The start is difficult but it will be a good one
The beginning of our project was to choose one among the six listed countries that we were interested in. I didn’t find myself immediately dive into one but feeling uncertain between two choices.
https://gph.is/2BGlCbT
As someone who has experienced attending an international high school, I found the schools in Kaohsiung and Copenhagen very relatable to my own experience. In the recent decade, studying abroad has been a rising trend for high school students in China. I have witnessed several private schools that offer courses like AP, A-level and IB founded over the past ten years in my hometown, Suzhou. Students enter these schools aiming for a smoother transition to their undergraduate study abroad and hope to be immersed in an English-speaking environment. This is a road paved to higher institutions in the western world just like how TES functions. Therefore, a research in TES could help me take a peek at what the dynamics are in schools that act as the tube for transferring students from East Asian countries to the western world.
Although I took a similar path, I was lucky enough to be admitted by United World College and started my abroad experience at a younger age. Living on a campus that only has 20 percent of Canadians but 80 percent of students from elsewhere in the world differs from students’ experience in KAS. It is more similar compared to KIS which is also a more diverse international school focused on studying IB. Moreover, my study abroad experience in Denmark provides me background knowledge that Denmark is actually not very welcoming for immigrants and anyone who is not ethnically Danish. It would be really interested to explore the relationship between CIS, a much-isolated international community, and the bigger environment of Copenhagen or Denmark.
After a bit of struggle and hesitation, I decided to join the KIS group. It turned out to be quite interesting when we started to read the data. Due to their frequent immigrations, a lot of students in KIS don’t feel connected to Danish culture or society. They are often viewed as exotic, outsiders and can be recognized if speaking Danish with an accent. However, students in KIS have a strong sense of community and belonging within KIS. Therefore, Abbey, Katie and I decided to focus on this aspect: what has facilitated the sense of belonging in the community? We are aware of how Danish immigration policies could be one of the reasons why outsiders feel more connected to each other as the minority group. We are also intrigued by the fact that the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme could have included global citizenship and mutual respect to foster the sense of belonging on the KIS campus.
Although we are excited to dig into the question and conduct research project, we do feel a bit overwhelmed and confused because of the coding process. None of us has actually conducted one such in the past so we hope it would work out and be in line with our proposed timeline of work. I have already been to Denmark but one of my group members is going to Copenhagen for her study abroad experience next semester. Maybe this project could be a spoiler for her next semester in Denmark.