Graduation class of Canadian International School of Beijing take a photo in June. provided to China Daily

In the four years since he became headmaster at the Canadian International School of Beijing (CISB), Doug K. Prescott says the two biggest challenges he has faced have been a language barrier and air pollution.

The school accepts students of various nationalities, but not Chinese students. Yet some of the students' parents are Chinese, and that's where Prescott encounters the language problem. "We need staff to translate in between while I am talking to the parents," he said.

As for Beijing's air pollution, which usually gets worst during winter, Prescott said it has become an increasing problem for teachers, students and their parents. The school has just spent millions of dollars on its air purification systems.

The CISB has approximately 1,100 students from 64 countries, from nursery school to grade 12. About 20 percent of the students and 70 percent of the 125 teachers are Canadian. The students come from such countries as France, South Africa, India, Germany, England, South Korea and the United States.

"The proportion of our Canadian teachers has actually decreased since 2006 because we are expanding ourselves to be more global," Prescott said.

Almost all the Canadian teachers at CISB are recruited from job fairs, most of them in Canada, he said.

"They need to have the same teaching certificate as required in Canada," Prescott said. "We prefer teachers who have worked in international schools before. They are more equipped to facilitate the learning of students with dynamic cultural backgrounds."

Among its graduates from 2005 to 2014, more than 80 percent went on to universities in the United States and Canada.

CISB is among the very few schools in downtown Beijing, located in the embassy area. The French embassy just across the street and the Canadian embassy within 4 kilometers.

Prescott, 60, comes from New Brunswick, Canada. "Every Canadian international school here in Beijing has a connection with one provincial education department in Canada," he said. "Our school has a connection with the education bureau in New Brunswick, and that's why we use the New Brunswick curriculum for teaching."

Like many other foreign schools in Beijing, CISB also uses the international baccalaureate diploma program. Both that curriculum and the New Brunswick one are accepted worldwide by other schools for admission.

Before moving to China in 2010 and becoming head CIS in Beijing, Prescott traveled three times to China while teaching in Canada, during which time he also worked with Chinese students.

"Chinese students are very diligent and inspiring, and give me the impression of strict Chinese parenting," he said.

In 2001, he spoke at the graduation ceremony of Concord College at the Great Hall of People in Beijing, which was especially held for the college's Chinese students.

Like teachers at CISB, Nick Loepp from Toronto, Canada, also got his teaching job through a job fair and was interviewed while in Australia. That was in 2010 when he was studying education there. Now he teaches first grade at Beanstalk International Bilingual School in suburban Beijing.

Loepp, who is in his 20s, said he had never been to China before going there for the teaching job. "My only concerns were air pollution and the large population. I have never been in any place with such a large population," he said.

Unlike CIS, Loepp's school accepts Chinese students. But just like Prescott at the Canadian school, Loepp said that when he meets with his students' parents he can barely talk with them.

"Students can certainly help with translation during my talk with parents," he said. "But well, you know what happens when kids help with that. When you blame the kids to the parents, and still see the parents laughing, you raise your voice to the kids: no this is not what I am talking about!"

zhangyue@chinadaily.com.cn