Teaching Biology - The IB Way!

I have been teaching Biology to the Advanced High Level (AHL) Group in the I.B programme offered by Ermitage and discovered a wonderful colleague in Dr. Elizabeth Webb. Elizabeth has a Ph.D in Ecology, is an earnest teacher and a sensitive person. We have been working together in setting up investigatory projects and it has been exciting as the sky is the limit on what we can do. The curriculum is essentially open-ended and I took this opportunity to link digestion of lipids with dispersal of the oil spill on the Gulf of Mexico. Sounded wacky initially but could make it fly. And, the kids loved it. And Elizabeth even designed a thought-provoking assignment on the environmental fallout of the BP oil spill. Cool, eh?

I have been helping Dr. Jason Hearn, a Physics teacher who also happens to be the head of the IGCSE programme, with his classes in Physics and Chemistry. The French system has a unique set of terminology where the 12 year-olds are in 'Cinquieme' and the 13-year olds are in 'Quatrieme'. The kids in these classes are extremely enthusiastic and have responded well. Their understanding of words and their etymology was amazing, But they found my 'Indian' accent amusing. There is definitely more elbow room for creative teaching. One realises that your Indianness is more pronounced in a foreign country. The relationship between student and teacher is cordial but not personal. Children keep to themselves, with a few exceptions.