What does an International Education truly mean?
From November 18th to November 22nd, schools across the United States will celebrate the International Education Week. This upcoming event had us reflect upon our connection to this and how we try to promote cultural and language exchange.
What is the International Education Week?
Let’s start with a bit of background. The International Education Week is an initiative from the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Department of Education, created to celebrate the benefits of international education and exchange worldwide. It is an annual celebration of cultural diversity and international opportunities.
International Education at Tessa
A truly international education is a combination of various factors. Here at Tessa we focus on three main criteria to prepare our students to become bilingual, adaptable and active citizens: Bilingualism, Interculturalism and Diversity.
Bilingualism
Bilingualism is maybe the first element educating our students towards a better understanding of our globalized world. Several studies and researches indicate that bilingualism has many benefits on the brain and opens unique life opportunities.
Interculturalism
The importance of intercultural communication and understanding is often underestimated. We tend to assume human beings behave similarly in given situations. The reality is that depending on our social background, family and country, we all have different customs, standards, social mores, and even thought patterns.
At Tessa, Interculturalism is at the heart of our curriculum, and we believe immersing our students in not only one but several different cultures is a key factor in their development. At Tessa, children are introduced to other languages and cultures as soon as 2 years old. Such an exposure enhances their cultural awareness; they quickly become bilingual and culturally adaptable.
Diversity
What makes a cultural immersion possible at Tessa, is the amazing diversity among our team and families. It is a big part of our identity as a school, as well as a community and we take much pride in it.
Teachers get to share their country of origin traditions during celebrations or before holidays. We also love to welcome parents at school; they explain their own traditions to the students, how they celebrate it at home and what it means to their family. With its parade and various booths, our United Nations Day celebration was as well a mean to learn from each other.
We recently started mapping that diversity among our community and it simply looks amazing!
We believe that giving your children the gift of an international education will benefit all of us as they will have a lot to offer growing up.
