KMJH is the only secondary school that has ever won the highest-level award by British Council Taiwan, which I took great pride in taking on all the curriculum design and implementation regarding English, international collaborations, and numerous virtual exchange sessions
What is ISA?
The International
School Award, or ISA, is an accreditation process focusing on curriculum
and action plans under a dedicated theme and international partnership. The
idea is to raise global awareness, appreciate cultural differences, foster
civic responsibility, and national identity. The four levels include
Foundation, Intermediate, Accreditation, and Reaccreditation, with the higher
level demanding more criteria and standards to meet.
Take the
Accreditation level for example. Your curriculum-based action plans must
include the following:
- one dedicated global theme as a
framework
- at least seven cross-curricular action
plans, with each including more than two subject areas
- at least three action plans involving
international collaborations and foreign language use
- benefiting the majority of the students
of all grades
Curriculum-based
Action Plans
Since we won the
ISA Accreditation back in 2016, I've been invited to do workshops on this
topic, including its application, design, implementation, and evaluation. I
cannot emphasize enough how crucial it is to make it curriculum-based:
- learning objectives
- teaching activities
- assessment rubrics
- cross-curricular collaborations
- student end products
British Council
Taiwan awards those that can help extend the curriculum experiences to other
schools. Fun activities without the five crucial elements are not
curriculum-based. That's why you don't want to use picture books, board games,
or apps for the sake of their novelty. Instead, they have to contribute to the
buildup of the student end products.
Cross-curricular
Learning Community
The Director of
the Academic Office, who served as a project manager, put together a team with
teachers of various subject areas. We met up regularly to develop the action
plans and learning materials together. Director Lin then compiled those
worksheets, slides, and survey questionnaires into a manual for all 7th and 8th
graders.
The sense of
community helped a lot. Whenever we came back frustrated from the
expert guidance meetings, we could always get back on our feet quickly and move
on to fix the problems.
International
Collaborations
Without
international collaborations, the whole ISA project wouldn't be eligible for
accreditation. A partner school outside of Taiwan is a must, and the following
are some relevant elements:
- a liaison who does all the
back-the-forth communication
- collaborative lesson planning for the
predetermined topics
- video conferencing sessions to involve
as many students
- comparison and contrast after virtual
exchange
I cannot thank my
Japanese and Korean counterparts, Toshi, Shusaku, Kiyeong, Sunkyong, Taka jian, Tommy, and
Fumiya, enough for making all these happen. Jessica was always there when I
needed her help. We all have one thing in common. Getting students to feel the
need to speak in English and enjoying doing cultural exchanges are just too
much fun for us. I'd take pride in conducting eight exchange sessions during
the school closure caused by the sudden COVID outbreak in May.
The Old and New
Beauty of Taichung
Under the
guidelines of Sustainable Development Goals, we developed curriculum and action
plans centering on Goal 11, Sustainable Cities and Communities. To make it more
specific, I'd call my course "The Old and New Beauty of Taichung.
For example,
Taichung Station comprises two separate stations, with the old one built back
in 1917 and the new one beginning operation in 2016. It has a mix of unique
esthetic beauty. People in Taichung can appreciate how a city can evolve and
preserve the legacies at the same time.
Taichung Second
Market, ASEAN Square, and the National Library of Public Information carry this
cultural significance. Wouldn't it be great for Taiwanese students to introduce
the beauty of their hometown in simple English with their Japanese and Korean
counterparts? With the course design and implementation, students in KMJH
finished their scripts through guided writing, made PPT slides to go with their
presentation, and promoted Taichung at numerous Zoom and Meet conferencing
sessions.
It's all worth
it
I was laughing and
smiling when editing the videos after those virtual exchanges. Students from
Taiwan, Japan, and Korea exchanged their presentations on our shared topics and
showed off their talents, such as beatboxing, dancing, and so on. On top of
that, I'd read the students' reflection sheets and feedback again and again,
for they left warmhearted comments.
Winning the ISA Reaccreditation is, without a doubt, one of the biggest highlights in my career. It's been a blessing to keep working on things I love- creating an authentic environment for students to have fun USING English and making friends with the world.
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