Starting this week, NewTechKids is teaching new programs at schools in Amstelveen, a city just outside Amsterdam. We’re teaching students at Amity International School Amsterdam and Kindercampus King.
Amity is an English-language private school which opened in February 2018 and offers education for students ages 3-18. Students are multicultural, with students and teachers coming from all over the world. We were approached by one of its science teachers who was interesting in augmenting their current curriculum and adding additional student-centred learning activities.
Kindercampus King is a combination daycare/primary school for babies and kids up to age 12 which focuses on combining cognitive, creative and physical education. This Dutch-language, public school is also very multicultural. Last year, one of the school’s grade 8 classes won a competition and the City of Amstelveen hired NewTechKids to teach a programming and robotics workshop as a prize. Based on this, the school’s principal invited us to teach there.
Teaching at two very different schools in Amstelveen will enable us to compare, contrast how both sets of students learn and if there are ways to adapt our teaching approaches based on cultural differences.
So far, no major differences except language. Just enthusiastic and engaged students.