May - June 2018- Ermitage International School, Paris

It was an enriching and fruitful one month of sharing best practices, class room teaching and understanding of the working of the MYP and the IB curriculum. This exchange enabled me to interact with the faculty and students from a different country and culture and gave me a first-hand experience of teaching in an international setup.

 

 

I had the opportunity to co- teach as well as independently teach various classes that included teaching Individual and Society to foundation 1 students and teaching English Language and Literature to Foundation 3-5 and IB 1. Observing lessons in a class helped me learn ways to plan and teach, to learn and reflect. It gave me an opportunity to examine various aspects of the class, such as use of time and schedule, ways of maximising student participation, teaching strategies, management strategies, learner interest, and much more. It was also interesting to get different perspectives on texts that I have taught in class or am planning to teach in the future. Independent teaching instilled a sense of confidence and threw open challenges that were both exciting and rewarding- be it planning student centric lessons or creating a positive learning environment in the class.

 

This trip also gave me the opportunity to make new friends, meet new people and be exposed to the rich French culture and its traditions.

 

 

 

Aditi Chakrabarti

DAIS-Ermitage School of France Teacher Exchange Programme 2018(May-June)

My visit to Ermitage International School of France was elevating and rewarding in terms of my professional growth. It was a new start for me and also added to my experience of MYP curriculum. It added new ideas with terms of practices in teaching and learning strategies. I was exposed to different methods of teaching practices and assessments.

 

 

I mainly observed lessons in Science and Mathematics. But I also got an opportunity to observe classes of Art, Languages, Physical education and Individual and Societies. I found out how the lessons were developed keeping in mind the student’s interest and participation. Also, students took a lot of responsibility to complete the objectives of the lesson. More than the content, the teaching methods were designed to develop skills required for independent learning.

 

 

When I was observing a Math Foundation class 1, I observed that they were struggling with multiplication and took this opportunity to introduce ‘Vedic Math’ to the students of Foundation 1. The students found Vedic Math very interesting. Even the teachers of the Ermitage School were fascinated by the ‘Sutras’ of Vedic Math.

 

 

The exchange was well supported by the teachers and administrators from Ermitage School, and the students were also excited and receptive.

 

It was an excellent opportunity to interact with people from different parts of the world, which helped in building a network to share practices in teaching. As I was there for almost a month, I got a better understanding of French culture and its influence on education.

 

 

I feel the exchange was a successful and interesting way to get a whole new perspective. It has helped me to inculcate the international approach in teaching my classes and developing my lessons and to grow as a teacher.

 

 

Bharthi Shinde