International Master’s of Education student Wendy Li says that staying positive helps her succeed in school in Canada.

Frankie Lin and Wendy Li used to take classes during the summer and make diligent efforts to be as prepared as possible for the new school year. In Canada, the experience has been quite different. The two international students from China are in Vancouver studying the Master’s of Education Teaching English as a Second Language program at SFU. Here, they share their educational experiences both in Canada and China and how it has changed who they are and how they will teach when they return home.

Back in China, Frankie explains, sometimes an entire family of parents, grandparents, as well as aunts and uncles would see a child off to their first day of high school. During the mandatory military training program, parents would sometimes stand outside the schoolyard passing clothes and food to their children. “Back-to-school” in Vancouver is quite different.

“Students in China give themselves a lot of pressure to not lose face, to not disappoint your parents, to have high academic performance, and to give other students a good impression,” Frankie explains. “The way to study in Canada is quite different. Here it is more independent and the relationship between the student and teacher is also quite different. Teachers here are facilitators, they don’t tell you the exact answers or necessarily give you concrete solutions. They want you to come up with solutions yourself.”

Wendy is very organized, methodical and always planning ahead. In China, she would read books on topics she knew would be covered in classes during the school year, talk with friends who had already taken the courses to find out what in particular she needs to pay attention to and get information about the instructor. Despite keeping in close contact with the International Programs office in the Faculty of Education, researching information on the Internet and speaking with other students who had studied at SFU before, Wendy had felt remarkably unprepared for a new school year at SFU.

“In China, I always knew what to expect,” explains Wendy. “In Canada, everything is totally new and I don’t know about any of the details like having to pull the string if I want to get off the bus or zones for the transit system and other little things that matter to adjusting to life in a new place. I felt blank, which is a little scary for someone who is usually well-prepared.”

There were other differences in how students study in Canada. “Here it is more student-oriented and you have to be self-motivated,” she says. “In China, most of the decisions are made for you. I have to really stay in a good and positive mood in order to stay motivated and be organized to manage my time.”

Frankie and Wendy were attracted to the beauty of Vancouver, the high ranking of SFU, and the multicultural community when she applied for the international master’s program. But during the first few classes last year, Frankie had felt out of her comfort zone when she found herself prompted into group discussions rather than taking notes from the teacher’s lecture. Written notes made her feel comfortable with the knowledge that she had learned new and concrete information. Now, she finds herself thinking about those group discussions long after a class has ended and more self-assured in sharing her own ideas and opinions. 

In fact, both students feel more confident as they embark on the new and last semester at SFU this September.

“I’ve changed,” says Wendy. “I’ve become more confident about myself because of the experience of living in a foreign country for a year and doing OK. I’ve met new people and have become more sensitive and aware of people’s differences, I’m more careful, and my English is improving.”

Frankie has learned to not try so hard to fit in to whatever she thinks she needs to fit into. “I put less pressure on myself and to be happy with progress,” she says. “This change in myself, when I go back home, will change the way I teach as well. I want to try to implement a portfolio as a mid-term project rather than a standard test and involve my students in group discussions rather than just memorizing information. I want to facilitate learning through projects and hope to help my students feel more connected to their future careers.”