Global Transitions
By Aleka Bilan
Aleka Bilan is an Associate Certified Academic Coach, an adult Third Culture Kid, and a former international school counselor and educator. She is the daughter and parent of TCKs, who believes in the power of stories to connect us all. Learn more about her services for students, schools and organizations at www.alekabilanconsulting.com.
Global Transitions Apr 29, 2020
Ep.14 - Minecraft as a Transition Tool
If you live in a Minecraft household, like I do, then perhaps it is the bane of your existence. Or, perhaps, you marvel at the creativity and collaboration and sheer breadth of possibility on the platform. In any case, I didn't think it was key to my own children's coping mechanisms with transition until I saw my sons building all of our former homes (and favorite vacation destinations) in Minecraft worlds. That way, they could remember - and visit anytime! My TCK son, who celebrated his 11th birthday last year in a passport immigration line in Jakarta, tells us more.
Note: The 1.17 software update dropped on the day this was published, so there was much excitement in our house and neighborhood!
Ep.13 - Lessons learned from a life of crossing cultures
In this restart and revamp of the podcast, we talk with the "OG," my father. Joseph Winn Daniels Novitski. He is a published author, journalist, polyglot, and adult Third Culture Kid who is living in his 80th year. Listen to learn lessons about a life lived as a chameleon, how cultural differences have evolved, and how TCKs are uniquely positioned in a vital fight to save our planet.
Note: this interview was recorded on June 4th, 2020. The background noise you hear is the audio mic being passed back and forth as we kept a social distance.
Want to find out more about climate change and activism from the post-World War II generation? Then stream Sir David Attenborough's Witness Statement to future generations on Netflix. Watch the trailer here.
Ep.12 - This is your Brain on Transition
The hiatus of the past 3 months have harbored an upheaval for my family in an already "unprecedented" global year - 2020. As I have experienced yet another international move and the unsettling strain on my brain, I empathize with the millions of us who are also experiencing the throes of transition during Covid-19. How are billions of students, teachers and parents affected by this transition, as schooling resumes in various versions around the world? How can kindness and time help us clear the fog in our brain?
References & Extensions:
- Brene Brown's podcast Unlocking Us - "Day 2" episode.
- Ellen Mahoney's The Sea Change Podcast - Episode 5.
- Michael Rosen performing his book - "We're Going on a Bear Hunt!"
Ep.11 - Dear Teachers
It's June. Teachers are exhausted from all the Zooming, and posting, and content creating, and not seeing their students at all for weeks and weeks. Yet, most teachers remain determined to support each of their students, to help them be the best version of themself.
In this pivotal moment in US and global history, what can others teach us? How can we learn from the cataclysm of racial inequality or the pervasiveness of a virus? Will humanity be our best selves?
In this final episode of season 1, join us. Listen. Learn. Educate yourself. Let's be better.
Here's a helpful list of anti-racism resources a friend shared - http://bit.ly/ANTIRACISMRESOURCES. As a teacher and life-long learner, you can go deeper into resources, curriculum and PD here - https://www.teachandtransform.org/
Ep.10 - Dear Class of 2020
This is my open letter to the high school students graduating during the pandemic, a global cohort of graduates. I would like to acknowledge the loss of their rituals of celebration, their sadness, their anger -- and their resolve, their possibility as humanity's future, a cohort like none other.
In case you missed them, here are the celebrity commencement speeches and USAmerican celebrations from: Oprah Winfrey - https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/15/us/oprah-winfrey-2020-commencement-speech.html; Former US President Barack Obama - https://youtu.be/sTFWC1PiLVE; and John Krasinki's Some Good News - https://youtu.be/IweS2CPSnbI.
And if you're unfamiliar with, or need a refresher on the "RAFT" acronym (Reconciliation, Affirmation, Farewells, Think Destination) - please see two seminal works on this topic: "Third Culture Kids, 3rd Edition: Growing up Among Worlds" by Ruth Van Reken, David C. Pollock, and Michael V. Pollock and "Safe Passage: how mobility affects people & what international schools should do about it" by Doug Ota.
Ep.9 - Time
Learn more about Bernie Lenoue and his support of international students at his website: College Support International.
Want to hear TED speakers on "Shifting Time"? Listen to this episode of the TED Radio Hour on NPR.
Read two recent articles on our perception of time during the pandemic, one from Wired and another from Discover magazines.
Ep.8 - Humanity happens
Life transitions - birth, death, marriage, parenthood - are all still happening during this Covid-19 global pandemic. Sadly, too much dying. However, what is at the core of these rituals? What will anthropologists record and historians remember about this episode in the human story? How is this epoch part of the enduring chain of humanity's journey? Through joyous celebrations and mournful losses, we ponder, we reflect, we move forward, together.
Ep.7 - Resilience
During this time of coronavirus, can we just "be" resilient, or is this a learned and practiced behavior? Can we (and our children) learn resilience without facing challenges? In this episode, I reflect on my own and my son's cross-cultural transitions in first grade, to try to learn how to be more resilient in these challenging times.
For a more insightful perspective on "How to build resilience in Kids," please follow Dr. Aliza Pressman's podcast -- Raising Good Humans here, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Ep.6 - Grappling with Guilt
Guilt has loomed large for folks during the time of Covid-19. Whether it's an expat who could choose to leave their school's host country or someone who is bored in quarantine but knows that there are those much worse off, how do we grapple with the guilt? What can we learn from guilt, empathy, choice and control that could help us weather future transitions?
Dr. Brene Brown states: "Based on my research and the research of other shame researchers, I believe that there is a profound difference between shame and guilt. I believe that guilt is adaptive and helpful – it’s holding something we’ve done or failed to do up against our values and feeling psychological discomfort."
If you're interested in learning more about Brene Brown's work, and haven't listened to her original TED talk, you can find it here, or subscribe to her new podcast "Unlocking Us" here.
Ep.5 - Lessons Learned, Part 3, with Kathleen Schultz
On Febuary 13th, 2020, I chatted with Kathleen Schultz, Director of University Counselling at Dulwich College - Shanghai Pudong campus. I wanted to learn from a school counselor and a parent working in China how high school students were coping with this sudden transition to staying at home and learning online. At the time, Kathleen was in Prague, her children were with her husband's family in Sweden, and she had just come from Shanghai; I was in Jakarta with my own young children.
Now, we are both scattered once again. Some international schools in China consider reopening their high school divisions. As I listen to our conversation two months later, while the rest of the world is grappling with what our colleagues in China first encountered, her comments seem prescient. The mental health toll of this pandemic on teachers, parents and particularly adolescent students around the international education community will have effects long into the future.
My thanks to Kathleen and the hundreds of international school counselors around the world who continue to support their students, families, colleagues and community every single day.
If you are an educator, please take care of your mental health and resilience with these tips from the CIS Wellbeing blog here and here. As school counselors, educators and parents, the International School Counseling Association (ISCA) has compiled a very thorough list of resources here.
Ep.4 - Lessons Learned, Part 2, with Melanie Vrba
In a recorded Zoom conversation from February 20, 2020, Aleka speaks with Melanie Vrba, High School Principal at the Western Academy of Beijing in China. The school had been closed for about a month at this point, and in their conversation, Melanie shares some lessons learned for school leaders, parents and students facing a sudden transition in their schooling life.
LINKS: (1) Follow @WAB_LIVE on Twitter (2) Interested in boosting the relationship wellbeing and mentoring culture at your international school? Contact Ellen Mahoney at SeaChange Mentoring, and follow her podcast here.
Ep.3 - Lessons Learned, Part 1, with Bec Taylor
In today's episode, I interview Bec Taylor, Elementary School Teacher-Librarian at the International School of Beijing. She is an elementary educator, married to an elementary educator, parenting and teaching her own elementary-aged children for 10 weeks now. I hope educator-parents who are teaching their own and other's kids from home due to school closures can gain some pearls of wisdom from Bec. This is the first of a three-part series in which I interview colleagues from international schools in China, so that others just beginning this journey can learn from them.
Show Notes:
Updated number of school children impacted by Covid-19 school closures from UNESCO: https://en.unesco.org/covid19/educationresponse
Follow Bec on Twitter @becinthelibrary
Ep.2 - The Transition Zone