For over 75 years, the U.S. Department of State has promoted understanding between the people of the United States and those of other countries through educational exchanges.
The Fulbright Teacher Exchange Program and the English Language Fellow, Specialist, and Virtual Educator programs are vehicles for these exchanges. Coordinated by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the department,
these programs allow U.S. teachers to share teaching methods, interact with peers and students abroad, and gain new perspectives.
Fulbright Program
The Fulbright Teacher Exchange Program, part of the Fulbright Program, sends U.S. teachers and administrators abroad for up to a semester to learn new educational practices, develop lesson plans, and share expertise. They conduct research, visit schools, and work with peers and students in their host communities. Educators from other countries also travel to the United States in these exchange programs.
After traveling to Peru in 2017 and again in 2018, St. Louis educator Joelle McIntosh returned with a wealth of knowledge, new contacts, and renewed self-confidence. She now describes herself as “a champion for global competence and understanding.”
“I’m excited to be part of this amazing network and eager for the impact we will have on global education,” she adds.
English Language Programs
The English Language Fellow, Specialist, and Virtual Educator programs place U.S. educators in projects designated by U.S. embassies, designed to build capacity in the English language in host countries. Participants must hold graduate degrees and specialize in teaching English to speakers of other languages.
Participants in the Fellow Program teach students and train teachers for 10 months in host country institutions.
Joe Voigts, an English teacher at the University of Chicago Charter School, was an English Language Fellow in 2019–2020 in Jerusalem, where he worked with Israeli and Palestinian students. He said he joined the program “for moments… when I can relate to someone so different from me yet so similar.”
In the Specialist Program, high-level specialists in English teaching lead intensive English language projects, typically for three months in the country or for varying periods in the case of virtual projects.
Rob Danin — a former faculty member of the College of Education at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs — worked for two years in the Russian Far East (2012–2014) before entering the English Specialist Program to teach in Tanzania
in 2016.
The experiences, he says, gave him a greater appreciation for the cultures in which he was immersed and developed his own teaching skills.
The Virtual Educator Program involves online virtual projects that can last several weeks or an academic semester. Participants teach English and train English teachers from institutions around the world.
Mayonne Granzo, who teaches English for Artistic Purposes at Durham Technical Community College in North Carolina, became a Virtual English Language Fellow in 2020.
Granzo has enjoyed making connections and learning about other cultures and educational systems. She grew up in Guyana, a small country in South America, before immigrating to the U.S., and says her background helped her build rapport with students.
Source: share.america.gov, Lauren Monsen