Last week our Senior Editor, Karen MacGilvray, was invited to China to speak at a conference hosted by our partner, Wuhan Allkids. Wuhan Allkids is a leader in private kindergarten education in China. The conference was a training and development opportunity for teachers and administrators.
The conference centered around a theme of home learning and kindergarten learning programs. MacGilvray spoke to the crowd about social and emotional learning (SEL). SEL is a focus on educational themes like friendship, community building, conflict resolution, identity awareness, patience, gratitude, and more. She spoke about the importance of home learning and demonstrated how educators can guide parents to continue SEL at home. MacGilvray gave examples of interactive language models that parents can do at home. The examples included who and what. This technique is when a parent asks, “What do you see?” and the child can respond, “I see a….” Continuing to learn at home encourages a child’s growth and maturity while bonding with their parent. MacGilvray finished with a question and answer session.
“It’s great to meet partners face-to-face! It helps us better understand their needs in the context of a rich and dynamic culture. I think seeing them in their own environment helps us as an organization,” said MacGilvray.
