Now more than ever we live in one world ...

This large suburban secondary school has students from China, Japan, Korea, Thailand and South American countries and exchange programs with schools in France, Germany and Switzerland.

The first connection I made with studies of Asia was via a Studies of Asia Adviser. He mentioned the course, 'Including Studies of Asia in the Curriculum', run by Flinders University so I thought I should find out more about it. Doing this course and going on to complete a Master of Education postgraduate degree in studies of Asia gave me a knowledge base and introduced me to a network of people with interests of this type. I went to the AEF's 'Linking Latitudes' conference in Shanghai which cemented my interest. That's the way I've learnt really, trying to do something about my own uninformed attitudes.

In our Middle Years (Years 8 & 9) sub-school we provide Inter-disciplinary Studies which have a strong studies of Asia component. All faculties have this under consideration. We try to avoid studies of Asia as an 'add on' and to ensure it is properly embedded.

I have a particular interest in teaching texts - I'm an English teacher - and found some subtle and important differences in the ways I might approach this task using texts from a wider variety of sources. When I use culturally diverse texts I usually find very enthusiastic responses from students.

Each of my five classes includes the Asia-related texts. I suggest ideas for new texts to the coordinator and other members of my faculty and if we reach consensus about the value of a particular text, it is purchased. A unit is developed, either by myself or with a colleague, tested, reviewed and then shared.

I supplement these texts with extensive use of my own picture book resources for particular units. I read a great deal of Asian fiction and non-fiction literature as a personal interest. This gives me a good base to work from. I lend books to other members of staff. They get interested that way.

This Access Asia novel explores the experiences
of exchange students as they encounter unfamiliar cultures.

We support this process through a professional learning inquiry group. All staff at our school sign up for one of eight curriculum focus areas. The one I have been involved with for over three years now, along with 8-10 other staff members, has as its inquiry question: How will our school apply the National Statement for Engaging Young Australians with Asia in Australian Schools in order to further internationalise our curriculum?

 

"When I'm working on studies of Asia it's always an integrated process. Just because you're working in red and gold doesn't mean you're doing a studies of Asia unit. You don't just pick up and run with an activity without thinking about how you can connect it with other learning experiences."

 

To research this topic and do this work we visit schools with similar interests. For example, we investigated the nature of 'Refugee Week' held at another school. It had some useful points on welcoming guests, with students also talking about why they have chosen (if they did) to live in Australia. There were excellent spontaneous oral presentations, the sort of thing I would like to see our students be able to do when conversing with international guests and other visitors to our school. At another school we looked at texts and resources used for ESL in the mainstream courses. We have found a wide range of other useful resources this way.

Our students are becoming more empathic, with a broadened mindset that is culturally inclusive. I think it is obvious that they are more considerate and better informed. With younger students it is more about awareness raising and building an understanding of others, but I can see our older students developing what we call, these days, cultural intelligence.