Thong Lor – Teachers at Wells realize that student-teaching-student has its own place and value in the learning process. As such, teachers organize peer-teaching opportunities that allow active involvement of students. This was the experience of students of Grade 4 – in their Social Studies class. The instructional unit on Japan culminated with a grand in-class exhibition featuring the country in all its splendor. Students set up stations and used appropriate teaching aids (real-life objects, pictures, models, etc.) to teach others about Japan as a country, culture, clothing, food, calligraphy, games, origamy, etc. They spent countless hours preparing for this event – researching, interviewing, and reading about Japan. Obviously, the Japanese children took a lead role in this whole process – but everyone else felt closely connected to their Japanese classmates. It is true that taking children outside of classroom enhances learning, because of exposure to real-life experiences – but in this case, everyone felt like the whole of Japan had descended upon Grade 4 classroom, without having to go out.
