SV teachers plan summer studies in China
JACKSON TWP — Two Seneca Valley High School teachers will embark this summer on a 10-day trip to China to study the country's culture and educational system.
During the trip, the teachers will immerse themselves in classrooms while also taking time to visit the Great Wall, Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City.
Daniel McKosky, an English teacher who also instructs students at the district's television station, will accompany Catherine Smolter, a special-education teacher and assistant lacrosse coach.
They were selected from a pool of hundreds of applicants from across the country. They will join about 50 other teachers on the trip to China, which begins June 26.
The teachers won't have to pay for the trip, but instead will receive full scholarships from Education First, a company that will provide travel costs, as well as professional tour guides during portions of the trip.
While the journey offers a great chance to be a tourist, McKosky said the trip to China is about much more than that.
For him, it's a chance to connect and immerse himself in a different culture and to bring those observations and lessons back to his students.
“I hope to interact and bond with regular Chinese people to get a sense of their daily lives,” he said. “I feel that misconceptions about Asian countries run rampant in America, and I'd love to have as many personal stories as I can to relate to people back home about my time in the country.”
McKosky said he and Smolter will arrive in Beijing on June 27, where they will spend three days. Then they will travel to Xi'an for two days and end with three days in Shanghai.
The teacher added that Education First will provide tour guides at various points, but at most other times the teachers are expected to be on their own to explore communities.
McKosky said the experience will be much different from a prepackaged vacation.
“Surprisingly, I feel I am also most apprehensive about what I am most looking forward to, which is interacting with the culture without the aid of tour guides and interpreters,” he said.
Smolter said she, too, anticipates the trip will provide a “fascinating” glimpse into the educational system of the world's most populated country.
She expects the experience will provide her with valuable tools she can bring back to the classroom.
“Through my firsthand experiences, I will be able to better educate my students and create a dialogue that encourages open-mindedness and interest in different cultures around the world,” she said.
McKosky said he, too, will surely bring back memories and methods that will help him grow in his profession. A large part of that will be accomplished through taking pictures and videos, he said.
“Photos and videos fit perfectly with what I teach, which is media production,” he said. “Whether I am teaching camera composition, film history or documentary methods, I intend to have a wealth of personal examples from China I can use to illustrate techniques that I teach.”
Before the trip, each teacher will take a six-week online class. McKosky said it is intended to give them a “basic background on China's rich history and contemporary cultural dynamics.”
Both teachers say they are ecstatic about the opportunity to visit a culture so different from their own, but Smolter added she does have one reservation.
“To be honest, what I am most apprehensive about is the food,” she said. “I am a very picky eater, and I don't like a lot of things. I do think of myself as a risk-taker so I hope to try some of the food, but I am nervous.”
