Rhonan Mokriski

9:00 - 9:45 The Chinese Experience in our Independent Schools

10:00 - 11:00 Concurrent Sessions I:
Academic and College Landscape Vs. Social Life and Sports/After School Activities – cultural, educational difference, different expectations and managing that. Sunny’s presentation is a little bit of everything. Three parts: Academic landscape, college, social/afternoon activity. What it looks like, why it looks, what we can do to make it better. This is heavy on student perspective. Time for Q&A. Sunny Min
Admission: Managing SEVIS & I20s. Requirements for admission (TOEFL scores?, SSATs, etc. what are the minimum requirements in different schools) Gina will walk them through the process - Admissions the graduation. The woman who runs it at our school can handle this - Possibilities for other schools to share/compare their requirements? HS
Relationships with families abroad – language barriers. gifts, school expectations, hospitality - Sandy Wirth Relationships with parents and the school. Parenting belief. Self-regulated learning. Collectivism vs independence. Studying for the GK. What parents go through based on that. What happens when they come to the US. Pressure. Good School.

11:10 - 12:10 Concurrent Sessions II:
Social Landscape Confucian mindset
Academic Support offered by schools - Best Practices. How are learning disabilities are viewed in China. Shame associated with it. Fear and shame balanced with the child’s need. Identifying them with language needs. How do you separate learning needs, language needs, behavioural needs. Competing challenges. Sandy has some practical advice as well.
College landscape

12:15 - 1:00 Traditional Chinese luncheon

1:00 - 2:00 Concurrent Sessions III:

Academic and College Landscape Vs. Social Life and Sports/After School Activities – cultural, educational difference, different expectations and managing that. Sunny Min
Understanding transitional issues. Appreciate context- reasons for coming to US for school, size of your Chinese community, pressure to succeed, language barriers, difficulty asking for help, shame, collectivist (vs. individualistic) thinking, communication differences (US preference towards extroverts- casual small talk, actively participating in class, boasting about self), other social identities (gender, socioeconomic class & status, ability, religion, sexual orientation, learning needs, rural vs. urban). Touch on some unhealthy symptoms- gaming, insomnia, disordered eating, depression, social isolation, excessive studying. How to assess/identify, reach out, name strengths and challenges (using reframing, growth mindset, celebrations, student orgs.), get to resources. Hear experiences and “best practices” from different schools.

2:10 - 3:10 Panel Discussion with Students: Students will discuss their American independent school experience and compare it with their experience in China. This will afford attendees an opportunity to address questions to "veteran" Chinese students who have experienced multiple years in American s.

Cost: An Honorarium

Duration:

Target Audience: Middle/High School faculty and staff