Teaching Your Students to Explore Their World

Teaching Your Students to Explore Their WorldDuring my years in high school, I've seen hundreds of sample essay topics and many of them have been geared toward the USA. Some of them were indeed written by United States students, others were by students from other countries, but most were intended for college and university students. I thought it was strange, but I can't think of any student who has a problem with that. This is because they are all US citizens.Why? Because there are so many things that make students of the world differ from students of the United States. In fact, the students I have seen writing those sample essay topics have nothing in common except their nationalities. The essays were written by students, all in a time frame when American high schools are ending and the next class begins, so it made sense to write an essay to teach the students to travel and explore new cultures.In order to fully enjoy an oceanic experience, you must be willing to see the world from different perspectives. I think a good sample essay would have a few topics on exploration that would go beyond learning about a culture. The topics could also include discovering the wonders of the sea, recognizing the distinctively-Asian character of the ocean, observing the South Pacific, or spending time to discover the unique characteristics of the rain forests.As a teacher, I like to add diversity to my class so students get a chance to discover their own unique culture and perhaps even learn something along the way. If I were the person that wrote a sample essay, I might write about the 'Japanese spirit'the African animal'the Southern culture'a revolution in the Amazon.' A broadening of the topic would allow my students to write about their understanding of their new culture while learning about the old one as well.What about having more than one sample essay written by students of the world? The differences between one Oceanic nation to another can vary greatly, not only in culture but in energy levels, politics, technology, and even language, so I would like to see more than one essay on that subject.There are ways I can present sample essay topics to different students within a single school year. First, I do want to use a traditional instructional course outline to present topics at the beginning of the year, but if we need more essays to introduce the new students, I will make sure that the student writing the essay knows that before he or she starts the assignment. I will also ask if each student wants to write his or her own essay, which are interesting for some students, and a little stressful for others. It makes me think if I would like to see more samples of that type of essay being written by a foreign student, so we can build a resource for students of the world that they can also use.I am very happy that I have taught, sometimes part-time, at Stanford University for the past three years and have met a wide variety of students of the world from the ages of nine to the youngest, who are only six years old. The trip of a lifetime has brought us together and formed many wonderful friendships.We've been exposed to new nations and cultures, learned about each other's religions, and had wonderful times traveling in new lands. We are fortunate to live in a country that welcomes immigrants and shows us how important and beneficial they are to our society. I have learned a lot from my classmates and loved those I have encountered from other countries through those experiences.