PKS Travels | PKS 东南西北
Language immersion at Presidio Knolls is more than just the mechanical aspects of reading and writing in multiple languages - it’s about developing the confidence and cultural empathy necessary to be a global citizen and a successful leader. We want our graduates to be as comfortable on a mountaintop in Tibet as they are at home in San Francisco, and to develop the mindset to live fearlessly and pursue their dreams (no matter where those dreams might take them).
The PKS Travel Program, “PKS东南西北,” is a signature program of our school and helps us achieve these goals.
Our formal travel program begins in 5th grade with a week-long, STEM focused camping trip to the Sierra Nevadas. From there, we bring students to places near and far, from Hawaii to Taiwan and mainland China. On these immersive trips, students engage in field work that extends their Units of Exploration. Some trips also require students to use their language skills - research indicates that two weeks of travel of this kind is the equivalent of two months of language proficiency gains from a classroom-only experience.
Each PKS东南西北 trip settles in one place for a sustained, deliberately slow-paced experience. Students will form real relationships with their hosts and learn the history of both the people and the natural world in each setting.
Students will keep a single journal with them during the four years of the PKS东南西北 program, adding to it each year. In the end, they will have a travelogue that includes personal reflections, photos, sketches, and musings about their experiences and their growth.
Travel is also one of the best ways to put our Social-Emotional Learning curriculum in action, giving our students a chance to practice flexibility and empathy and to hone the skills they need to maintain grace under stress.
Example trips include:
Sierra Nevada
The PKS东南西北 program begins with a trip that feels like a small step for some students (those who have done sleep away camp and are experienced campers), and a giant leap for others: a week-long adventure in the back country of the Sierra Nevada mountains. We head to the Mammoth Lakes region for hands-on, chemistry focused work on water quality and climate change. Along with this academic work, students are given explicit instruction (and time to practice) all of the habits and mindsets necessary to become great travelers. They pack their own bags before we leave, pitch our tents when we arrive, cook meals together, and begin and end each day in small circles discussing community, family, home-sickness, teamwork, and how to overcome challenges. Trip highlights include snowshoeing, a long, silent hike in the Sierras, and (of course!) our nightly campfires. The trip chaperones are the fifth grade faculty, and this trip is designed in conjunction with Sierra STEM. It caps a 7 week project we call, Changing Earth 演变的地球.
Hawai’i
The Hawai’i trip pushes students into their stretch zones and asks them to engage with communities and cultures different from the ones they know here in San Francisco. During the trip, each student selects a major: STEM (with a geology focus); Writing (with a focus on nature writing and capturing a sense of place); Anthropology (with a focus on public art); or Mindfulness (with a focus on native religious practices). Students engage in field work related to their major on local farms, on the beaches, or in the mountains. They explore from mauka ("mountain") to makai ("ocean").
Taiwan
On this trip to Taiwan, our students extended their study of diversity to include a study of indigenous peoples. We begin this study on campus, examining indigenous history in California. We then extend this study to Taiwan. Students took a deep dive into the fraught politics of 20th and 21st century Asia. Students developed increasing independence as we travelled from Taipei to the mountains on the center of the island to stay with the Atayal (泰雅) people. In Taiwan, students:
Work with professional film makers to create short documentaries about identity and history
Study climate change and how this relates to culture and politics
Continue to deepen their appreciation for diversity
Yunnan
In the Yunnan province in the west of China, students moved from a study of traditional Chinese culture to a study of China’s diversity (read about the inaugural trip here). During this trip, our students:
Explore the cultural traditions and history of Dali
Interview local craftsmen and learn their crafts
Collaborate with local preservationists to ensure Dali’s unique culture is not forgotten
The Yellow Mountains
We have traveled to an ancient village at the foot of China’s most iconic mountain range, the Yellow Mountains, where they delve into an experiential study of traditional Chinese culture (read about 2019’s trip here). During this trip, students:
Study (and make) art
Study the philosophy of calligraphy
Explore tea culture
Examine Confucianism and the Keju system
Shanghai, Beijing, Hangzhou
We have many ideas for the future of PKS Travels东南西北! One idea includes…travel to Shanghai, Beijing, and Hangzhou, to carry out project work that begins at home, to answer the question: "Is Silicon Valley or Zhongguancun [the tech hub of Beijing] better poised to be the innovation capital of the 21st century?" We believe that a PKS graduate is uniquely positioned to understand the nuanced advantages and disadvantages of entrepreneurship and innovation on both sides of the Pacific. In both California and during PKS东南西北 in China, students will:
Study the history of innovation
Examine the legal, economic, political, and cultural underpinnings of both locations
Interview entrepreneurs in California and China
Learn coding and the engineering design process