EDUCATING FOR ASIA CASE STUDY: AUCKLAND NORMAL INTERMEDIATE SCHOOL, MT EDEN, AUCKLAND
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EDUCATING FOR ASIA
MT EDEN, AUCKLAND
CASE STUDY: AUCKLAND NORMAL INTERMEDIATE SCHOOL,
ASI A New Zealand FOUNDAT I ON • EDUCAT I NG FOR ASIA case studIES • SERIES ONE 20 11educating for asia • case study: AUCKLAND NORMAL INTERMEDIATE SCHOOL, MT EDEN, AUCKLAND
Contents
Introduction..................................................................................................................1
Strengthening Asia awareness in the classroom..............................................................1
Jill Larson: Auckland Normal Intermediate School principal...................................................2
Background .............................................................................................................2
Asia awareness..........................................................................................................2
Asian languages........................................................................................................2
School trips..............................................................................................................3
Professional development...........................................................................................3
Our community.........................................................................................................3
Cultural experiences...................................................................................................3
Teacher professional learning............................................................................................4
Our school culture.....................................................................................................4
Classroom practices ..................................................................................................4
Student experiences........................................................................................................5
Friendships across cultures..........................................................................................5
Learning languages....................................................................................................6
International days.....................................................................................................6
Next steps ....................................................................................................................7
Educating for Asia case studies: Series one.........................................................................8
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©ASIA NEW ZEALAND FOUNDATION PAGE i OF 11educating for asia • case study: AUCKLAND NORMAL INTERMEDIATE SCHOOL, MT EDEN, AUCKLAND
“We need to do more than dip our toes in the water.”
INTRODUCTION
Auckland Normal Intermediate School (ANI) is a decile 9 school with a roll of 670 students, of whom 50 percent
are of Asian ethnicity.
ANI’s mission is to provide quality education for all students to ensure their highest possible individual
achievement and fulfilment. The school community education component will provide the widest possible range
of learning experiences to meet the needs of its community.
Strengthening Asia awareness in the classroom
The focus of this case study is the integration and implementation of Asia awareness in the school. Jill Larson, ANI’s principal,
staff and students share their thoughts on strengthening Asia awareness in the classroom.
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©ASIA NEW ZEALAND FOUNDATION PAGE 1 OF 11educating for asia • case study: AUCKLAND NORMAL INTERMEDIATE SCHOOL, MT EDEN, AUCKLAND
Jill Larson: Auckland Normal Intermediate principal
“We know that our children will live very different lives from ours
in their futures, and we have to up skill as teachers to be able to
prepare for the new opportunities and challenges they will face”.
Jill Larson: Auckland Normal Intermediate School principal
Background Asia Awareness
Our school is in Epsom, Auckland. We have a very large population We use the terms ‘globalisation’ and ‘international-mindedness’,
of students from Asia, making up approximately 50 percent of our as well as ‘Asia awareness’. It is in our strategic plan and
total roll. The majority are Indian students, but there are also underpinned in the New Zealand Curriculum that we need to look
large groups from China and Korea. There are also international at the global aspects of living in the world today:
students who have decided to come to New Zealand to improve “We know that our children will live very different lives from
their English. They may stay for a term or up to two years. ours in their futures, and we have to up skill as teachers to be
I first went to Asia to enrol international students. I visited Korea able to prepare for the new opportunities and challenges they
and it was a real turning point for me. will face”.
I understood so much more about the Korean culture as a
result – how they lived and interacted. I also gained a much Asian languages
better understanding of the contrasts that they would experience
in coming here to New Zealand, and how New Zealand teachers One particular challenge we are facing is how to provide
and our Kiwi students needed to know a lot more about how to opportunities for all our students to learn Asian languages
interact with them in order to build successful relationships. at school.
The majority of the Asian students at ANI are New Zealand Currently we offer Japanese, but more people speak Mandarin than
residents. There is a lot to know and understand about them as any other language in the world. Korea is New Zealand’s seventh
well. Many families maintain close links with their home countries, largest trading partner, and India is one of the fastest-growing
travelling regularly and speaking their first languages in their economies in the world.
homes. Many of our students are in fact multilingual. The languages of these countries will play an important part in
I followed up on my first trip to Asia with other trips to our children’s future lives. At the moment we are drawing on the
Singapore and Japan and by being in touch with the Asia expertise of our students to share their first languages with each
New Zealand Foundation, which supports Asia awareness and other in peer teaching sessions. The children are enjoying these
professional development in schools. I have been to a number of opportunities.
principal forums as a result. This has helped cement for me the
importance of what we are doing in the school.
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School trips Our community
School trips to Asia are really important for our children, In the past six years our community has changed a lot. Nearly
broadening their horizons and making them more aware of what every Kiwi kid can count an Asian kid as one of their best friends,
Asian children will notice when they arrive in New Zealand. and they are growing up together.
Our two deputy principals and other staff lead trips to Singapore One change we have noticed is that more of the Asian students
and Japan each year. They are all billeted with local families and retain their real names, rather than use English alternatives. The
the children gain experiences with which they grow up, helping New Zealand kids have become much better at pronouncing the
them to be more open-minded about what is going on in the names properly, and staff have adapted to this as well.
world. Such experiences remind us all of how insular we can
On the whole our community expects this inclusion and
become in New Zealand.
adaptation to the new way of life that we are experiencing. We
One thing we have all learned is how highly Asian families esteem consult regularly and separately with our Chinese, Indian and
their educational opportunities. Having the opportunity to go Korean communities to share progress and to get feedback.
to school, and to make the most of it in terms of achieving
well, makes so much difference to the quality of life that can be Cultural experiences
lived in Asia. Our New Zealand kids really notice this from their
trips. Knowing this helps teachers to understand more about All of us are changing and becoming more aware of the cultural
the Asian parents’ attitudes towards their children’s schooling in similarities and differences, and realising what implications they
New Zealand as well. have for our teaching and students’ learning.
I remember when I was away I was lucky enough to experience
Professional development the Diwali festival. I hadn’t realised how significant, colourful and
amazing it is. I have brought that memory back with me, and it
It’s important for our school to provide a number of professional
makes my understanding of this cultural event so much deeper. In
development opportunities for staff so that international-
repeating the celebrating of this festival in the school we have
mindedness, or Asia awareness, is integral to their thinking about
shared the significance of it with all the students much more.
teaching and learning.
I think no matter what school I worked in I would want to
Kate Shin, who works with us as an international student advisor,
bring Asia awareness to it. I don’t think now I could be any
provides a ‘cultural spot’ every Friday as staff development. She
different. In fact I think I would be doing New Zealand students
has raised all sorts of issues for the teachers to think about. She
a disservice not to. Of course there are still so many things for us
also suggests resources and ways to handle a range of situations.
to work through. We have made a start, although we need to do a
We keep a file of these sessions for people to refer to. For
lot more than just dip our toes in the water!
example, Kate has talked about names in Korea, for both children
and parents, and the significance of them for the people.
We also have a full-time ESOL teacher, Dalwyn Luckman, who
works with our international students. Dalwyn advises classroom
teachers on strategies and approaches that will help their
teaching and improve student outcomes. She does this through
providing resources, modelling lessons, providing cultural
background material and welcoming our new enrolments.
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©ASIA NEW ZEALAND FOUNDATION PAGE 3 OF 11educating for asia • case study: AUCKLAND NORMAL INTERMEDIATE SCHOOL, MT EDEN, AUCKLAND
Teacher professional learning
Our school culture Classroom practices
Bringing about change in a school requires a commitment to its Staff development opportunities and the use of a range of staff
central vision, plus the ability of a principal to develop mutual and student skills have encouraged teachers to consider their
respect and trust with and between staff, students and the approaches to a number of classroom activities so that all children
community. As one teacher said: are included. Here are four examples:
“Jill has gained an understanding of what she wants to achieve ANI teachers have developed strategies to help Asian students
from her own professional experiences, and she supports the make better use of peer and class discussions, and group work.
staff in developing their expertise by providing time for learning This also means helping Kiwi students to include everyone in
opportunities, resources and regular meetings with a range of discussion and group activities.
groups to discuss the issues and how they should be handled.”
The shortage of trained and experienced Asian language teachers
has led to students assisting teachers to introduce Mandarin to
For a school culture to fully reflect the diverse needs of its
their peers. These students, who are native language speakers,
community there needs to be wide participation. Teachers,
enable teachers to develop more effective teaching practices.
senior school leaders and students at ANI have opportunities to
share their experiences and ideas with members of the school A team of teachers across Year 7 has begun planning for a unit
community: of work on Diwali with which their classes will be engaged
“I went on the school trip to Singapore and learned a lot from it during Term 4. Jyotsna will lead this development. The school
about ways in which daily living there differs from what we do has acknowledged the festival in previous years but this will be a
here in New Zealand. I got to talk to a whole school assembly much more in-depth celebration and study.
about it, and afterwards lots of students said how interested The ESOL teacher, Dalwyn, provides resources and support
they were in it” (Olivia, Year 8 student). for mainstream teachers in their own classrooms. She shares
her expertise of working with students from diverse cultures
“Every Friday there is a staff meeting and I talk about cultural
with them. She will support themes of work being done in the
awareness and cultural differences to help teachers understand
mainstream in her ESOL sessions. She works with one deputy
the needs of diverse students better. I talk about a range of
principal, Linda, to provide guidelines for teaching writing and
issues, or I present a resource such as proverbs from different
other literacy strategies.
cultures. Maybe I will draw attention to something like the
Asian film festival and try to encourage staff to go if they Principal, Jill Larson not only has provided the support for
can. I always get feedback from the staff from these sessions teachers to develop their own knowledge and experience for
or they ask further questions” (Kate, international student working in a very multicultural school, she has also established
advisor). excellent mutual and reciprocal relationships among the staff,
so that they work together as a strong, professional learning
“I am the staff rep on the board, and with the chair of the community, sharing ideas, resources and their knowledge of
Parent Teachers Association (PTA) we have been asked to lead teaching diverse students.
a subcommittee to consider ways of doing more and getting
As Dalwyn said:
support for cultural diversity activities. It is important that we
“The culture of the school is one which acknowledges the needs
go about it in an inclusive way, and that everyone understands
of our Asian students, and our Kiwi children as well. This
the purpose of it. It can only happen if we have a culture of
encourages friendships and communications across the cultures
respect as well as a celebration of cultural diversity within the
in the school. Teachers know that it is important to keep this
school and the community (Jyotsna, team leader for one Year
going, outside of the classroom as well, in dance groups, and
7 team).
sport and the orchestra, so that all the children are naturally
mixing together”.
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©ASIA NEW ZEALAND FOUNDATION PAGE 4 OF 11educating for asia • case study: AUCKLAND NORMAL INTERMEDIATE SCHOOL, MT EDEN, AUCKLAND
Student experiences
Friendships across cultures The students all talked about their strong and important
friendships across cultures.
“I am aware that I will probably have to go to Asia during my
“I have close Asian friends at school” (Olivia, Year 8 student).
life, so it is good if I can speak one of the languages. The
Asian population is growing so fast, so it is likely I might even
“I have friends across all the cultures” (Rays, Year 7 student).
work there. I do want to travel and experience what these other
cultures are like” (Brad, Kiwi student, Year 7). “There is always someone who will help with translating,
especially when people are new to the school. Even though I
A visit to the classrooms or a walk around the playground at hadn’t been to primary school here, people helped me to fit in
lunchtime shows how diverse and culturally mixed the student and make friends” (Kitty, Year 7 student).
population of ANI is.
“It is really accepted in this school to appreciate other cultures. “I have got to know a lot of people well, and we all do group
And I have learned not to take other cultures for granted. We work together with people from different cultural groups”
do have to realise that we are all immigrants to New Zealand. (Maria, Romanian, Year 7 student).
So we need to think about how we treat people” (Olivia, Kiwi
student, Year 8).
A number of the students, and both Kate and Jyotsna, commented
positively that they have experienced children and staff showing
interest in their cultures.
“To me the Kiwi children show their interest in my culture. They
often stop me to ask about a custom, or about something in
the Korean language. I think things are changing in the school
in this respect” (Kate, international student advisor).
“A number of the New Zealand children are keen to be involved
in the Indian dance group. In fact there are now three groups,
with boys and girls from across our cultures. Also we see some
Asian children in the kapa haka group” (Jyotsna, Indian dance
teacher and team leader for one Year 7 team).
“I feel very accepted in the school, and have friends across the
various cultures. People do ask me about my culture, especially
those who are in the Chinese culture group”
(Rays, New Zealand-born Chinese, Year 7 student).
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©ASIA NEW ZEALAND FOUNDATION PAGE 5 OF 11educating for asia • case study: AUCKLAND NORMAL INTERMEDIATE SCHOOL, MT EDEN, AUCKLAND
Learning languages International days
All the children enjoyed their experience of learning Asian Students feel that the cultural and international languages days
languages. Japanese is taught on a regular basis, which supports organised by the school are very important. A lot of preparation is
those who go on the Japan trip. The children particularly enjoyed done during class time. This year, for example, groups worked on
the peer teaching in Mandarin, and some have extra lessons Chinese comedy, dragon dancing and Indian dance. The students
outside school. One year a Kiwi boy succeeded in gaining a worked in groups to develop presentations on other cultures.
place in the interschool Mandarin competition. Most expressed Several commented on the depth of their learning from having to
interest in extending the teaching of Mandarin within the formal do these activities. For example:
curriculum. “You had to know a lot to do a presentation or performance for
“Mandarin is important – it is one of most spoken languages in the others. To learn a dance there was a lot to think about in
the world and will be more important in the future” (Rays, New learning it” (Andy, Chinese, Year 7 student).
Zealand-born Chinese, Year 7 student).
Students also enjoyed trying a range of foods from different
“I think it is important to learn another language, because it cultures and seeing or wearing different national dresses. Brad,
is also a way of learning about the country and the culture” Olivia and Andy made a special point of commenting on how
(Snigdha, Indian born, Year 7 student). valuable it was for them to have Japanese students visiting the
school, enabling both cultures to learn from each other.
We are learning Mandarin in class – the alphabet, how to
pronounce and write a few phrases. It is cool, but it is hard at
first. As we go on it gets more fun as we know more about it”
(Brad, Year 7 student).
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Next steps
As Jill said, “We need to do more than dip our toes in the water”. “We need to tread carefully when we consult with our parents
All the teachers and students talked about the future direction in to make sure that we do hear what they want. Nearly all
which they thought the school needed to move, even though their (European and those from other cultures) have a focus on the
Asia awareness is already well developed. learning and achievement of their children, and we need to
“We still need to work on our physical environment and find support that, but also make sure that they keep a balance in
ways to reflect our diversity more. And we are continuing the lives of their children” (Jill, Jonathan, Shane, Dalwyn and
to look for ways to make our provision of a range of Asian Jyotsna – ANI teachers).
languages more effective and in-depth. Perhaps we need to
do some work with our parents to make sure they realise the The students were all aware of the growing importance of Asia,
importance of Asian languages for the future” (Jill, principal). and that it was really important for their futures that the Asia
awareness of the school became even more of a feature:
“Our curriculum isn’t really Asia focused. A lot is introductory “Yes Asia will be important for our future. Japan is second in
and I think it could be extended, especially the languages” the world in biotechnology, and China is still developing” (Andy,
(Olivia, Year 8 student). Year 7 student).
“Our school provides a lot of support for the diverse cultures, “Mandarin is important, and Asia will be very important for the
and there are good networks, but we do need to improve how future” (Rays, Year 7 student).
we offer the Asian languages” (Kate, international student
advisor). “Asia is the most populated part of the world, with huge
technology development. It is a big area, and very important”
“We are planning some more in-depth curriculum work, such as (Maria, Year 7 student).
the unit on Diwali. Perhaps though we could put more effort
into consulting with our European Kiwi parents to get a better
understanding about their support for our cultural diversity
activities” (Jyotsna, teacher).
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©ASIA NEW ZEALAND FOUNDATION PAGE 7 OF 11educating for asia • case study: AUCKLAND NORMAL INTERMEDIATE SCHOOL, MT EDEN, AUCKLAND Educating for Asia case studies: series one As the fastest growing region in the world, Asia will play a major part in global affairs in the 21st century. Asian communities in New Zealand are thriving and expected to represent 15 percent of New Zealand population by 2021. Fostering Asia awareness in the next generation of New Zealanders will equip them with knowledge and skills that they can put to use as good citizens, able professionals and keen advocates of New Zealand’s interests in a world increasingly shaped by interactions with Asia. Asia awareness begins in the early school years and Asia:NZ’s education programme strives to promote Asia learning in the curriculum. By commissioning this series of eight case studies on Asia Aware schools, Asia:NZ wants to highlight participating schools’ progress so far and to encourage other educators to lead Asia learning in their school and community. Asia:NZ gratefully acknowledges the participation of staff and students from Auckland Normal Intermediate School in this case study, which was conducted in August 2009. Visit the school website at http://www.ani.school.nz For more information, resources or opportunities related to Asia awareness, make sure you explore the Educating for Asia section of Asia:NZ Online at http://www.asianz.org.nz Sourced from www.asianz.org.nz 3CONTENTS ©ASIA NEW ZEALAND FOUNDATION PAGE 8 OF 11
ASI A New Zealand FOUNDAT I ON • EDUCAT I NG FOR ASIA case studIES • SERIES ONE
Asia New Zealand Foundation
Level 16, Fujitsu Tower, 141 The Terrace
PO Box 10 144
Wellington, 6143 New Zealand
Telephone: 64 4 471 2320
Facsimile: 64 4 471 2330
Email: asianz@asianz.org.nz
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