In its desire to improve its curriculum and learning strategies, Childlink Learning Center and Highschool Inc. continues to collaborate with educational institutions in other countries.
“We started our international collaboration when we went to Hong Kong in 2017,” recalls Ms. Maria Theresa Tio, Childlink managing director and president. “We started the collaboration because we want our students to go and see how schooling is done in other countries.”
The collaboration with three Z clubs in the HK high schools focused on anti-cyber bullying, an advocacy of Childlink.
The Childlink Z Club wanted to work with the other Z Clubs towards advocating against cyber bullying all over the world, Ms. Tio explains.
Childlink Z Club students and Z Club students of the Diocesan School in HongKong share the advocacy on anti cyberbullying.
Cyberbullying is a global concern. The collaboration of Childlink with schools in Hongkong has paved the way for long term partnerships for this concern.
The four Z Clubs then created a Facebook page designed to increase awareness of this growing concern and to emphasize that cyberbullying is not good and may even be detrimental to those affected by it.
The next collaboration was with the Fu Jen Catholic University in Taiwan. The university allowed students to experience learning in a university in preparation for the college life.
Aside from providing learning experiences for the school’s students, Ms. Tio said, the collaboration also provided an opportunity to see the new trends being implemented at the Taiwan university.
The trip to Taiwan allowed the Linkers to know about Taiwan’s political and cultural history.
College students of Fu Jen University in Taiwan were encouraged by the Z Club of Childlink to join in the global campaign against Anti Cyberbullying.
Linkers were taught how to do programming using 3D animation by Fu Jen University in Taiwan.
“We also saw how new technology is applied in learning,” she said.
One of the trends that is already widespread in use in Taiwan is animation and 3D printing using a special printer. The Childlink students were taught how to program and make their own products and have these printed on the 3D printer.
They also shared with the university students their anti cyber bullying advocacy.
As a result of the collaboration with the Taiwan university, some of the college students came to Cebu to teach in Childlink. “Among the many things that the college students taught us, how to cook Taiwanese food and play cultural games were most enjoyed by the Linkers,” Ms. Tio added.
Childlink continued its international collaboration when their students went to Singapore.
“We went to Singapore in 2019 when we had our collaboration with the Singapore Institute of Management. Our students were able to see so many best practices done in SIM. We also got ideas on how to set up our own wellness center,” she said.
The Singapore school had an area where they conduct social and emotional wellness for their students.
Childlink set up a wellness center in collaboration with barangay Guadalupe, which was patterned after that of the Singapore university. However, the operation was stopped as of this time because of the pandemic.
Despite the pandemic, the school continues its collaboration with schools abroad.
Childlink collaborated with schools in Japan through webinars this school year. The webinars done were more of a cultural exchange. In the cultural exchange, the Childlink students shared poems written by Filipinos, which highlights how Filipinos want real freedom. They also learned the Japanese’ love for country and values of bravery and courage.
High school students in Yokkaichi Maryknoll Gakuin School in Japan in a webinar with Childlink High school students
This pandemic has given more opportunities to do a webinar cultural exchange in different schools in Japan.
The cultural exchange also included the sharing of light moments such as knowing Japanese anime and Japanese food as well as a shared love for Kpop.
On the other hand, Childlink students shared the beautiful tourist sites in the Philippines, Filipino traditional songs and folk dances as well as modern dances.
Virtual cultural exchange activities allowed students to learn about different food choices in Japan as well as in the Philippines.
Poems and stories that are highly popular in Japan gave Linkers insight into Japan’s love for their country.
This cultural exchange also enabled the Linkers to appreciate Filipino culture and fostered nationalism among them.
However, the collaboration with the schools in Japan ended in February.
Ms. Tio said they hope to resume these collaborations in July and August during the incoming school year.
“We want our students to be globally more aware of the social, cultural and educational trends that are happening. They will learn many things and will be open to new ideas,” she explained.
Childlink recognizes that education should be more globally inclined and should adopt new ways of learning.
The school was able to benchmark itself through these collaborations.
Teacher Tess talks about the benefits of international collaboration as a means to broaden the knowledge and experiences of students.
“In a way, we realize that the kind of education we have should not be too focused on the academic side,” Ms. Tio pointed out. “We have to be at par with the international standard. Academic learning should be linked with real life. We can adopt best practices of education from other countries.”
Childlink then applies the various learning strategies they learned from these collaborations.
“We have to make activities to strengthen what students learn academically,” she said. “We are now restructuring our curriculum to make it more responsive to the real situation.”
The school is now offering Summer Classes starting June 7. These include Reading Classes for Preschool to Grade 3; English classes for foreign students for all grade levels; Reinforcement Classes on English, Mathematics, Science, Filipino, MTB and Civics for all grade levels; and Music Classes for all grade levels.
Childlink Summer classes start this June 7, 2021.
Ms. Tio explained that the purpose of summer classes is to reinforce learning in preparation for the next level.
Also, Childlink wants to provide the opportunity for students to discover new interest, including music.
Meanwhile, the next school year will start on June 19. The classes will be done through online class and the home school program.
Homeschooling as an alternative to regular online class is offered for the coming school year starting this July 19, 2021. For inquiries, you may call 4152963 and look for Teacher Auda.
For inquiries, please contact Teacher Auda or Analy at 415-2963 or 0933-812-2911. You can also message the official Facebook page Childlink Learning Center and High School or Facebook account Childlink. #
