 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
This fall, the University of Windsor’s (UW) Faculty of Education and the Greater Essex County District School Board (GECDSB) had the pleasure of hosting 17 teacher candidates from Southwest University (SWU), Chongqing and two education students from Soochow University (SU), Suzhou, Jiangsu in China, who were participants of the Reciprocal Learning Teacher Education Program (RLP) (http://www.uwindsor.ca/education/supplemental/reciprocal-learning). After a successful three-month period immersion into the Canadian education systems and the multicultural society, the SWU/SU 2019 Cohort had to say their goodbyes to their associate teachers whom they have been shadowing in the school placements, professors at the university, and their fellow peers within the RLP.
On December 12th, 2019, Dr. Shijing Xu, Canada-China Partnership Project Director, with the RLP Working Team, hosted a Farewell Potluck Party at University of Windsor for the SWU/SU 2019 Cohort in favour of the Canadian holiday tradition. This year's Farewell Potluck Party was unique as it is a celebration of the RLP’s tenth circle of exchanges of Canadian and Chinese teacher candidates and an acknowledgement to the University of Windsor, Southwest University and the GECDSB and Windsor Essex Catholic District School Board (WECDSB) and all of the RLP placement schools in Windsor (Vincent Massey Secondary School, Westview Freedom Academy, Walkerville Collegiate Institute, Assumption College Catholic High School, Holy Names Catholic High School, Prince Edward Public School, Queen Victoria Public School, Talbot Trail Public School, and Westgate Public School). The UW Faculty of Education professors and administration that came to support the teacher candidates included Dr. Jonathan Bayley, Dr. Clinton Beckford, Dr. Ken Montgomery, Dr. Glenn Rideout, Dr. Terry Sefton, Dr. Alan Wright, Dr. Zuochen Zhang, and Dr. George Zhou, along with valued partners Dr. Clara Howitt, Education Superintendent from the GECDSB, Westgate Principal Mrs. Jackie Connelly, Talbot Trail Principal Mr. Mike Baker, and teachers from Prince Edward, Queen Victoria, Talbot Trail, Westgate, and Massey. Dr. Bruce Tucker made remarks on behalf of Dr. Douglas Kneale, UW Provost and Vice President, Academic.
The evening started off with each of the SWU/SU teacher candidates presenting about their academic and cross-cultural learning experiences in Windsor and Canada. The teacher candidates demonstrated a unique international and intercultural reciprocal learning journey that represented the goals of the reciprocal learning program. They had respect for their mentors, peers, and their environment, which paved the way for reciprocal learning with mutual appreciation and positive exchanges in concepts and practices between Canada and China, and West and East. The SWU/SU 2019 Cohort took this opportunity to also express their deep gratitude toward the teachers, administrators, professors, UW RLP peers, and the RLP Working Team. The teacher candidates spoke about how each and every teacher, professor, administrator, and peer has impacted their development as a teacher and growth as an individual, and had wished that the period together was infinite to have more time conveying their words of appreciation.
Following the teacher candidates’ presentations, Dr. Ken Montgomery, Dean of the Faculty of Education at UW, applauded the SWU/SU teacher candidates for having the courage to go to a new country in the name of education.
Dr. Montgomery said, “I have every confidence that in fact you have left quite an impression and quite an impact on us at the Faculty of Education, and more broadly in community and in the school systems.”
Westgate Principal Mrs. Jackie Connelly and Talbot Trail Principal Mr. Mike Baker both spoke about the SWU/SU 2019 Cohort’s contributions to their schools.
Mrs. Jackie Connelly, Principal of Westgate Public School, mentioned, “We have a breakfast program at Westgate where we serve 140 students breakfast every morning, and the SWU teacher candidates found that out day one, and they were there every morning to help and it was very nice. I feel that we became very much a family, we cared about them and they cared about us.”
Mr. Mike Baker, Principal of Talbot Trail Public School, said, “The SWU/SU 2019 Cohort would always have a big smile on their faces every day. Your joy of being in the building and your love of education and working with our students was a gift to us.”
Dr. Bruce Tucker delivered warm remarks to the Chinese visiting students on behalf of Dr. Douglas Kneale, Provost and Vice President, Academic at University of Windsor.
Dr. Kneale regarded, “I hope that this experience has been valuable. As I said to you in October at the Sixth Annual International Conference on West-East Reciprocal Learning in Education, what you will bring home at the end of your travels will be unique to each of you, but what will be common to all of you is the formative, enriching experience of studying and learning in a new land.”
The room was soon adorned with the sweet aromas of baked goods and delectable dishes from the guests, laughter and ecstatic conversations were whirling about as the teacher candidates and the guests enjoyed their dinner. Santa made a grand surprise with RLP Certificates and gifts to the SWU/SU 2019 Cohort and the principals and teachers for all of their efforts in the three-month period of the RLP.
As the evening came to an end, the SWU/SU 2019 Cohort had to conclude their wishes to their mentors and peers in Canada. There were large smiles that radiated around the room with warm hugs to bid farewell; however, there were also tears that embodied the strength of the RLP which reveals the deep connections and relationships that were formed despite of the cultural differences of the West and the East.
Dr. Xi He, Guide Teacher and a visiting professor from SWU, summarized the learning experiences from the SWU/SU 2019 Cohort in three words to conclude the three-month chapter in Canada.
Dr. He said, “The first word is gratitude. Many thanks to the RLP, led by Dr. Xu, between the UW and SWU and SU, with the great support of GECDSB. The second word is growth. As a team, we care about each other and cooperate very well to become the best of ourselves. The last word is harvest. We established a life-long friendship with students from UW. We have also developed mutual trust with teachers and students in schools.”
The Reciprocal Learning in Teacher Education and School Education between Canada and China (RLP), co-directed by Dr. Shijing Xu at University of Windsor and Dr. Michael Connelly at OISE/University of Toronto, is a partnership project funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC, 2013-2020) and by in-kind partner contributions. This partnership involves two Canadian and four Chinese universities, two Canadian school boards with elementary and secondary schools in Toronto, Windsor, Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing, and Changchun, and a seven-member International Advisory Committee, and Six research teams co-led by Chinese and Canadian team leaders.
Farewell Potluck Party: Southwest University and Soochow University 2019 Cohort, teachers and administrators from the Greater Essex County District School Board and Windsor Essex Catholic District School Board, professors from Faculty of Education, and the Reciprocal Learning Program Working Team
Alana’s (UW RLP Alumnus) mother and Zhuohui Zhang from Southwest University
exchange farewells to one another.
Yuhan Deng from the Reciprocal Learning Working Team and Taylor Pare, an alumnus of the Reciprocal Learning Teacher Education Program comforting Xun Yuan from Southwest University.