International Learning Experiences for Teacher Candidates: A Canadian Attempt to Provide an Intensive Study Abroad Program for Chinese Students

A recent trend in Teacher Education is to encourage teacher candidates to undertake a learning experience located in a different context from their home institution. This paper explores the experiences of 129 teacher candidates from East China Normal University (ECNU) who visited the University of British Columbia (UBC) between 2013 and 2017 for a 3-week Intensive Study Abroad Program (ISAP) as part of their B.Ed. degree.  This program required the university to develop a set of learning experiences to meet the Chinese teacher candidates’ needs. By examining their most memorable experiences of the program, this paper is an effort to understand a Canadian attempt to provide an ISAP curriculum for its Chinese guests.  Data was gathered via an online survey and analyzed using the Constant Comparative Method (CCM) (Lincoln and Guba, 1985). Our findings from substantive questions can be divided into three core themes: being in the world as a teacher with humanity , being as belonging , and being critical . These findings will assist future international exchange program’s design for those university administrators and curriculum planners.