Work Experience at XLIS

“Some things cannot be taught; they must be experienced. You never learn the most valuable lessons in life until you go through your own journey.” —— Roy T. Bennett

 

This quote summarizes the aim of introducing the work experience at XLIS. This event was mainly geared towards M5 students who had just completed their e-assessments. The primary objectives of this program are:

 

To venture outside comfort zones and embrace new challenges.

To foster professional interaction with adults in a formal setting.

To experience a professional work environment from the perspective of an employee.

 

The program was organized for four full days at the working place. Before realizing this project, a lot of work was done by our group of teachers led by the Secondary Principal. I want to thank all parents who have offered us work placements for our students. This was a show of meaningful collaboration between parents and the school.

 

During their work experience, every student had to complete a journal consisting of an interview with the employer, a daily log of the work done and an evaluation conducted by the supervisor. Our students came back excited and had much to say about this experience. I am glad they all saw the valuable opportunity they were given and made the best of their knowledge.

 

Here are some of their testimonies:

 

One of the students worked in a kindergarten, and here is his reflection:

“In this course, I learned that as a teacher, regardless of the age of the students, we are facing their entire family. We need to give them more patience and enthusiasm to have more gains”. 

 

Testimony from a student who worked at a Barista Coffee shop:

“The value of the job at Barista lies in the ability to skillfully craft and serve quality coffee while providing a welcoming and personalized customer experience”. 

 

During the M5 celebration, students thanked the school for providing such a valuable opportunity to them. They said that this experience has allowed them to understand their parents and adults who work better and appreciate the challenges they might face. They also reiterated that during their working days, they had to stop thinking as students and act like adults, which was a bit challenging for some.

 

This group pioneered the work experience at XLIS, and I hope we can make this event a yearly event for the M5 students.

 

Click here for more details.

 

Author:

Randy Welch (MYP English Language Acquisition Teacher, Language Acquisition Subject Area Leader)