Hey everyone, I haven't had a ton of time to write recently, but I'm still constantly thinking and reflecting!
One of my recent contemplations is on expectations and standards:
What kinds of expectations do I hold for my students? What standards do I use to guide my planning?
The tricky part is, as I have reflected in an earlier post, my students struggle with the English language and with culture as well. For instance, we recently sang a bunch of Christmas songs and danced to movements from the Nutcracker; they will not know its cultural significance unless we set it aside and discuss it. Or, whenever we sing songs, I have to break it down for them so that they know what exactly they're singing about.
To once again describe my job in a nutshell: I am expected to bring a Westernized music education to Chinese students who have had little to no prior "Western" cultural experiences.
Thus, educational standards from Western countries are null; we cannot expect a 1st grader in China to perform in the same way that a 1st grader in the US would do. (Reminder, our school is not an international school for expats; it is open to ordinary Chinese kids) Adjustments must be made.
In my mind, bilingualism plays a HUGE role in such a context, as I could help kids connect their prior knowledge (all in Chinese - their main mode of communication/understanding) to create new meaning. Then this begs the question: what do I do if my administrators tell me to only speak English in class?
To be completely honest, I have been "cheating," because if I want my students to fully understand, I have to be able to communicate with them. If they can use their main mode of communication/understanding in order to create new meaning in English, then that's what I will do.
And maybe that's what constructivism is: to help my students create new meaning by respecting where they're coming from (and Scaffolding from there); take a chill pill in the meantime, because shoving everything down their throats and expecting instant results isn't going to help them.
