Shows
Global TransitionsEp.14 - Minecraft as a Transition ToolIf you live in a Minecraft household, like I do, then perhaps it is the bane of your existence. Or, perhaps, you marvel at the creativity and collaboration and sheer breadth of possibility on the platform. In any case, I didn't think it was key to my own children's coping mechanisms with transition until I saw my sons building all of our former homes (and favorite vacation destinations) in Minecraft worlds. That way, they could remember - and visit anytime! My TCK son, who celebrated his 11th birthday last year in a passport immigration line in Jakarta, tells us...
2021-06-0912 minGlobal TransitionsEp.13 - Lessons learned from a life of crossing culturesIn this restart and revamp of the podcast, we talk with the "OG," my father. Joseph Winn Daniels Novitski. He is a published author, journalist, polyglot, and adult Third Culture Kid who is living in his 80th year. Listen to learn lessons about a life lived as a chameleon, how cultural differences have evolved, and how TCKs are uniquely positioned in a vital fight to save our planet.
Note: this interview was recorded on June 4th, 2020. The background noise you hear is the audio mic being passed back and forth as we kept a social distance.
2021-04-0618 minGlobal TransitionsEp.12 - This is your Brain on TransitionThe hiatus of the past 3 months have harbored an upheaval for my family in an already "unprecedented" global year - 2020. As I have experienced yet another international move and the unsettling strain on my brain, I empathize with the millions of us who are also experiencing the throes of transition during Covid-19. How are billions of students, teachers and parents affected by this transition, as schooling resumes in various versions around the world? How can kindness and time help us clear the fog in our brain?
References & Extensions:
- Brene Brown's podcast Unlocking Us - "D...
2020-09-1614 minGlobal TransitionsEp.11 - Dear TeachersIt's June. Teachers are exhausted from all the Zooming, and posting, and content creating, and not seeing their students at all for weeks and weeks. Yet, most teachers remain determined to support each of their students, to help them be the best version of themself.
In this pivotal moment in US and global history, what can others teach us? How can we learn from the cataclysm of racial inequality or the pervasiveness of a virus? Will humanity be our best selves?
In this final episode of season 1, join us. Listen. Learn. Educate yourself. Let's be...
2020-06-0307 minGlobal TransitionsEp.10 - Dear Class of 2020This is my open letter to the high school students graduating during the pandemic, a global cohort of graduates. I would like to acknowledge the loss of their rituals of celebration, their sadness, their anger -- and their resolve, their possibility as humanity's future, a cohort like none other.
In case you missed them, here are the celebrity commencement speeches and USAmerican celebrations from: Oprah Winfrey - https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/15/us/oprah-winfrey-2020-commencement-speech.html; Former US President Barack Obama - https://youtu.be/sTFWC1PiLVE; and John Krasinki's Some Good News - https://youtu.be/IweS2C...
2020-05-2709 minGlobal TransitionsEp.9 - TimeHave you been feeling "unmoored" lately, wondering where the time went, or even what day it is? Feeling like you're living through your own version of the movie "Groundhog Day"? During the coronavirus pandemic, I remember how time is a human construct and discuss how we can manage when our typical, routine markers of time have disappeared. Additionally, learn how we cannot mark time units through transition or grief or re-opening processes. Instead, what can we do?
Learn more about Bernie Lenoue and his support of international students at his website: College Support International.
Want to hear TED speakers on "...
2020-05-2009 minGlobal TransitionsEp.8 - Humanity happensLife transitions - birth, death, marriage, parenthood - are all still happening during this Covid-19 global pandemic. Sadly, too much dying. However, what is at the core of these rituals? What will anthropologists record and historians remember about this episode in the human story? How is this epoch part of the enduring chain of humanity's journey? Through joyous celebrations and mournful losses, we ponder, we reflect, we move forward, together.
2020-05-1307 minGlobal TransitionsEp.7 - ResilienceDuring this time of coronavirus, can we just "be" resilient, or is this a learned and practiced behavior? Can we (and our children) learn resilience without facing challenges? In this episode, I reflect on my own and my son's cross-cultural transitions in first grade, to try to learn how to be more resilient in these challenging times.
For a more insightful perspective on "How to build resilience in Kids," please follow Dr. Aliza Pressman's podcast -- Raising Good Humans here, or wherever you get your podcasts.
2020-05-0609 minGlobal TransitionsEp.6 - Grappling with GuiltGuilt has loomed large for folks during the time of Covid-19. Whether it's an expat who could choose to leave their school's host country or someone who is bored in quarantine but knows that there are those much worse off, how do we grapple with the guilt? What can we learn from guilt, empathy, choice and control that could help us weather future transitions?
Dr. Brene Brown states: "Based on my research and the research of other shame researchers, I believe that there is a profound difference between shame and guilt. I believe that guilt is adaptive a...
2020-04-2907 minGlobal TransitionsEp.5 - Lessons Learned, Part 3, with Kathleen SchultzOn Febuary 13th, 2020, I chatted with Kathleen Schultz, Director of University Counselling at Dulwich College - Shanghai Pudong campus. I wanted to learn from a school counselor and a parent working in China how high school students were coping with this sudden transition to staying at home and learning online. At the time, Kathleen was in Prague, her children were with her husband's family in Sweden, and she had just come from Shanghai; I was in Jakarta with my own young children.
Now, we are both scattered once again. Some international schools in China consider reopening their h...
2020-04-2213 minGlobal TransitionsEp.4 - Lessons Learned, Part 2, with Melanie VrbaIn North America, some school districts have just begun online learning this month. However, there are schools who have been on this journey for many weeks, and have been generously sharing their knowledge, pitfalls and celebrations.
In a recorded Zoom conversation from February 20, 2020, Aleka speaks with Melanie Vrba, High School Principal at the Western Academy of Beijing in China. The school had been closed for about a month at this point, and in their conversation, Melanie shares some lessons learned for school leaders, parents and students facing a sudden transition in their schooling life.
LINKS: (1) Follow @WAB_LIVE on Twitter (2...
2020-04-1521 minGlobal TransitionsEp.3 - Lessons Learned, Part 1, with Bec TaylorIn today's episode, I interview Bec Taylor, Elementary School Teacher-Librarian at the International School of Beijing. She is an elementary educator, married to an elementary educator, parenting and teaching her own elementary-aged children for 10 weeks now. I hope educator-parents who are teaching their own and other's kids from home due to school closures can gain some pearls of wisdom from Bec. This is the first of a three-part series in which I interview colleagues from international schools in China, so that others just beginning this journey can learn from them.
Show Notes:
Updated number of...
2020-04-0724 minGlobal TransitionsEp.2 - The Transition ZoneIn this second #TransitionsTuesday, we discuss transitions in life as human beings, and during the COVID-19 pandemic. We also reflect on how to adapt to and emerge from these times.
2020-04-0107 minGlobal TransitionsEp.1 - Oh, good grief!In the first #TransitionsTuesday with Aleka Bilan, we learn what Third Culture Kids (TCKs) can teach the world about how to deal with the grief of Covid-19 isolation, and feel hopeful about the joys to come.
2020-03-2506 min