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International music project: A Summer’s Dream by Kaori Mukai

I have zero musical talent. So it’s been great fun to get to help Kaori Mukai shape the lyrics to her new single ‘A Summer’s Dream’.

NEW SINGLE – A SUMMER’S DREAM by Kaori Mukai! With the afterglow of summer in the air, just keep driving past the city lights chasing the warm breeze in the night. A new song for those who wish summer never ends.

Kaori is a Japanese singer but I met her at a small Japanese restaurant in Jakarta, Indonesia a few years ago. She was the opening act for Hiroaki Kato, another awesome bilingual Japanese and Indonesian musician who I got to know, and was warming up for later that evening. I fell in love with her voice.

Kaori was living as an expat in Indonesia at the time. I loved the way she collaborated so closely with Indonesians and other musicians like Hiroaki who were genuine about wanting to engage across culture. She even put a jazz spin to the Doraemon song and sang it in Indonesian.

As someone who is mixed Indonesian and Japanese, I had grown up feeling as though Japan looked down on Indonesia. So, Kaori and her friends’ cross cultural, trilingual engagement (Japanese, Indonesian & English) between Indonesia and Japan spoke deeply to me.

And this time, I’m thrilled to get to participate in one of her projects even though I can’t sing for the life of me!

‘A Summer’s Dream’ by Kaori Mukai – Lyrics Video

A Summer’s Dream is an international, collaborative project between Japanese and Indonesian musicians. It’s got a Japanese City Pop feel to it and was created with those of us who wish summer never ends. Enjoy!

? Digital Single ▶ here

? Kaori MUKAI – A Summer’s Dream (Lyrics Video) ▶ On YouTube here

Music by Kaori Mukai
Lyrics by Kaori Mukai, Danau Tanu
Arranged by Roberto J., Kaori Mukai
Mixed & Mastered by Hisao Sasaki
Kaori Mukai (Vo.), Roberto J. (Pf.), Iwa-chan (Gt.), Yusuke Watanabe (Ba.), Dion Subiakto (Drs.)
Designed by @mongucci

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Diversity & Third Culture Kids

27 August 2021 – This is an online handout for Training 1 for the International School of Geneva.

Australian Map of Country
Acknowledgment of Country

Slides

The slide deck from the sessions are available in PDF format.

DOWNLOAD SLIDES

Resources

READ

Third Culture Kids: Growing Up Among Worlds, 3rd Edition – Pollock, Van Reken & Pollock 2017

Safe Passage – Doug Ota 2014. See also Safe Passage Across Networks

Growing Up in Transit: The Politics of Belonging – Danau Tanu 2018

LISTEN

Third Culture Stories – a podcast by TCKs of Asia. Three of the episodes discusses the impact of structural racism on language and identity.
+ Season 1, Episode 3: Language & Power is an interview with an adult Korean child of a diplomat and her experience of internalized racism as a result of international schooling.
+ Season 2, Episode 1: A Foreigner in My Own Family: The Hidden Loss of Language & Intimacy focuses on the stories of three adult ‘Third Culture Kids’ and their experiences of losing their parents language and/or efforts to maintain it, as well as the deep impact it has had on their sense of identity and relationship with their family.
+ Season 3, Episode 3: Mixed Loyalties focuses on the deeper impact that structural racism and language has on identity.

The Traumatizing Gift: a Global Childhood – A TEDx Fullbright Tokyo talk by Saeko Mizuta. Saeko is CEO of the TCK Workshop (日本語), an online tutoring service for bilingual children (Japanese and English).

READ & LISTEN

Translanguaging Guides by City University of New York (CUNY)

Breakout Part 1

Q1. Describe a time when you felt seen by a teacher or any adult. Why did you feel seen? 

Q2. Describe a time when you did not feel seen by a teacher or any adult. Why did you not feel seen? 

ACTIVE LISTENING

Neutral, no judgment
Be attentive (nod, etc), patient (don’t fill silences)

Reflect back what they said. Use their words as much as possible. Do not interpret. Do not add your opinion. 

3min storytelling + 2 min retelling each.

Breakout Part 2

Q. Describe one or two areas where you lack privilege. How has this affected you and how others interact with you? How does it affect the way you teach and/or interact with students?

Discussion

Q1. Describe one or two areas where you have privilege. How might this affect how you see students? How you teach?  

Q2. Identify and describe an example of a negative narrative that is being told about students at your school. In what way are students being blamed for it? In what way are the staff contributing to the “problem” or acting as gatekeepers?

Q3. Compare the two maps of Australia (here and here). They tell stories from two different perspectives. The first map represents the dominant narrative told of Australia and is more widely known. The second map tells a story that is often missing from the dominant narrative. Can you identify the dominant narrative told in your subject curriculum or textbooks? What are the stories that are missing from the curriculum or textbooks you use?

Feedback form

It would be greatly appreciated if you could fill in the feedback form here. Thank you!

Extra resources

  • Misunderstood – Tanya Crossman
  • Books on Third Culture Kids and expat living as recommended by the Families in Global Transition, which was co-founded by Ruth Van Reken
  • Heidi Tunberg’s pinterest boards feature an extensive collection of books and other resources relating to Third Culture Kids and their families. See also Heidi’s board for TCKs: Asian Third Culture Kids
THE STRENGTH OF WEAK TIES
Original study

Granovetter, Mark. 1973. “The Strength of Weak Ties,” American Journal of Sociology (78:6), 1360-1380.

For well-being

Gillian Sandstrom’s research

Leslie, Ian. 2020. “Why your ‘weak-tie’ friendships may mean more than you think.” In BBC (July 3).  

For recruitment

Weak Ties Matter

How the Best Bosses Interrupt Bias on Their Teams (via Joel Laban)

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Growing Up in Transit on Your Campus – Resources for the AIELOC Summer Institute

Main reading

Growing Up in Transit: The Politics of Belonging at an International School (Berghahn Books, 2020)

The Educator & Self-Reflexivity

Breakout Questions

Q1. Describe a time when you felt seen by a teacher or any adult. Why did you feel seen?

Q2. Describe a time when you did not feel seen by a teacher or any adult. Why did you not feel seen?

Q3. Describe the privileges that you have and don’t have. How might it impact your interaction with students?

Acknowledgment

Some of the design of this section (especially the active listening exercise in the breakout session) was inspired by Jessica Wei Huang‘s design of an Asian Pacific Islander (API) Educators Community Support meeting that she co-facilitated for AIELOC.

The School & The Narratives

Parker, Lyn. 2003. From Subjects to Citizens: Balinese Villagers in the Indonesian Nation-State. London: Routledge.

Anderson, Benedict. 1983. Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. Verso Books.

Willis, Paul. 1977. Learning to Labor: How Working Class Kids Get Working Class Jobs. Columbia University Press.

Meyer, Heather. 2021. The Global Imaginary of International School Communities. Palgrave Macmillan.

Breakout Questions

Q1. a) Identify and describe an example of a negative narrative that is being told about students at your school. In what way are students being blamed for it? In what way are the staff contributing to the “problem” or acting as gatekeepers? 
b) Discuss with each other how teachers and administrators can model a solution for the students.

Q2. Have you ever experienced the type of intercultural discomfort that was mentioned in the presentation? Share an example and discuss what you or the school can do to address it. 

The Student & the Hidden Curriculum

Tanu, Danau. 2021. The Hidden Curriculum

Decolonising math by Ecolint (International School of Geneva)

Language & Power by TCKs of Asia – on structural racism in international schools & internalised racism. There is a link to the recording on the page.

The Strength of Weak Ties
Original study

Granovetter, Mark. 1973. “The Strength of Weak Ties,” American Journal of Sociology (78:6), 1360-1380.

For well-being

Gillian Sandstrom’s research

Leslie, Ian. 2020. “Why your ‘weak-tie’ friendships may mean more than you think.” In BBC (July 3).  

For recruitment

Weak Ties Matter

How the Best Bosses Interrupt Bias on Their Teams (via Joel Laban)

Breakout questions

Q1. Describe an example of a hidden curriculum or bias in the curriculum taught at your school. Discuss ways to address the bias or to decolonize it.  

Q2. Discuss ways you or your school can learn more about your students’ perspectives.

Q3. Discuss ways to engage parents.

Intergenerational Cultural Gap

Videos created by the International School of Dalat for parents to watch before they enrol their children at the school. See ‘School Culture Videos’ in the right hand column.

Third Culture Kids & Family Ties & A Foreigner in My Own Family: The Hidden Loss of Language & Intimacy by TCKs of Asia. There is a link to the recordings on the respective page.

Other resources

Japanese TCKs on their experiences of learning in a second language – A short video by two Japanese TCKs on what adults did to help them feel ‘seen’ even when they couldn’t speak English.

Third Culture Stories – a podcast by TCKs of Asia.

Identity-Centered Learning by Daniel Wickner

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TCKs of Asia: Language, Family & Power – #FIGT2021

I’ll be speaking on a panel with four others at the Families in Global Transition Virtual Conference 2021.

TCKs of Asia: Language, Family & Power
‘TCKs of Asia: Language, Family & Power’ at the Families in Global Transition Conference, 12-14 March

TCKs of Asia: Language, Family & Power

We’re quite proud of this panel. We’ll talk about aspects of the Third Culture Kid experience that are rarely talked about.

We’ll talk about how the experience of mobility in childhood varies depending on their backgrounds – cultural, linguistic, racial, class and so on.

The panel is made up of Japanese, Korean, Taiwanese and Indonesian-Japanese TCKs. So, we’ll also touch upon a topic that is considered sensitive in the region. The elephant in the room.

We’ll talk about the way the history of the region affects how children interact with each other.

As adults, it’s important that we set an example on how to maintain friendships & connect meaningfully even when we are from different sides of history. I’m particularly proud of how we cover this.

And by ‘we’, I mean:

Isabelle Min, CEO & Founder of Transition Catalyst Korea (TCK) Institute and former radio host and television broadcaster for KBS. Founder of FIGT Korea Affiliate.

Aiko Minematsu, Co-Founder of the FIGT Japan Affiliate & a university lecturer in Tokyo

Saeko Mizuta, Founder & CEO of TCK Workshop. Co-Founder of FIGT Japan Affiliate

Danau Tanu, Research Fellow and author of Growing Up in Transit: The Politics of Belonging at an International School 

Jane W. Wang, Founder & Coach at Multicultural Hero’s Journey 

Hope to see you at the conference! Also, lookout for the TCK Coffee & Connect sessions in the conference community rooms.

To register for the Families in Global Transition Conference 2021, visit their website here.

Conference registrations close on March 10. Pre-conference Forums have started.

*By the way, ‘Power Panel’ sounds rather grand but it’s the name of the type of panel at the conference.

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AIELOC’s 2021 Book Club on Growing Up in Transit

AIELOC is starting an online Book Club in January 2021 where they will read Growing Up in Transit.

Growing Up in Transit is based on my doctoral research about the systemic racism at work in international schools. It draws heavily on student voices, with a special focus on the Asian TCK (third culture kid) experience.

Don’t worry, I won’t be joining – that way you can critique the book all you want! 🙂

To join the Book Club, e-mail AIELOC at [email protected] or click here.

If you don’t already have a copy of Growing Up in Transit, click below to get 25% off on the paperback. The promo code is valid until the end of January 2021.

BUY THE BOOK

While it is called the Association for International Educators and Leaders of Color, you don’t have to be a ‘person of color’ or an international educator to join. All are welcome.

Other AIELOC events

AIELOC is also organising a community discussion on how to end racism and discrimination in the international school community on January 16. It looks like a great initiative.

To register, click here.

They are also creating new space for Black women in international schools.

For more information about AIELOC and their events, please visit their website at www.aieloc.org or their Webinar & Events page.