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English teacher from Australia working at Education First in Guangzhou, China

Could you tell me about yourself? What is your practice and how long have you been working in China?

English teacher in China for around 25 years, in Guangzhou. Taught children and teens aged 3-18.

How did you find your roles or values in your type of industry in China?

It’s demanding to be a teacher in the classroom and with all the adminstrative work, as well as dealing with parental demands, it’s fulfilling but the pay should also be higher to reflect our demanding work.

Have you ever felt less or not fit into the industry of your area in China when you are engaging with it?

Yes it can be a challenge to work with Chinese values on their ways, while also being an advantage too, giving me a different point if view. But I found many Chinese people can use this approach as an excuse, “this is the Chinese way”. I see it this way, that these people would rather not challenge their views and actions, they don’t want to challenge their views and actions, they don’t want to change their ways.

What do you think would be your competitive edge that you can confidently bring to your Chinese work industries?

Despite the challenges listed, I’m always open to the new and different ways of thinking and acting. I work hard and I’m a compassionate person, which may not always fit with the Chinese culture at work but is still necessary and can lead to better working conditions and employee satisfaction.

What would be your general requirements for working in China?

Comfortable salary and a quiet place to live near work. Management that is flexible in its approaches.

Interview with Selina Yang (Partly with audio answers)

1. Could you tell me about yourself? What is your practice and how long have you been working in the UK?

Generally 2 years, technically 5. Working for a jewellery brand for 2 years and a half

2. If you have engaged or been engaging with any creative industries in the UK, How did you find your roles or values there?

Interact with different company, goldsmiths center, encourage young designer and contribute with the uk industry. Thinking of my own jewellery, bring my own languages and culture. Inspired by different thinking, with new eyes and new materials. Bring the flesh ideas. 

3. Have you ever felt less or not fit into the creative industry in the UK when you’re engaging with it? 

Of course. For me, it’s normal to us because of the language and culture barrier. When I feel because of the background.

4. Have you engaged with creative industry of any other countries? Could you think of anything from that country is different from your current engaging creative industry environment? Or anything you think they can learn from each other?

5. What do you think would be your competitive edge that you can confidently bring to the UK creative industry?

With the experience of being a final year bachelor student of jewellery design course in London, I have had different opportunities to engage with professions within the jewellery as well as fashion industry. As the university provides some collaborative programs with different companies or organizations, such as Swarovski and London Craft week, students or graduates have more connections with the creative industries in the UK. Those connections, in my opinion, they do help graduates or students with their engagement with the creative industries.

However, do these experiences help them develop their connections with the creative industry so they could continue contributing their values? How can the creative industry help those graduates to find the way they could show their values and the space they can find the sense of belonging?

At the beginning of the independent study period, I’ve started to set up an interview with my stakeholder of this project for research and communication with ideas and investigation. For different perspectives of creative industries, I was intending to interview with different people including experts and graduates with different creative related backgrounds.

Interviewer-Heidi Chang

1. Could you tell me about yourself? What is your practice and how long have you been working in the UK?

I am a designer and businessman for global company. I had taught graphic design at Kookmin University and had my own graphic firm in Seoul Korea.  I came to the UK in 2019 and graduated from Kingston University in Curating Contemporary Design.

Recently I did Korea Pavilion in London Design Biennale 2023 as an art director. We won third from public vote.

2. If you have engaged or been engaging with any creative industries in the UK, How did you find your roles or values there?

The concept for London Design Biennale was mixed reality and we had partnerships with Vortic. As an art director I was working with Korean designers and british people. My role was like a conductor for the orchestra working with different type of instruments (different designs methods: film, music, video, carpentry, architecture, VFX and VR technology).

3. Have you ever felt less or not fit into the creative industry in the UK when you’re engaging with it? 

Mostly I enjoyed working in the UK than Korea. There are no biases based on genders or ages. Although there are obstacles due to cultural differences and language barriers. 

Social skill is important than actual work sometimes and I am think I should develop that aspect.

4. Have you engaged with creative industry of any other countries? Could you think of anything from that country is different from your current engaging creative industry environment? Or anything you think they can learn from each other?

I have had worked in the US and Korea as well. If you work for global companies there are not much differences but the people are different.

It is sensitive to mention any differences between cultures but korean tend to criticize others a lot. Maybe Korean people are more direct than British. In my opinion, American working environment is more collaborative than Korea. Working with Vortic (British Company) was smooth and efficient. But again I think who you are working with is difference than countries.  

5. What do you think would be your competitive edge that you can confidently bring to the UK creative industry?

My ethnicity first, and network from Korea to the UK. It was successful exhibition for London Design Biennale even though our budget was low. There are needs from Korean people who want to promote their works in the UK and I can bridge between Korea and the UK.

With the concern of how to develop my project, I have a tutorial with my tutor David for a critical and reflective discussion. I brought up my question again: How can the environment for international students be adapted to help them cope with their emotions around social belonging? However, before the tutorial, I was not able to find a way to develop my project for further secondary research. Although I was planning to look for some experts to talk to them, I still lacked of knowledge resources that connect the international student to the needs of the environment.

From what we talked about during the tutorial, David gave me some points regarding my research question. From the question, there is no clear connection of how the target audience connects to the environment. And the definitions I gave to the environment such as narrative environment, microcosm, and natural environment are abstract and therefore is bringing confusion for the reason why the environment benefits international students. After the tutorial, I have more questions guiding me to discover the research question for the project. Who will benefit the most from the environment I create change and intervention to make it better? What are the environment’s needs? What makes the environment for you to feel anxious? What do we need to do and what is the place? To make a connection between people and the environment.

For my MA research project, the research question I decided to address so far is: How can the environment for international students be adapted to help them cope with their emotions around social belonging? During project 5 of unit one, I’ve defined this research question which contains the keywords of the area as well as the stakeholder I intend to research. The area and the subject for my research project including Psychogeography, Praxeology, Affect (psychology) and the study of the definition of environments in this project such as narrative environment, microcosm, geographical environment and natural environment. In terms of my research question, my goal for this project is to help international students solving the problems that happen frequently when they are involved in a foreign country and looking for their sense of belonging.

As an international student who is studying in the UK, it is common for me to cope with emotions around social belonging for many times and in many spaces. For the definitions of environment in this project plan and why the environment can be related to emotions and the sense of belonging, there are some aspects to explain for this reason. Emotional experiences of loneliness and belonging are not simply caused by the physical or architectural shape of an environment, but through the way an environment constructs and circulates narratives that offer or inhibit qualitative affordances for experiences such as belonging. (Richard V 2023) The international students engage with different environments every day who are emotionally affected by the environments. So, I realize that the improvement of this complex environment system can help for a better life for international students. 

For a better understanding of student’s social belonging and how I can help international students cope with emotions better around the sense of belonging, it is necessary for me to collect the evidence through the feedback that reflects the real thoughts of the international students. With some methods such as interviews, questionnaires, capturing feedback from the comments on the social media or the campus bulletin board etc, which I think it could be better showing the thoughts from students without any filter. This process helps me to document their thoughts about how they really feel in the present and gives me the guidance of planning to test the new ideas for further intervention. For the next step, I will ask for the experts who are expertise in the areas I intend to research and engage with the student base organization such as the student union for more persuasive point of views and help with the achievement of the project.

It would become a motivation and huge support for a large number of international students who are struggling with their sense of social belonging. Besides, there will be a growth of student’s well-being and the care of their happiness in life. It is important to engage with this issue and make it better because of many aspects such as the needs of the efficiency and quality of their study, also the social engagement and mental health problems happening in our life.

Bibliography 

Richard V, Fred C, Charlotte J, Manuela B, Loneliness and belonging in narrative environments, Emotion, Space and Society, (2023) available at https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1755458623000014#sec5

John K,  Making Psychogeography Maps, Making Map: DIY Cartography, (2009) available at https://makingmaps.net/2009/06/22/making-psychogeography-maps/

Michael I, Catherine G, How Environments Can Threaten Academic Performance, Self Knowledge, and Sense of Belonging, 1st ed, Psychology Press, 2005 available at: https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781410617057-13/environments-threaten-academic-performance-self-knowledge-sense-belonging-michael-inzlicht-catherine-good

Stephanie C, Angela J. G, Sarah L, Luc G, John T. C  Loneliness: Clinical Import and Interventions, Perspectives on Psychological Science, (2015), available at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4391342/

Sherry N, How Nature Supports a sense of Belonging and Well-being, Nature Canada, available at https://naturecanada.ca/discover-nature/lifestyle/i-belong-here-how-nature-supports-a-sense-of-belonging-and-wellbeing/

Heidi. R, Priscilla L, Amber L. Garcia, Brigitte K, Gar C, Jessica B, Initial Validatiion of a self-report measure of perceptions of interpersonal attraction, Personality and Individual Differences, (2015), available at https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0191886914006047

Aida H, Leonie R, Peter G, The Link between Social Wellbeing, Belonging, and Connectedness of International Students in Australian High Schools, Language, Culture and Diversity, (2021), available at https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2021.681956/full

Some feedback from the pocket

Rebuilding the environment through the microcosm

‘Pocket’ as an environment of microcosm – Being presented in any places with people

Physical interactive installation

When I think of defining the questions, I will consider the factors such as emotions and behaviors, spatial geographic patterns, atmosphere, culture, power, and so on.

Question options

1. Recalling back to the time that you are trying to integrate into these new places, can you line up from the easiest to integrate one to the least easy one.(1.in-person classroom, 2.online classroom, 3.breakout room, 4.student accommodation, 5.library, 6.workshop, 7.lecture theatre, 8.canteen, 9.school cafe, 10.common study area)
2. As an international student, have you ever been overwhelmed, lonely, or had any other depressed feelings when you are living in the country for studying? Why do you think it makes you feel like that?
3. Do you live in student accommodation? If yes, tell me a bit about how do you like it? Or don’t like it?

Target interviewer: international student in the UK

The number of people: At least three persons

Ages: From 15 years old

Student A answers:

-6，3，4，1，8，2，10，9，5，7

-yes，When I first arrive in a country, I don’t know anyone and I may encounter difficulties in life. If I don’t get along well with my teachers and classmates, I will feel very depressed

-yes，I had，People with different cultures and lifestyles may have conflicts with each other，sometimes it’s hard to deal with.

Student B answers:

-412367，10，895

-sometimes the feeling is not lonely or overwhelmed for me,  compared the first time to UK to study, the most difficult thing for me now is I have to handle the study at the same time to spare lots of time to discuss with my partner about the business we plan to do ( earning money is also important for me). Quite busy and sometimes annoying. At the same time, this time I also want to experience something different, like to be a barista:)

-Yes. I think I enjoy living in the student accommodation. Because my flatmates are from different countries and regions in different ages. We also study in different courses, different colleges. They are friendly. Living here, we respect each other’s privacy, at the same time, we can cook, eat, and chat together. This is a multicultural environment and can not only improve my language but also boarded my mind. A very good experience as an international student here.

Student C answers:

-10&9 .8.6.4.1.7.5.super hard 2.3

-Yes. It takes some time to adopt a new environment which is every different from my country and culture.  Like my Indian flat mate is hate the wether here, he said it was a bit depressing cuz it’s always cold and cloudy. Also language barrier is also an other reason that makes me feel like I just don’t belong here.

-Yes I have been living in few kinds of student accommodations in London. It just depends, if you are, I would say very very lucky  to meet friendly and out going flat mate it will be very fun and be less lonely but I I also have some terrible experiences of living with some propels who would never clean up and never talk to u.

Student D answer:

-5 6 4 10 9 7 1 3 8 2

-Yes, I have. The biggest reason comes from life. For example, I can’t eat a delicious meal when I’m not feeling well, and I must remember to take care of bills when I’m very busy. I feel like I’m alone abroad facing all the things I have to do with my studies and life, which can make me feel lonely and sometimes overwhelmed.

-I don’t live in the student accommodation.But I like living in a student house because it takes a lot of the stress out of the little things in life, such as bills, repairs and collecting deliveries. It also makes me feel more inclusive as there are students from different countries in the accommodation.

The research question to be defined for this project:

How can the environment for international students be adapted to help them cope with their emotions around social belonging

Definitions of environments related to emotion and belonging could be narrative environment, microcosm, geographical environment

For this week’s research, I researched psychogeography which was inspired by the article I read last week mentioned about Halls of Residences being read as ‘micro-geographies’. The study from the field of student geographies. They all describe how it influent emotions because of the environment, raising awareness of the natural and cultural environment.

According to the reading I did last week, there are three kinds of loneliness identified in the article related to the sense of belonging. Among collective loneliness intersects most closely with aspects of belonging that reach into narrative environment(Lim et al.,2021). Collective loneliness concerns voluntary associations, wider social networks, and connections on the peripheries of ‘attentional space'(Cacioppo et al., 2015:240). Collective loneliness is especially at stake in the university environment, which organises itself as a public space with thousands of people in its purview.