Research question:

How to help students understand and become global

learners in an educational context which provides little
diversity?
Rationale:
The fast changing world becomes more interconnected than ever
before. The development of the local is closely related to and
depends

more

on

the

global

setting.

In

this

increasingly

interconnected world, today's young people need to learn to be able

to engage in communication with people from a wide range of
different cultures and traditions. They need to take a global
perspective in order to compete in the global economy. Education
needs to put learning in a global context in order to support young
people to think globally, prepare them to live and work in a global
society, and engage and encourage them to make the world a
better place.
To help students acquire global competence, they need to be
provided with opportunities to interact with people from a wide
range of cultural background and learn to appreciate different
perspectives, beliefs, values, and behaviors. However, in an
educational context which provides little diversity in student
population, the opportunity for global interaction is few which makes
developing

global

learners

quite

challenging

in

such

an

environment.
My students grow and learn in a China. Unlike America, an
immigrant nation which abounds people from different places of the
globe with variety in terms of ethnicity, cultures, and religion, China
is a country primarily composed of home-bred Chinese. Although
different ethnic groups among Chinese maintain their distinctive
customs and beliefs respectively, they share, to a large extent,
common Chinese culture. Therefore, the environment really doesnt
provide much diversity in comparison with immigrant countries. So I
wonder under this circumstance, how to help students understand

and become global learners? How can we create opportunity

necessary for students to access a wider world?
I hope I can find better strategies or approaches to help my
student understand the importance of achieving global competence
and develop in themselves global learners through addressing these
questions.