Prepared to Make Progress

Preparing for Class

Today, students enjoyed walking through their class schedules in preparation for the beginning of the academic schedule of SEI. Class walk-throughs allow students to begin building comfort and confidence with their teachers and classmates right away. Teachers use this time to share the vision of the class with the students and to help students get to know one another right away. 

Students were also prepared for the more practical side of going to class at SEI. Our staff showed students how to use the information on their nametags to keep track of their schedule and ensured that each student made it to the correct classroom. In U.S. high schools, students move from one classroom to another for different classes. Teachers do not come to the students, but students are responsible for knowing how to navigate campus and find the correct classroom. 

Teachers also covered important classroom expectations, such as being respectful to one another and leaving phones in the dorm in order to focus on learning. By the end of the afternoon, students felt confident and prepared to succeed as students at SEI. 

Strategic Instruction for Successful Learning 

In Core English classes, teachers also utilized this time to gain an accurate assessment of student proficiency levels. In addition to the interviews students did before coming to SEI, our staff has developed an assessment based on research-based methods in English-learner instruction that allows them to quickly and effectively identify each student’s skill in English. The faculty of SEI believes that instruction is most effective when it is designed to specifically meet students’ needs. For this reason, teachers pay close attention to students’ proficiency levels throughout the course of SEI–ensuring that all students are supported and challenged to grow in their English skills every day.

Staff Spotlight: Mr. Michael Johnson 

At SEI and WA Global Network, we take great pride in our team of dedicated professionals. For this reason, we like to feature members of our staff from time to time in our updates, so that you at home can get to know the team that makes SEI such a dynamic and beneficial experience for our students. Today, we’d like to introduce you to our Media and Communications Director, Mr. Michael Johnson. Mr. Johnson, an alumnus of Wheaton Academy, is already well-known among students thanks to his friendliness behind the camera, but he’s known among the SEI staff for his hard work and dedication. Mr. Johnson is passionate about international education and was formerly an award-winning English teacher in Seoul, South Korea. Fun Fact: he was even featured in a Korean food TV show!

One of our values as a staff is the belief that there is “no job too big and no job too small”– in other words, SEI staff members work hard no matter how difficult or how trivial the job may seem to them. Mr. Johnson exemplifies this value. We are thankful to have Mr. Johnson returning for his fifth year at SEI, and we want to give him a special shout-out for providing so many of the fantastic photos that you see in these updates. 

Every day during SEI, you will receive a Daily Update by email informing you of what took place throughout the day at SEI – we will share photos, highlight stories, and feature video clips. We hope you look forward to hearing about what is going on daily at SEI! If you would like us to add an email address to the distribution list, please respond to this email.

The Daily Update will also be published on our SEI WeChat subscription account. Subscribe to the account to receive the articles in your Official Accounts feed on WeChat.