Immersion Learning

Immersion learning refers to a pedagogical approach where individuals engage deeply and actively in a learning experience by immersing themselves in the environment of their subject matter. In an educational context, immersion learning is often applied to language acquisition. But immersion learning can also involve connecting with a community to better understand its customs, traditions, religion, or social dynamics. By being fully immersed, individuals are more likely to internalize and apply what they learn, leading to a more profound understanding of one’s surroundings and a deeper respect and appreciation of the context and its people. Immersion learning experiences like these are valued for their ability to foster cross-cultural understanding, break down stereotypes, and promote a more inclusive and interconnected global perspective.

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At Tumbuh Global, we seek to embody an equitable model for cross-cultural enrichment through immersion learning that ensure individuals and communities doing the educating, whether passively or actively, are fairly consulted, engaged, and compensated for their lived expertise. We ensure that all Guided Global Odysseys™ are by invitation, locally sourced and led, contribute to a longterm partnership, and are planned with an eye towards lessening the ecological impact of our travels. We chose immersion learning as a pedagogical container for our odysseys because of its ability to create opportunities for direct interactions with embedded global communities.

 

The Global Teacher™ Method is more than a strategic educational model or immersive travel curriculum. It is a personal mission to offer a holistic alternative to those who feel called to engage their global neighbor. In the years leading up to the formation of Tumbuh Global, we identified and finally named our own: 1) growing discomfort with expressions of Christian mission, aid, and even church-based service projects steeped in white savior complex and 2) a growing frustration with progressives for being too paralyzed to engage their global neighbor outside of their own context for fear of repeating the past. Neither approach was growing global communities, equalizing power dynamics, or building a more equitable and just world. We knew a new approach to global engagement for people of faith and moral courage was needed. 

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The Global Teacher™ Method marries the benefits of immersion learning with the core principles of global citizenship education (GCED) and spiritual direction as formation to deliver a transformative immersion learning experience built around how adults learn and grow in the context of community. GCED aims to increase cultural sensitives, grow global competencies, and promote cross-cultural exchange. Coupled with spiritual direction as formation, we prioritize listening to the inner teacher as a means of personal growth and development in order to offer a better self back to the community. This innovative approach encourages participants to excavate their intentions around "help" and assistance, address their prejudices about under-resourced and "differently" developing communities, meditate over their social responsibility on a global scale, focus on being over doing, and listen deeply to their global neighbor as one of many voices used by their inner teacher. We focus on the lived experience of others as a core contribution to our own self-discovery and, in turn, our collective liberation. We teach and employ active listening skills, practice a deep appreciation for the natural and spiritual world, are led by local communities in our interpretation and exploration of surroundings, and seek to learn from the cultural and religious expressions of our context. We focus on the work each of us needs to do to discover our truest selves so that what we offer back to the world is a grounded, authentic global response. 

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