The Richness of Learning in an International Class
The Pantarei School was established from its beginning as an international school. Practically, it meant that we teach in English and that the structure of the studies – six modules of five days each, allows people to come from all over the world to participate. These decisions were made consciously; we wanted people to meet classmates from different backgrounds and to each contribute from their own life experience.
In the base of the Pantarei Approach philosophy is the knowledge that each of us is unique, in every part of our being; we are unique in our character, in what we love and are passionate about, in the things we do and the things we don’t. We are unique in our life experiences and our story that is being created, every day of our lives. We are unique in our skills, in our physicality and in the things we struggle with. We are unique in the way we carry emotional pain just as we are unique in the way we experience happiness.
We are also unique in our lives – our circumstances start with the place we were born in, raised, or grew up to live in – our culture, our original country or the one we grew up in, all left a mark on our uniqueness. Even the countries our parents came from and their own path left its mark on us – we are who we are also partially as a result of that.
Being two co-founders from two different cultures and countries, we were faced with this knowledge from the beginning of our partnership and friendship. Claudia was raised by late repatriates who came from Poland to Germany and grew up in a small village in the middle of Germany. Vered was born and raised in Israel to parents who themselves were immigrants – one from Germany and the other from South Africa. Our ability to bond together started when we recognized we had similar views towards life and a common interest in self-growth and the ability of humans to bring their individual qualities forward to create a better world.
Being from two different backgrounds was in some moments limiting or puzzling, but very soon we learned how to use it to our advantage. When we managed to truly listen to the things that were significant for both of us, we could realize that the difference in background and culture was more about the way we did things but was not the essence of what was important to us. Furthermore, we noticed that the things that were unfamiliar for us in each other’s approach created new options for us – new doors could be opened to inspiring action; action that would never happen if we were limited only to what our own culture provided us with.
Our classes are international and as such, people have the opportunity to notice the strengths of their own background and at the same time be open to new possibilities other cultures bring with them. When we meet people that come from different cultures, it allows us to notice things about our own cultures – things that appeared completely obvious to us, until the moment we noticed somebody who acts very differently in the same situation. It allows us to question the way we act and to choose our responses differently – where we wish to act as our culture taught us, or where we wish to learn from another and expand our menu of possibilities.
Seeing another option, another way of being or responding to situations, enriches us and broadens our possibilities. In our international classes, this clearly comes to the surface – on the one hand we all share the same struggles and desires – people generally want to feel happy, fulfilled and purposeful. And at the same time each of us experiences these desires so differently. Having people who come from different backgrounds allows for the differences to be on the surface, for us to celebrate uniqueness and realize the beauty in not being alike.
Part of learning with us requires that students exchange sessions, and in these moments they have plenty of situations to learn more about each other. International students have the chance to ask their classmates to let them into their life, into their current struggles, and into their challenges, and through this gain insight into each other’s uniqueness.
Each person is a story, a unique complexity, and the journey to explore that with somebody who comes from a different place than me, demands we listen, we ask questions and we get curious. It demands that we notice the richness of the human spirit and the many ways people get to act, think, feel and dream.
Having an international school is part of our mission to show that there is a universal language we all speak in – a language of people who wish to be their better self, and to contribute to others by doing so. Connecting students to their own uniqueness and teaching them to do the same with clients they work with fills us with great joy. Our hearts are touched with each class we teach, when we notice how people in a matter of days – sometimes hours – can find trust and put social prejudices or judgement or comparisons aside. We see how easy it is to meet in a space that allows everybody to invest their energy in their own growth and that of those around them.