Dr. Anika Saxena and Mtro. Octavio Flores Orozco collaborated for the second time to bring their Hong Kong and Mexican students together for a virtual exchange in Semester 2 of AY 2022/23. In this online cultural exchange, students from Hong Kong and Mexico were paired up and met twice over the Semester to share about themselves and Early Childhood Education (ECE) in their countries. They also exchanged lesson plans to learn from one another how classes are typically conducted in Hong Kong or Mexico.
Our students enjoyed these conversations and meeting new friends from another country, who are also teacher educators. Here are some of the things our students learned from the experience:
· “By sharing our lesson plans, we understand that Mexico and Hong Kong use different frameworks; even our definitions and functions of creativity are not the same!”
· “We shared our teaching materials and exchanged pictures of our classroom set up to have a vision about the classroom in respective countries.”
· “I learned new ways of teaching and strategies from another country.”
· “My Mexican friend told me about her school life and work as a teacher of students with special educational needs and disabilities. This encourages me to work harder as a teacher.”
· “I learned that most schools in Hong Kong use English and Chinese in the teaching and learning process and that friends can be made no matter the distance.”
We thank the 19 students who participated for their enthusiastic participation and support and hope they will continue making new friends from around the world.
Written by Sofie Chua (schua@eduhk.hk), COIL Facilitator