Curriculum Global

Clearly we do want our children to bond with the local culture. We want them to have local friends, a sense of loyalty to the country and their area in it and a sense of identification with the family community there. Attending a local school, either state run or not too exclusively private, may well be part of the answer in some cases – but not in every case. What else can we do to encourage this bonding? A few ideas to help are given.


1. Include the host language in the child’s curriculum. If the child is following a programme of home education, then a host language teacher could be hired. This person could also provide a useful bridge in to the local culture. The same could be done if the child’s “international” school does not include the host language in the timetable. Specialist TCK schools should have a strong programme of teaching the local language. If the school does not have such a policy and insists on teaching just what the children would learn in the passport country, it is well worth challenging this approach. Ted Ward said back in the 1980’s that nothing grieved him more than seeing people [schoolchildren] learn a language that was not the national language while ignoring the national language. We agree. (One exception that we may have to make though is to temporarily shelve national language learning when a non-anglophone enters an English language system.) Communication with local people is vital, and the official teaching of the language should begin early in the child’s school career. At BCS for example, we had French in the timetable even for very young children in the first primary class, and followed this through with a strong emphasis until the IGCSE examination. Many of our children there were ready to take this exam at least a year earlier than their passport country counterparts. As a result of this there were obvious benefits in terms of communication and confidence. The children were also encouraged to talk to the Senegalese ancillary staff at the school, not only to practise their French, but also to build bridges of friendship into the local community.


2. The school or home education programme should also build in elements of local studies. Include local history and geography in the programme of study. Why relentlessly study urban growth in the Third World from a textbook if it is right there on the doorstep? Also, it would be a strange educational philosophy to teach the history of a western country in enormous detail and yet leave our children almost totally ignorant of the host country’s history. Include local music and drama forms in the expressive arts teaching. Local performers can be brought in to show the real thing. With imagination other areas of the curriculum can similarly benefit from use of local resources.


3. Social interaction can be encouraged, either through formal membership of clubs or more informally through play. As the children get older this is often much easier for the boys, as the local boys in many societies have much more time and freedom to engage in leisure activities such as football. The girls in such societies are often expected to work around the home and face many more social limitations. To some extent this is less marked in an urban environment, but the pressure is still there. Some home educating parents have deliberately set this type of social interaction up with success. It is important to find the balance between encouragement and pressure. Some children are naturally reserved and to push them, especially early on, into play and social situations where they will be exposed to boisterous and rough local children could be counter productive. Using another child as a mentor could be very useful.


4. Bring friendly local adults into the child’s life. This allows the child to appreciate aspects of the host country in a non-threatening way.


5. Be positive yourselves about the host culture and give your children the role model of involvement wherever possible. Keep them away from jaded expatriates who have negative attitudes and comments – this includes expatriate children sometimes. If it is impossible to avoid such people, then explain to them that there is a problem and that you do not share these jaundiced views.


6. You as parents (or school staff) could accompany the children and take them on visits to local friends. This is helpful in new areas or where you are uncertain of any potential “mentors”.