#schoolindubai

In our popular blog entry, “Questions to ask your children after the school day,” one of the most effective and engaging questions we listed was “Would you like to learn more about math, reading, writing or science in school?”

Now imagine if that question were asked in school, every day, and actually acted upon? What if young children, in the most exploration-focused years of their life, could have agency in what they learned in school, and were directed towards where their aptitudes pointed? This is the essence of child-led learning, and how it transforms and informs Swiss International School in Dubai’s Early Years Programme.

Learner agency

The foundation of child-led learning is the idea that the school should not be the sole decision-maker when it comes to the direction of learning, and that it should collaborate with the students themselves to plan the curriculum.

Derek Wenmoth, Principal Consultant at New Zealand-based education consultancy firm CORE Education, says: “When learners move from being passive recipients to being much more active in the learning process, and actively involved in the decisions about the learning, then they have greater agency.”

Examples of the provision of this agency include small things such as including students in parent teacher meetings, or a dedicated whiteboard where students can write questions and work together with faculty and classmates to solve them.

The result of this agency? Students feel more invested in what they’re learning, and because they helped choose the path of education that was taken, they are more engaged as well. Having ownership and responsibility even in this age can be a powerful motivator for improved learning experiences.

Children are vastly more intelligent and insightful than many adults give them credit for. Even at this young developmental stage, they’re capable of directing inquiry and posing deep questions. Taking advantage of this ability is key to child-led learning.

What can be done to implement child-led learning?

While the concept of child-led learning must be essentially integrated into the curriculum before it can truly be considered a holistic application, there are certain changes that can be made to encourage it.

Makerspaces

Makerspaces harness the power of hands-on creation to drive learning. By offering a space filled with crafting tools, both high-tech and low-tech, and giving users the opportunity to use them freely to create what they want, makerspaces provide children an avenue of learning that is entirely directed by them. They can come into a makerspace and do whatever they want, explore any curiosities that they have.

Free-form projects

Investigative projects on topics chosen by students are among the best ways to get child-led learning. By assigning them topics, but giving them the freedom to choose how they approach the topic, students are made to think critically and exercise their problem-solving skills. By the end of the project, students will have complete ownership over their work, as they alone decided the means by which they explore their assigned topic.

Personalized education

Every student has their own aptitudes, strengths, weaknesses, and preferences. A school must take these into account and tailor their education to each student’s unique needs. This is the foundation of student-centered learning environments, which are highlighted by strong engagement, focus of wisdom over knowledge, and a greater sense of guidance rather than passive lectures.

SISD and Child-Led Learning

At Swiss International School in Dubai, our desire to create a student-centered learning environment and give every child the best education they can receive, has provided us with impetus to work on child-led learning.

We establish student-led conferences that fully involve both students and parents in the process of learning, in which teachers merely facilitate. There are also three-way conferences that engage all three equally in the discussion of learning.

Our Innovation Labs are open for all students to use before and after school hours, allowing them to explore technologies such as programming, 3D printing, and robotics at their leisure, providing for learning outside the classroom in whatever direction they want.

We also have numerous events and projects throughout the year where students are a major part of the planning process, allowing them to influence the direction and presentation of many events that happen for their Grade or Year.

Warum die SISD wählen?

Die Bildungswelt ist in einem dramatischen Umbruch. Die Bildungsinstitutionen bemühen sich alle, Antworten für den Vormarsch neuer Technologien, sozialen Veränderungen und einem neuen Blick auf die Entwicklung der Kinder zu finden. Damit Ihr Kind in dieser herausfordernden neuen Welt Erfolg hat, braucht es eine Schule, welche die besten, innovativsten Erziehungsmethoden anbietet mit einem auf seine Bedürfnisse  Massgeschneiderten Kurrikulum. Hier finden Sie die Gründe wieso die Swiss International Scientific School in Dubai (SISD)  die Antwort auf diese Herausforderung bietet.

Ein starkes, schülerorientiertes, zweisprachiges Bildungssystem

Die SISD bietet Ihrem Kind ein Umfeld, welches das 'International  Baccalaureate Curriculum’ (IB) mit dem Schweizer Bildungssystem kombiniert. Das  IB lehrt Ihrem Kind die kritischen und analytischen Fähigkeiten, welche ihm in seiner zukünftigen, zunehmend automatisierten Arbeitswelt, den kritischen Vorteil bieten. Neue Jobs verlangen mehr Problemlösung, zwischenmenschliche und technologische Fähigkeiten, welche die  SISD in vollem Umfang vermittelt. Das Schweizer Bildungssystem arbeitet Hand in Hand mit dem IB um einen einzigartig flexiblen Unterrichtsstil anzubieten, welcher voll auf die Entwicklung und Fähigkeiten Ihres Kindes zugeschnitten ist. Wir haben Eigenheiten des Schweizer Bildungssystems übernommen, wie dreiwöchige Praktika in einer Unternehmungsumgebung in der 10. Klasse. Die Schüler sind Praktikanten, und nicht nur Beobachter, und arbeiten in der richtigen Arbeitsumgebung, welche die Unternehmungspraxis nachbildet. Beide dieser Bildungssysteme funktionieren in einer mehrsprachigen Umgebung mit zweisprachigen Programmen mit Unterricht in Deutsch/ Englisch oder Französisch/ Englisch. Es ist bekannt, dass eine zweisprachige Bildung verschiedene kognitive und soziale Fähigkeiten verbessert, welche Ihren Kindern in der Zukunft sicher nützlich sein werden. Da die Zweisprachigkeit voll in das Kurrikulum integriert ist, ist Ihr Kind bei Schulabschluss für das zweisprachige  IB Diplom qualifiziert. All diese Bildungsaspekte der  SISD gehen  Hand in Hand in

einer schülerzentrierten Lernumgebung, welche Weisheit über Wissen stellt. Wir bringen Ihren Kindern starke Kompetenzen in ‘ Hard Skills’ wie Programmieren und Mathematik bei, vernachlässigen dabei aber nie die in der modernen Welt ebenso wichtigen ‘Soft Skills’ wie Kommunikation, Konfliktlösung und  Leadership.

Eine Umgebung wie zu Hause

Wir fördern nicht nur den Intellekt der Schüler – wir sind überzeugt, den Internatsschülern ein zweites Heim zu bieten. Dies ist die Grundlage dieser Umgebung in welcher LehrerInnen und Angestellte zusammenarbeiten, um die Kinder zu unterstützen und zu fördern, um ihre emotionalen und sozialen Bedürfnisse zu befriedigen, während wir ihnen die verdiente Bildung vermitteln. Zudem ist unsere Internatsschule nicht nur für Schüler, welche für längere Zeit von zu Hause fort sind. Unsere ‘Flexi-Boarding’ und ‘Day-Boarding’ Angebote bieten weitere Lösungen für Schüler und Eltern, sei es wegen Reisen der Eltern oder wichtigen Prüfungen und Projekten. ‘Flexi-Boarding’ Schüler profitieren von derselben Umgebung ‘wie zu Hause’, auch wenn sie nur kurz intern bei uns sind. Innovation in einer digitalen Welt Die  SISD hat kürzlich begonnen, das ‘Common Sense Media’s  Digital Citizenship’ (digitale Bürgerschaft von

Common Sense Media) Kurrikulum einzuführen, welches den Schülern gewisse Werte und wichtige Themen vermittelt, um ihnen zu gestatten, verantwortliche Bürger unserer immer mehr digitalen und verbundenen Welt zu werden. Dieses einzigartige Programm vermittelt nicht nur Kenntnisse der modernen Technologien, sondern hilft den Schülern, sich diesen anzupassen und sie nahtlos in  ihr Leben zu integrieren. Zudem haben wir ein Angebot an Einrichtungen, Freizeitaktivitäten und Programmen in Dienst der technischen Innovation. In unseren ‘Innovation  Labs’ arbeiten die Schüler an Applikations-Entwicklung, Robotik, 3D Druck und anderen Hochtechnologien, in  ihrer Freizeit oder im Rahmen von Projekten. Mit diesen Einrichtungen und Aktivitäten erfahren die Schüler die Welt der Innovation in der Praxis.

Nachhaltige Praktiken

Die ganze  SISD orientiert sich an einem Streben nach Nachhaltigkeit. Es handelt sich dabei um einen unserer Kernwerte. In einer Welt, welche durch den Klimawandel und andere umweltbezogene Probleme bedroht ist, ist dies ein wichtiges Prinzip. In der

SISD werden nachhaltige Praktiken ins tägliche Leben der Schule integriert und in der Klasse vermittelt: keine Verwendung von Plastik, Abfallsammlung und Licht «Überwachung». Das Schulgebäude selbst ist nach dem Schweizer ‘ Minergie’ Ökolabel gebaut und verwendet Techniken wie ‘Smixin’ zum Sparen von Wasser in den Sanitäranlagen. All dies, um die Kinder im Respekt der Umwelt aufwachsen zu lassen, damit sie diese Werte integrieren und nach Hause nehmen, oder wo sie auch hingehen, bis ins Erwachsenenleben.

Schlussfolgerungen

Das Resultat einer  SISD Bildung ist eine ausgewogene Mischung aus Wissen ( Hard Skills) und Persönlichkeitsentwicklung durch die Vermittlung der ‘Soft Skills’. Durch die Zusammenwirkung von Bildung und Erziehung im Internat erfahren die Kinder eine wirklich holistische Entwicklung in unserer Schule. Die  SISD ist all dies und noch viel mehr. Aber Sie müssen uns nicht beim Wort nehmen. Auf unserer YouTube Seite finden Sie Aussagen von Eltern unserer SchülerInnen. Auf verschiedenen Vergleichsseiten hatten wir bis jetzt während vieler Jahre ausgezeichnet abgeschnitten. Einige Zeugnisse wurden über die Zweisprachigkeit veröffentlicht: "eine perfekte Wahl für unseren Sohn. Auch in den frühen Jahren – unser Sohn ist in der zweiten Klasse – kann er mit zwei Sprachen weiterfahren. Er wird sein Französisch nicht verlieren, obwohl wir nach Dubai gezogen sind. Fantastisch! Auch alles Andere macht einen ausgezeichneten Eindruck. Danke, dass Ihr in Dubai seid!" Auch die Offenheit und Freundlichkeit unseres Teams wurde hervorgehoben:  “ mein Sohn erhält Fürsorge und Aufmerksamkeit von jedem einzelnen Mitarbeiter. Sämtliche Lehrer

Top tips for effective communication with your child

Good communication with your children is essential in understanding their thought process that goes into their day-to-day experiences; it involves listening to what they have to say and talking in ways that would encourage them to seek your advice first. Keeping in mind that this varies from child to child and the different development stages they are at, one thing remains constant is effective communication and openness with your children.

Here are SISD’s top tips that will help you communicate and understand your child a little better:

1)      Ask the right questions

o   What made you laugh today?

Positive emotions are an important part of all children’s development and engaging with your child on the basis of positivity is a great way to encourage this.

o   What made you sad today?

Children go through many emotions every day, and sometimes it can be difficult for them to process, by discussing their sadness you will be able to get an idea of what pains them in school, and how you can work together to fix things.

o   Who did you play with today?

Play is such an important part of child development – it builds character and relationships. By looking out for who your child is playing with, you can get an idea of the relationships they are forming.

o   What are you most proud of today?

Discuss what made your child proud and praise them for it, or show interest in how they achieved it themselves.

o   What’s the most interesting thing you learned today?

Your child will be constantly learning things in school that may fill them with wonder and joy.  Discuss it with them and show interest in what brings them joy

2)      Working with the school

o   Parents should be working with the school to ensure that they are aware of how their child is doing. This can mean anything from attending parent-teacher conferences, to scheduling one-on-one sessions with faculty and guidance counsellors.

3)      The International Baccalaureate as a communications advocate

o   One of the most important components of the IB Learner Profile is that of the communicator. Through the teachings of the IB, every student becomes a better communicator, allowing them to more meaningfully express themselves and help develop their relationships with other people including their parents.

For more information on the Swiss International Scientific School Dubai, visit www.sisd.ae

For media enquiries:

Mohaned Mahgoub | Rachel Mansour

TOH Public Relations | 04 382 8900 | [email protected] | [email protected] www.tohpr.com

To contact SISD:

School Address

Dubai Healthcare City, Phase 2, Al Jaddaf

Admissions Centre

Dubai Healthcare City, Phase 2, Al Jaddaf

+ 971 (0)4 375 0600

[email protected]

[email protected] www.sisd.ae

About SISD

The Swiss International Scientific School in Dubai is an international day and boarding school where future generations are inspired to become confident and enthusiastic life-long learners, ready to embrace the opportunities and challenges in a global world.

Our school offers the full continuum International Baccalaureate (IB) programme from Pre-KG to Grade 11 (Grade 12 opening in 2019/20*) in English or in two bilingual English-French and English-German sections. We believe in having high standards; encouraging our students to stretch themselves to achieve success, unlocking talents and discovering new strengths.

Throughout our blog entries, we’ve constantly made it a point to extol the virtues of bilingual education.

For example, we’ve illustrated that bilingual education provides a variety of cognitive and social benefits for students. These students have better social skills, are more empathetic, do better in school, and have improved problem-solving abilities. On top of that, they have better executive function, and have greater emotional intelligence.

We also provided tips on how you can cultivate bilingualism at home with your children.

But what exactly does bilingual education entail, for your children?

 Bilingual education is an umbrella term for many types of programs in which two languages are used for instruction, for example:

·        Two-way immersion programmes, in which native speakers of both languages are enrolled, and interact with each other in the class, providing bilingual immersion for both.

·        Foreign language immersion programmes, where students are primarily native speakers and are learning the partner language.

·        Heritage language programmes, where students are native speakers, but their parents or ancestors spoke the partner language.

·        Developmental bilingual programmes, in which students are native speakers of the partner language and are progressively taught in English.

·        Dual language programmes (sometimes named two-way bilingual programmes), in which the students develop their language proficiency and literacy in English and a partner language.

Dual language programs foster bilingualism, biliteracy, enhanced awareness of linguistic and cultural diversity, and high levels of academic achievement through instruction in two languages. 

At SISD, we are committed to early immersion, which research has shown to be the most suitable tool that allows children to have command of more than one language at a highly functional level. The aim of immersion at SISD is the development of two or more languages, as well as the appropriate knowledge of the subject content and intercultural competence. Immersion is progressive and age-appropriated, starting in PreK with an exposure to the partner language by the presence of a native-speaking teaching assistant in the class room. In KG2, children are taught by a native English-speaking teacher and a native French or German speaking teacher, instructing both languages on a daily basis. In primary, one week is taught in English, one week in French or German, this cycle being repeated yet the curriculum is continued throughout the academic year. In the Secondary school, the model is discipline-based, i.e. certain subjects are taught in English and others in French or German.

Swiss International School Dubai provides a diverse and multicultural environment that exposes students to many different perspectives, and cultivates a more global-thinking student body with.