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International Study Group at Reggio Emilia 2022

International Study Group at Reggio Emilia 2022

A group of 29 educators embarked on a journey to reinforce and deepen their understanding of the Reggio Emilia approach, right at the city where its name was derived.

“The study trip allowed me to gain a better understanding of the Reggio Emilia approach through immersing in the culture and history. It gives me an insight to their perspective of the approach.”

– Sharifah Omar, Centre Leader,

E-Bridge Pre-School Rivervale Crescent

Lectures and presentations by pedagogistas, atelieristas and teachers

Nothing beats hearing directly from the practitioners in Reggio Emilia! Be it new or experienced in the approach, participants all had something to take away from the presentations.

“The concept of the 100 Languages of Reggio Emilia has left a profound impact on me. I was impressed by how Reggio educators recognise and celebrate the unique ways in which children communicate and express themselves. This reinforced my belief that every child has a valuable voice, and it is our responsibility as educators to create opportunities for them to share their ideas and perspectives.”

– Qian Xiaoli, Senior Chinese Language Specialist,

PAP Community Foundation

Visits to infant-toddler centres and preschools

Participants got to visit municipal infant-toddler centres, such as Nilde Lotti and Panda, and municipal preschools like Michelangelo. This was the highlight for many participants as they could connect to what was shared in the lectures and see for themselves how the learning was being supported and made visible.

 

Participants, He Hua and Sim Jianing, with the Principal of Nilde Lotti infant-toddler centre

“I was able to experience first-hand strong respect that teachers have for children, and how they place a great emphasis on children’s expression.”
– Chao Daijing, Lead Curriculum Specialist,
MY World Preschool

“The learning environment, the documentation and interpretations of children’s learning, as well as some of the projects that they have showcased was a direct lens into their approach.”
– Madihah Tahar, Senior Centre Leader,
E-Bridge Pre-School

Ray of Light Atelier at Loris Malaguzzi International Centre

**A group of E-Bridge Pre-School educators were intrigued by the Light Atelier and decided to launch projects that empower infants and children to explore ‘light’ as a medium. Find out more here!

Ateliers

Apart from just listening and watching, participants were given the opportunity to join an atelier, facilitated by Reggio Children atelieristas, for a first-hand experience! These are some of the ateliers offered:

  • The Points of View atelier (photography)
  • The Languages of Gears atelier (motions & mechanics)
  • Digital Landscapes atelier (digital tools)
  • Ray of Light atelier

“The sight of the space and set up of the atelier was enticing and exciting for me, everything in it seemed to be inviting me to lay hands and explore. During the workshop, what surprised me was the assignment of uncommon project ideas, like making an object roll up a ramp. My first impression of it was – How is it possible? But we were supported with thought-provoking questions, the easily accessible materials also helped my group to conduct various experiments in search of the endless possibilities to achieve the task. It was in this process of finding answers that I realised we have discovered beyond more that we wanted to know.”

– Sim Jianing, Mandarin Teacher,

EtonHouse Zhong Hua Pre-School

Visit Reggio Children website to find out more about the ateliers they offer at Loris Malaguzzi International Centre.

Remida, the creative recycling centre

The concept of Loose Parts is nothing new, but the range of materials available at Remida was definitely eye-opening. The Remida centre recovers about 20 tons of “waste materials” from local companies every year, which are then offered as resources to schools and associations.

“The Remida waste recycling station is both environmentally friendly and artistic. Although this requires a lot of resources and support from the community I hope that one day we can have our own recycling station in Singapore.”

– Li Tingting, Mandarin Teacher,

EtonHouse Pre-School Mountbatten 717

Conversations with the protagonists of the educational project

Part of the success of the educational project in Reggio Emilia goes to strong commitment and cooperation from the community (e.g. teachers, parents and school staff). Through these conversations, participants were able to learn and understand how the whole community comes together for children.

“After the study trip, I learnt and understand that we can never bring and implement the whole approach back here because of cultural differences. However, what we can do is instead blend elements of it into our curriculum.”

– Heng Leyi, Class Teacher,

EtonHouse Pre-School Mountbatten 223

Pre- and post-trip dialogues

Participants attended a pre-trip dialogue, where REACH facilitators helped them get prepared for the intensive five-day study group. Facilitators shared their past experiences and briefed the participants on what to take note of in order to get the most out of the trip. After the trip, naturally, the participants came back with lots of ideas and questions; REACH facilitators helped to unpack some of the questions and gave suggestions on how to turn their ideas into reality.

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More Than a Mark! – E-Bridge

Exploring the Meaning of Mark-Making

This exhibition presents:

  • moments of the Earliest Encounters with marks, realised by children from 6 to 18 months
  • learning journeys of children from 4 to 6 years old, making sense of The Marks of Culture using culturally significant mark-making materials.

This exhibition aims to make visible how mark-making offers opportunities for children to develop understandings about functions of tools, cause and effect, imaginative expressions, social relationships and the joy of simply being with familiar people and places.

– E-Bridge Pre-Schools

More Than a Mark! – EtonHouse

By invitation from REACH in the spirit of the 2024 conference ‘In Dialogue with Reggio Emilia: Listening to Children’s Languages through the Mosaic of Marks, Words, Material’, we were very excited to bring together our very own poetic mosaic with thoughtful projects that captured the complexity of children’s thinking and learning. 

Our exhibition celebrated the many ways children notice, analyse and communicate with the magic and unlimited potential of marks in diverse ways!

As we pondered about marks and their powerful potential, we invited our EtonHouse educators to discuss and dialogue as we asked, ‘What does a mark mean to you? Using responses from our educators, we were excited to launch our ‘More than just a Mark’ poem as a celebration of perspectives to honour the exhibition and provoke many conversations into the future.

“Marks are clues! They are messages… but you have to slow down to see them!” Willow, 7 years old

– EtonHouse International Schools and Pre-Schools

From a Small Town to a Global Inspiration 从小镇走向世界的教育典范

Many people may not know Reggio Emilia. Reggio Emilia is a small town, but for us preschool educators, it is a place where a legend began.

I feel like the whole town is maintaining, developing, and running this education system as a big group. Reggio Emilia people turn their educational “characteristics” into a “highlight”, and eventually build a “selling point” and promote it to the world.

We don’t just need to learn from Reggio Emilia’s approach that “every child is unique” and how to integrate the natural environment into our teaching; It is also important to learn from the efforts of Reggio Emilia educators in promoting their own teaching systems.

或许并没有很多人知道瑞吉欧.艾米利亚这个小城市,但是对于我们幼教者而言,却是一个传奇开始的地方。

我觉得整个小镇都在维持、发展、经营这个教育理念。瑞吉欧人把自己在教学上的“特点”变成一个“亮点”,最终打造成一个“卖点”,并推广到全世界。

我们不止要学习瑞吉欧在教育理念中所提倡的“每个孩子都是独一无二的”、学习如何将自然环境融合在教学中;同时也要学习瑞吉欧的教育工作者在推广自身教学体系中所付出的努力。

Reflection by:
Xu Liping 徐莉萍
Mandarin Curriculum Coordinator
EtonHouse Pre-School Newton

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