NYLC Brings Service-Learning to Switzerland
nylc in switzerland
by Ashley Shaver, NYLC Youth Initiatives Coordinator
When Patty Blohlinger and Doug Beard, teachers from Zurich's Inter-Community School, attended the NYLC's 2004 National Service-Learning Conference in Orlando, Fla., they discovered service-learning and wanted to share it with their entire school. After their return to Zurich, arrangements were made for NYLC's first training in Switzerland. On October 19, 2004, NYLC Trainer Verna Simmons and Youth Initiatives Coordinator Ashley Shaver did a training for the school's elementary teachers.
Though similar in content, our Zurich training differed in key ways from our stateside experiences. Most memorably, our long conversations about service-learning and educational issues were augmented with in-depth exchanges on the natures of fondue, mountains, watches, and chocolate.
Fittingly the teachers at the Inter-Community School which serves youths from around the world were quite an international crowd themselves. They hailed from such far-off places as England, Ireland, New Zealand, the Philippines, the United States, and Italy. They were a relatively young group, and some of them had spent their lives hopping from one country to the next, getting a truly global view of the international education system.
All of them, though, had been unfamiliar with service-learning before coming into contact with NYLC. They understood service and its importance for their students and communities, but hadn't made the critical connection between service and academic curricula that distinguishes service-learning. At the training, there was some initial hesitancy and confusion, but teachers slowly came to understand service-learning as a way to get their students motivated, involved, and educated; bring about positive community change; and fulfill essential academic standards.
After some initial training, the teachers broke into teams by grade and began planning academic units incorporating service-learning. Hands went up one after another and we rushed to the different groups to answer questions. Though service-learning started out as a foreign concept, there was a certain synergy at this training: The teachers were very open to new ideas, Verna had done a remarkable job of explaining the key points, and many different minds were working together towards a common goal. In the end, they really got it.
They came to understand the importance of giving students a voice in and ownership of the projects. They wrapped their brains around the importance of reflection and the incorporation of the theory of Multiple Intelligences. And they realized the value of building community partnerships.
As the teachers left the training each with a plan in hand and a new methodology in mind service-learning was underway in Zurich. Hopefully, these teachers will spread the word to their international colleagues and Verna and I will soon be off to China, Hungary, Kenya, Venezuela, Lithuania, Iceland
