university.nae.school
Regular Features
In this month’s featured webinar, The Language of Friendship, Dana Kerford, the founder of URSTRONG and Friendship Expert explores the relationships between children in the early years. This webinar is targeted towards educators who support children from grades 1 to 6 and provides insight into childhood and tweenhood friendships and relational aggression. Dana looks at language strategies for communicating with children aged 6 to 12, exploring ways of dealing with conflict and helping children become more empathetic as they approach teenhood.
Empathy & Culture
-
Empathy can be defined as being aware of and sensitive to the thoughts, feelings and experiences of others. As educators, we have the opportunity to help students develop the human qualities needed to shape a successful future and being part of a global family is the perfect place to achieve this.
As students from BVIS Hanoi prepared to go to Tanzania on the NAE Expedition I was reminded of what a fantastic opportunity this is to meet others, learn from them and be immersed in another culture. With more awareness of the cultures, opinions and feelings of others, students are able to develop empathy in a real and tangible way. These experiences have a lasting impact on young people but that’s not to say that we need to travel to develop empathy.
In the international school setting, students are naturally exposed to other cultures but even more so in Nord Anglia Schools that offer opportunities to communicate cross-culturally and collaborate beyond the classroom. Every connection brings with it the potential to see things from someone else’s point of view and consequently bring this new perspective into relationships and communities outside of the school setting.
With empathy in mind, I am looking forward to seeing how students have approached this year's Global Campus Photographers of the Year Competition. The ability to visually communicate peace, justice and strong institutions relies on a firm understanding of what these concepts mean to others and how the viewer will feel when they connect with the image. As we continue to offer students meaningful opportunities we are helping them to develop positive human qualities, in this instance awareness of self and others.
If we really want to help students develop empathy then we need to develop our own self awareness and empathy skills. There is a great self study course on the NAU Health and Wellbeing section called Five Ways to Wellbeing. As part of this course there is a giving challenge, give it a try and notice the positive changes in yourself. Developing our personal skills first helps us to support and guide students with integrity and authenticity
Emma Corkery
Head of Art
Wellbeing Teaching Fellow
BVIS Hanoi
Featured Webinar - Language of Friendship
-