As one of Canadian International School’s PYP coordinators, my most important role is to collaborate with teachers in the grade levels I work with. In order to deliver a quality educational programme, teams plan together to discover the best ways to allow students understand the concepts around the central idea. This year I had the pleasure of working with the grade one bilingual team as well as Gary Guo, one of our Primary Chinese literacy coaches, to create a significant, meaningful and authentic field trip to the Chinatown Heritage Centre.

During the Where we are in place time unit of inquiry, students inquired into the central idea of changes in technology impact people's lives. After a provocation (a process where we stimulate minds to come up with questions and ideas) that created a wide variety of wonderings, I met with the bilingual team to discuss ways to bring this unit to life in a culturally meaningful way that would provide additional opportunities for students to learn the Chinese language. According to the IB curriculum framework, Making the PYP Happen, “A balanced literacy curriculum is comprised of three interdependent aspects; learning to read and write, learning about reading and writing, and learning through reading and writing.” We decided that a trip to the Chinatown Heritage Centre would be an excellent way for us to connect with all three of these approaches to language learning in a local context.

The museum offered us a glimpse into the history of Singapore. By its very nature, this would create opportunities to inquire into the central idea by looking at the technology or lack of, that was available at that time. This was the first time that a bilingual class was going on an excursion planned especially for them with both Chinese culture and language in mind.

Our Chinese teachers, Gary, and I went for a site visit to the museum to examine the new exhibits and decide which language would be most effective for which displays. As a non Chinese speaker it was fascinating for me to observe our Chinese teachers through a different lens. They were in their element! They could make connections I had no knowledge of. They could make personal connections to their own lives. Many comments were made about grandparent’s homes and childhood memories. What a wonderful opportunity for our learners!

We decided that Gary would facilitate the main floor and I would facilitate the second floor. On the main floor students would speak Chinese and on the second floor, English. Homeroom teachers would be there to support, question and work with small groups providing opportunities for observations, questions, and conversation.

I focused on the doctor's office. I had the children gather near the entrance and close their eyes. I asked them to think about a trip to the doctor's office and share some words with me. “Clean, medicine, doctor, technology, books, machines,” were some of the words they came up with. We then stepped back in time. There was no medicine they recognised, no fancy machines or any of the things they were expecting. Instead they were greeted by wooden chairs, traditional Chinese medicine and an old family photograph. They noticed there was an abacus on the desk and decided it was for charging patients money. We discussed how that was indeed technology and decided what the modern day equivalent would be. They were also fascinated to find a hole in the floor that could be covered up. We all thought long and hard about what it could be. I had the students think about the procedure they follow when they go to doctors and to share that information with a friend. What could it be used for? After much discussion, questioning and thinking, we determined that it was to look downstairs so the doctor could tell the patients to come up to his office! They all thought this was fascinating!

For me it was a very interesting experience. Watching the children switch effortlessly between languages was fascinating. Seeing two native English speakers sharing their ideas in Chinese was such a testament to the incredible job our Chinese teachers are doing. In addition, the fact that this field trip was such a culturally rich experience, made it even more special. It provided our students the opportunity to engage with parts of the culture and history of a language they are learning.

Making emotional connections to the language creates a more meaningful learning environment and builds connections between the classroom and the real world. These are the optimal conditions for learning, which we managed to achieve on our field trip.

Gary:

文化之旅—— “昨日再现”

新加坡加拿大国际学校是一所IB学校，其中包括PYP/MYP/DP的课程。小学PYP课程中“超学科教学”、“主题教学”等理念一直贯穿于整个小学体系阶段。一年级的学生正在进行“我们身处什么时空”的主题学习，其中主题思想是“科技改变对人们生活的影响。”经过年级组、PYP协调员、任课老师的讨论，决定组织一年级双语班的学生进行一次别开生面的“文化之旅”。

新加坡原貌馆（Chinatown Heritage Centre）是一所真实还原了新加坡早期华人生活的展览馆。我们希望通过这样的参观学习活动，让学生切身实地地感受到以前人们的生活与现在人们生活的不同，以及科技怎样影响到我们现实的生活。在PYP协调员Rachel的带领下，中英文班主任老师以及中文教务督导共同策划了这次活动。新加坡原貌馆共三层，其中，第一层由中文教务督导郭老师用中文进行讲解和引导探究活动，第二层由PYP协调员Rachel 用英文进行讲解和引导探究活动，最后第三层由各班中英文班主任老师带领，让学生有自由提问和学习的过程。这样安排的主旨是使用IB探究学习的方式，让学生在中英文两种语言的指引下，进行主题式学习。在活动的过程中，学生们不但能充分理解教学单元中的主旨概念，并且也能对本土文化产生深入的认识。

活动当日，学生们兴高采烈地乘坐大巴从学校出发，虽然烈日当空，但是一路上孩子们欢声笑语，到处都洋溢着兴奋和喜悦。到了原貌馆，同学们在老师的带领下井然有序地进行分组参观和学习。在第一层，郭老师用中文讲解了关于裁缝店、厨房、卫生间等以前人们生活的场景，同学们好奇不已，争先恐后地举手提问……有个澳大利亚学生看到以前笨重的婴儿车，就用中文告诉老师，他弟弟的婴儿车是用塑料做的，非常方便。老师们听到他的话，感觉特别欣慰和自豪，孩子可以把自己所学的知识融会贯通，又用中文表达出来，这真是难能可贵啊！在第二层，PYP协调员Rachel生动活泼地向学生们介绍了以前的诊所、商店、住家等生活环境，一个来自中国的学生看到了以前的厕所，就用英文跟老师和别的同学分享了他自己的经历。他说，在中国有些地方很贫困，他们现在还在使用这样的茅厕，另外又讲了他爷爷奶奶的故事……其他同学都听得津津有味。最后，在任课老师们的带领下，学生们来到第三层，参观了以前的社区和娱乐场所的情景。学生们在这里同时使用两种语言进行提问和讨论，把本次活动推向了高潮，最后又合影留念，留下了一张张最美的笑脸。

一次体验、一次分享、两种文化的碰撞与交流，这一切的一切都让在场的老师们感到这次活动的意义所在。三个小时的参观与学习转眼就过去了，当老师们集合的时候，很多学生还意犹未尽，不停地询问什么时候还会进行这样的活动……在之后的几天里，老师们整理了在原貌馆参观的一些影像资料，进行了拓展教学，并结合了其他学科的知识，对本单元的探究主题进行更深层次地分析和学习。

一次文化之旅，两种教学语言，三个教师团队，四面八方学生，勾勒出加拿大国际学校双语教学一幅优美和难忘的画面。

This field trip to the Chinatown Heritage Centre highlighted the unique learning opportunities offered to our bilingual students. They were completely immersed in a culturally and linguistically rich environment, to authentically move through the language learning process. This engagement did not end at the centre. What they saw, heard, touched and experienced returned to the classroom. The teachers used this to inform the teaching and learning for the remainder of the unit. It was indeed a valuable trip back in time.