Creativity and Learning at the Green School, Bali

Creativity and Learning at the Green School


This week, I was interviewed by a journalist who works for an English speaking newspaper in Malaysia. She wanted to know about the experience of moving my family to Bali for our 3 daughters to attend the Green School.  This prompted me to write my blog about our Green School journey over the last 8 months:

How has it been? During the initial months when my 3 daughters came home from school, I was horrified to see them looking filthy dirty. Their well brushed, tied back, long, blonde locks ended up straggly and unkempt, as though they had been hanging upside down all day long (and they almost had been on the school's ropes course).  Their gleaming white, clean and colourful clothes had turned to a more earthern looking, brownish colour and their shoes were caked in mud that had dried to look like clay. It felt like I had abandoned my 3 girls and left them to roam in the Balinese jungle for days. Only their teeth remained white, when they grinned at what a great time they had at the Green School.

My initial emotions ranged from 'are we doing the right thing?', 'will this do them any harm?' 'what are they learning academically?' to 'they are so lucky to get this once in a lifetime experience', 'they are much more aware of their environment' and 'they are learning by doing and having fun.' What better way to learn?

I have seen our girls grow socially, explore their own creativity and their self-confidence has blossomed. It is a pleasure to see and hear them saying how they are enjoying the Green School. I enjoy seeing their happy, smiling faces when they finish their day at the Green School and they are excited to tell me about their day. In response to my question 'what did you do at school today?' their responses have changed from 'nothing' or 'can't remember' to they have been rice planting, they are responsible for looking after a chick who has lost her mother, they have made their own musical instrument out of bamboo, they are in charge of growing basil, they are learning about mathematics by designing and creating a garden and they are celebrating earth day by producing a play which will take place in the school's mud pit where the monthly mapantigan (Balinese martial arts) is usually held. Some days I don't ask and they tell me what they've been doing.Yesterday my eldest daughter told me how her mathematics lesson didn't feel like a lesson at all.  Her whole class went to the school's 'Warung' (cafe) and they learned how to perfect their measuring skills by making their own home-made ginger fizz, coconut juice, lemon juice and lemon squash drinks.

When I was at the Green School at the beginning of the week, my daughters proudly showed me the 'ogoh ogoh' monster they had made for the Hindu celebration called 'Nyepi', the Balinese New Year.  The monsters symbolise evil spirits and are carried around the villages and cities of Bali in a spectacular carnival on the day before Nyepi. At the end of the carnival they are burned to drive away the evil spirits.By connecting our children to the traditions of Bali, the Green School is enabling our children to learn and appreciate a unique culture that is not their own and become more aware of cultural diversity.

This morning, our daughters delivered breakfast in bed. Our eldest daughter's class had harvested some of their vegetables from their garden at school and made an omelette. They sold the vegetables they did not use at their school warung and our eldest bought some of these fresh, organic vegetables to make our omelette. It tasted wonderful.

Am I glad we moved our family to Bali to attend the Green School? I must admit I was worried about our girls settling into an untradtional and unconventional school in the middle of the Balinese jungle where the school buildings are made out of bamboo and the classrooms are 'open'. Our girls, however, have thrived. They enjoy the 'open' concept and they have demonstrated to me how much potential we human beings have for growth and change. I am very proud of them and proud of the fact that their environment allows them to learn in a fun, 'hands on' approach, which in turn leads to creative, meaningful and sustainable learning. I'm glad our children have the opportunity of this once in a lifetime experience and are in an environment where they discover that they want to learn.

As Ken Robinson, who was knighted for his contribution to education and the arts, says in his book 'The Element':-

"Put students in an environment where they want to learn and where they can naturally discover their true passions."

Take a look at his outstanding TED talk:-

 http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html

In my 20+ years of personal and professional development, I have observed that the most effective learning happens when it is viewed as fun and memorable, rather than a chore.

I like the following quote by Glenn Doman, founder of The Institutes for the Achievement of Human Potential:

"Children want to learn to the degree that they are unable to distinguish learning from fun. They keep this attitude until we adults convince them that learning is not fun."

Take a look at www.greenschool.org

Learning is in the doing, make sure you have fun too and let the creativity flow.


Janet