Summer 2013 - The Independent Schools' Modern Language ...

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Settling in Singapore Teaching abroad ISMLA committee member David Sheppard decided to leave these shores after his first teaching post to work at Tanglin Trust School in Singapore. We asked him to write a few words on his experience so far. It was with much trepidation that I attended the 2012 London interview for my present school, located in Singapore. It was only after receiving an invitation to interview that I realised quite how competitive the post would be. Nonetheless, I was fortunate to be asked the right questions, for example on Madame Bovary – a text for which I was just finishing the 7000 th annotation on my website Tailored Texts – and I was offered the job. I had always wanted to “go international”: for the cultural opportunities as well as the linguistic experience (I’m currently learning Mandarin); for the food and travel, of course, but also because of the career opportunities. The international schools market has doubled in size over the last ten years and is expected to do so again (1) . Indeed, British schools are often quoted as one of our most valuable exports and I felt excited to be venturing overseas to become involved, safe in the knowledge that my school is an active HMC member. My brief for this article was to write about how life in an international school, teaching a modern foreign language, might differ from that in a UK independent school and here are a few of my observations… Going international- what’s the difference? Community: serving an expat community with expat teachers immediately places new demands on a school but also provides it with many opportunities which are simply unavailable to UK school management. Straight off the plane, I was whisked away to my furnished flat, shown the milk in the fridge and presented with a hand-annotated map of my neighbourhood. In the following days, I was given various tours and presentations by locals to facilitate acclimatization to my newly adopted country. As months went by, this high level of support continued and a strong bond was struck up between all new staff as well as with those existing staff members assigned to help us settle in. I was touched by the thoughtfulness of everyone and felt indebted to the school, especially in the knowledge that not every school would go to this effort. The vulnerability of teachers moving to work thousands of miles from home creates an opportunity for the school to reach out and offer sup- (1) Nick Brummitt, Managing Director of ISC Research, www.tieonline.com/view_article.cfm? ArticleID=87 34
port and this in turn creates strong bonds of loyalty between new staff and the school. The school doesn’t only reach out to teachers, however. My observation is that it also acts as one of the focal points for expat families new to Singapore, often without a significant support network. Parental involvement here is thus extremely high and there is a vast array of events organised for children and their parents each week. In fact, parents are frequently seen about the school site and can be observed meeting their children at break time, for example, in one of our cafés. Everyone is monitored upon entry and the campus feels both extremely safe and relaxed as a consequence. Auxiliary Staff: in a culture that has ever-increasing amounts of childprotection legislation, one may frown at the idea of parents milling around on the school site. No such fear with us: thanks to our large security team, everyone is monitored upon entry and the campus feels both extremely safe and relaxed as a consequence. Large numbers of auxiliary staff is not exclusive to security and there are nearly 200 staff members plus 50 teaching assistants working around the clock to assist teachers in their professional lives and also, as seen above, their personal lives. This is an impressive number for a day-school! Reprographics, displays, trips, technology for learning and ICT support: it all works like a dream. This really does make a difference to teacher’s lives because one is left to focus on the important aspects of teaching and learning and to build professional relationships with students and colleagues. Pastoral Care: turnover of students is high in all year groups, with the exception of Year 10 and Year 12, because parents’ jobs require often moving around the international job circuits, e.g. Tokyo to Shanghai to Hong Kong to Singapore. A very special attention is thus needed to ensure all new members to the school are made to feel welcome and the ethos of the school must, by necessity just as much by strategy, be centred on an openness that can brook such fluidity of its student body. Expat-child syndrome (ECS) is also a very prevalent issue unique to international schools that must be taken seriously by all members of the community. Modern Foreign Language Teaching A multitude of tongues: there are more than 40 nationalities amongst pupils and this creates a cultural dynamism amongst the student body that forms the basis for many unique opportunities to a MFL department in an international school. In a recent survey, 25% of students in Year 11 were found to speak another language as their mother tongue, in addition to speaking English fluently (a requirement of the school). This is generally replicated in other year groups and such linguistic diversity provides for ample 35
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Page 3 and 4: Contents From the Chairman 4 Notes
Page 5 and 6: Ofqual Survey I hope you have been
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