as well, which I guess is a little more exotic than just going to Shakopee or Duluth!

I teach in the Learning Support program for grades 3, 4, and 5. In the States I was a special education teacher (middle school) and learning support is the support system for kids who are not working up to grade level. We also offer ESOL services for kids who are not academically fluent in English. Most of the students I work with would not qualify for services in the States. They are behind for a variety of reasons—maybe they do have a small disability, sometimes they are transitioning from a different curriculum that doesn't match ours and there are gaps, sometimes the child has moved numerous times, often in the middle of school years, and has missed information along the way. Some may just be "late bloomers" for some unknown reason. We can provide students services for up to an hour a day, so students can't be too severely discrepant. If they are, they may end up having to change schools. I work with 3rd graders and 5th graders in their classrooms during their writing workshops, a 5th grade class during math, and I have a class of 1 student where we do language and vocabulary. I also teach 4 sections of additional spelling for kids who are not catching on the way they should. It's very similar to what I did in the States, except I don't teach an actual class myself this year.

The biggest difference between us and schools we've been before—ISB is a private school and as such, can be selective about the students it accepts and works with. Coming from a public school background, where no one is turned away and we find ways to work with a huge range of abilities, ISB's population is very narrow by comparison. The kids tend to be high achieving, from high-achieving families, families who place a high priority on more than success, but on excellence. Nothing is just dashed off here—when a child puts the pencil to the paper, they give 100%. All the time. You'd think that would be a dream for a teacher but it does mean that you always have a number of students who are stressed and frazzled to keep up that level of work in everything they do all the time.

The other big difference is the Asian attitude toward schooling and time. Asian cultures don't have the same values about down time and play that we do. They value school and work and getting ahead and being the best. So kids have tutors—for swimming, for drawing, for extra Chinese, for Korean culture/language, for violin, for piano, for writing, for math. It is not that unusual for an 8 year old to be tutored in 5-7 different things 6 days a week from after school until 9-10:00 at night. It is also not unusual for the parents to be gone at work until 8:00 or so every night, either. That means for those of us who don't share that work value, our kids can have a hard time competing or keeping up in some activities. When Cameron started in algebra this year (an advanced class for 8th grade) every student in the class that wasn't white had already been tutored that summer through the whole textbook, so the pace was really fast, too fast for a student who hadn't (or wasn't going to) do tutoring like that. The slower-paced algebra class available in 9th grade—no Asian students are in it. That kind of attitude toward work is part of the corporate world, too, so parents can often find themselves pulled by the work expectations and their family obligations. We have learned to appreciate the fact that our kids are going to school in a place where they are surrounded by high expectations and hard workers, but have also learned to rethink what we consider to be "success" and emphasize our own values that we don't sacrifice—hence, no rugby on Sundays at 9:00. No extra Chinese tutoring 3 nights a week at the expense of an extracurricular activity so Cameron can skip a grade next year. If the teacher says "read for 20 minutes" we read for 20 minutes and then play a game, rather than reading for 60!

I think teaching here really is a lot like teaching in the States. The quality of the school and the resources mean that teachers do a lot of things regarding student data collection and monitoring that often get sidelined in the States. Classes are small—20 max in elementary school, so teachers have fewer students to manage. Top of the line materials and equipment (smart boards, document cameras, laptops, etc.) also help. Of course there are times when I'm less than thrilled about something, but that would be the case with everything. The more the kids settle and are comfortable, the more we both feel settled as well, able to concentrate more on our work than on our children. I work with great kids and very supportive parents, and thankfully virtually no discipline or behavior issues, which has never been the case, so that's a great change!