# Fulbright-Hays Group Projects Abroad Program

**Abstracts for FY 2007 Short-Term Group Projects Abroad**

#  

# AFRICA (8)

# [MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY]{.underline}

"Empowering World History and Geography and Global Studies Teachers
Through the Study of Southern Africa"

The African Studies Center (ASC) at Michigan State University (MSU) in
collaboration with three neighboring mid-Michigan Intermediate School
Districts (ISDs) of Clinton, Eaton, and Ingham counties, propose a
Fulbright-Hays Group Projects Abroad (GPA) project. This GPA will help
13 world history & geography, and global studies teachers and curriculum
specialists drawn from 23 urban, suburban, and rural school districts
develop the expertise necessary to adequately teach state mandated
courses in *Eastern Hemisphere/Global Studies* at the middle school
level and the newly mandated *World History & Geography* at the high
school level. Participating teachers will be immersed the study of the
history and geography of southern Africa through participation in a
four-week study program in South Africa (June 30 - July 26, 2007)
focusing on four locals (Cape Town/Western Cape, Eastern Cape,
Durban/KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng), using state standards and benchmarks for
eastern hemisphere/global studies and world history & geography as a
guide for our study.

Specifically, the GPA through a multifaceted program which includes
lectures and site visits to a wide variety of South African historical,
cultural, economic and political institutions and organizations, is
designed to: (1) examine and further understand the geographic
environment, historic, political, economic, social and cultural
dimensions of urban and rural southern Africa and in so doing gain a new
perspective of southern Africa within the context and processes of world
history and the contemporary global community; (2) enrich the individual
educator's global perspective through increasing their knowledge about
and their experiential-based understanding of southern Africa
historically and contemporaneously; (3) enhance the study of Southern
Africa in World History & Geography, Global Studies, and realization of
state-mandated standards and benchmarks for these subjects, through
exposure to and engagement with a variety of social, cultural, and
academic experiences in South Africa; (4) to generate curricular and
teaching materials on southern Africa that can be incorporated into the
participants' teaching of World History & Geography and Global Studies
and to further disseminate this knowledge through district, state and
national seminars and conferences and posting of the materials on local
and intermediate school district Web sites, and on MSU's *Exploring
Africa* Web site; and (5) enrich each participant's global perspective
and increase her/his commitment to international education and African
studies through the knowledge and experiential understanding gained
during four weeks of purposeful programming in South Africa.

All participants will be required to develop a curriculum project
(either individually or a part of a team), which will be incorporated
into their teaching beginning in academic year 2007-2008. The project
will be more widely disseminated through ISD-facilitated workshops and
through posting on Web sites and on MSU's *Exploring Africa.*

**[RUTGERS UNIVERSITY]{.underline}**

"Undergraduate Study in South Africa for EOF Students"

The Paul Robeson Cultural Center and the Study Abroad Office at Rutgers,
in collaboration with the New Jersey Educational Opportunity Fund
program (NJEOF), which supports and services 41 public and independent
member-institutions of universities and colleges, in response to the
Fulbright-Hays Group Projects Abroad (GPA) invitational priority seeks
funding for our program that will facilitate twelve American
undergraduates to study for a semester in South Africa.

Our proposed GPA, Undergraduate Study in South Africa of EOF Students,
will provide the opportunity for twelve students from disadvantaged and
non-traditional backgrounds to study for a fifteen-week semester program
developed by Rutgers Study Abroad program at the University of KwaZulu
Natal.

Our proposed GPA is scheduled for the winter semester (January -- June)
2008 and is designed to (1) provide American College students who would
not normally do so to take the opportunity to study in South Africa by
participating in a semester long study abroad program; (2) to expand
student-participants knowledge and understanding of the history,
culture, society and contemporary issues in South Africa; (3) to
provided an opportunity to expand disciplinary based knowledge within
our student-participants' majors; (4) to increase our
student-participants' understanding of global issues that impact African
countries and the United States of America; and 5) to develop in each
student-participant, a commitment to an international and global
understanding of issues, regardless of our student-participants career
choices.

Our proposed "Undergraduate Study in Africa for EOF Students" grows out
of a strong commitment to the study of African and to study abroad
programming at Rutgers University and to a tradition of program
development for students from disadvantaged backgrounds on the NJEOF
program, which has 41 universities and colleges as members. Through our
GPA, we intend to promote equal educational opportunity and greater
accessibility to study abroad for non-traditional students who, by
reason of socio-economic status, ethnic definition, and/or restricted
cultural-educational experience, find themselves in a disadvantaged
position with traditional or conventional students.

**[TOWSON UNIVERSITY]{.underline}**

"An Interdisciplinary Curriculum Enhancement Project for Three Maryland
School Systems: Ghanaian, History, Culture, and Environment"

This project is designed to acquaint K-12 teachers in Baltimore City,
Baltimore County, and Prince George's County with the diverse and rich
environment and culture of Ghana in West Africa. Ghana is a microcosm of
much of Africa south of the Sahara Desert in topography, language and
religious diversity and the rural/urban divide. There we find pockets of
poverty marked by traditional economic practices that co-exist with
western style businesses and industries tied to the global economy.

The objectives of this Ghanaian experience are to enhance and enrich
preexisting courses in African history, literature, culture, and the
environment, and to create new courses based on a combination of study,
travel, and lectures during four weeks in Ghana. The actual Ghanaian
experience is to be preceded by study, lectures and films and to be
followed up with hands-on course design and the creation of learning
modules. This project is intended to have long-term impact at the
individual, classroom, K-12 public school, university and potential
state level with the new courses to be submitted to the Maryland State
Department of Education for dissemination to other educators in the
system.

In addition, this project is geared toward the mission promulgated by No
Child Left Behind to improve student achievement. As a result of their
travels and contacts in Ghana, the teachers will broaden their knowledge
of other cultures and religions, gain experience in writing, and enrich
their qualifications regarding science through the emphasis on
environmental issues, which, in turn, will be conveyed to their
students.

**[TRIDENT TECHNICAL COLLEGE]{.underline}**

"The Mano River Region (Africa) and South Carolina"

Trident Technical College (TTC), in partnership with the College of
Charleston (C of C) and selected South Carolina school districts in
Berkeley, Charleston, and Dorchester Counties proposes to send a team of
13 educators (including teachers from elementary and secondary schools
as well as faculty from TTC and C of C) to the Republic of Guinea and
Sierra Leone in the Mano River Region for a Group Projects Abroad
Short-Term Seminar Project. The project will focus on the Mano River
Region and the changes occurring in that area. Faculty members involved
in the development of this project fear that our local cultural heritage
is in danger of being forgotten as time passes and each new generation
of African-Americans is further removed from its roots in West Africa.

We want our students to realize that many of the values, cultures,
traditions, linguistic styles, music and foods that they take for
granted actually originated in West Africa. Furthermore, we want our
students to understand that whatever their particular ethnicity, if they
call South Carolina "home," their lives have been shaped by the culture
of West Africa. This is part of a long-term effort to give our students
and residents of South Carolina a more global view of today's world.
This project is also conceived in awareness of the negative opinion that
many people in other countries have of Americans and represents an
opportunity for us to visit Africa as goodwill ambassadors recognizing
that our two countries have a common heritage that needs to be
perpetuated and celebrated.

The project participants will return to South Carolina better educated
and equipped to provide a more in-depth study of Africa in their schools
and colleges. Participants also plan to establish long-term
relationships between the people of South Carolina and the peoples of
the Mano River Region. This initiative will integrate African history
and culture into the curriculum of secondary and postsecondary
institutions in the coastal region of South Carolina.

### UNION COLLEGE

"The Interaction of Environment and Culture in Cameroon: An
Interdisciplinary Area Studies Curriculum Development Project"

This project will enable two Union College faculty members to accompany
ten (10) Eastern Kentucky K-12 teachers to learn about the interaction
of environment, history and culture in Cameroon and establish an
evolving exchange with Cameroonian and other African educators using
global communication tools. Meeting with Cameroon teachers, public
policy experts, government officials, artists, and religious leaders,
the twelve project participants, during this proposed five-week seminar,
will enhance their respective Social Studies, Ecology, Geography and
History curricula by acquiring unique resource materials, including
cultural artifacts such as indigenous arts and crafts, environmental
specimens and video interviews with Cameroon officials and leaders in
civil society.

The specific objectives are: (1) to work individually and in teams to
develop lesson plans, instructional strategies and curriculum resources
to integrate environmental issues into area studies in Kentucky schools
while studying the impact of the environment on culture and history in
Cameroon; (2) to collect pertinent artifacts and develop strategies for
teaching and illustrating African history, art, economics, and ecology
with the help of Cameroon educators, artists, Islamic and Christian
clergy, business people, and government officials; (3) to train team
members to be mentors and resource persons to disseminate the results of
the project to Kentucky schools; and (4) to create an ongoing, online
resource for collaborative opportunities for American and Cameroonian
teachers to engage in cross-cultural understandings that influence
teaching by integrating environmental awareness into area studies.

### UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH

"Pittsburgh Curriculum Project in Ghana"

The African Studies Program of the University of Pittsburgh, in
association with several school districts in the Southwestern
Pennsylvania region, proposes to offer a study tour of Ghana for a
selected group of 14 teachers and curriculum coordinators in the summer
of 2007 through the Fulbright-Hays Group Projects Abroad program. The
central activity in this project will be an integrated and comprehensive
four-week program of instruction, field study and related cultural
activities in Ghana, the host country, which will be designed to lead to
the enhancement of professional competencies in the African area and the
generation of specific, grade-level instructional resources for
classroom infusion by the participants upon their return. The project
will be particularly significant to social studies teachers and
administrators with direct responsibility for curriculum development.
The project is further aimed at creating a core of teachers with
firsthand African experience who would be available to share their
knowledge with others through professional development activities
district-wide.

The project idea stems from the deep-rooted commitment of the University
of Pittsburgh's African Studies Program and the collaborating school
districts toward the promotion of international education and cultural
diversity, a challenge that has become even more urgent in American
education as a result of recent global events.

### Number range CHAPTERTHE UNIVERSITY OF TOLEDO

"Lesotho's Difficult Options within South Africa"

Through this project 14 teachers from secondary and elementary schools
will experience the culture and unique situation of Lesotho, a
vulnerable third world state completely surrounded by South Africa, a
regional power classified as an emerging market economy. Their
relationship might be considered a prototype of how the weak and strong
interact in the global political economy. South Africa has a dramatic
impact on most aspects of life in Lesotho. Nevertheless, their
geographical, environmental and ethnic commonalities create mutual
relationships and shared interests, not just unilateral dominance by the
stronger party. In fact the cultures, economies, histories,
languages**,** peoples, politics, and societies of South Africa and
Lesotho are intimately intertwined. Participants will spend roughly
three weeks in Lesotho and two in South Africa observing how these
shared elements operate and interact on both sides of their border.

The teachers selected will engage in a comprehensive and carefully
planned project abroad that will allow them to gain a nuanced view of
Southern Africa. The program will have a substantial service-learning
component where participants will develop personal contacts with
citizens by interning in community development, educational,
environmental, human rights and social welfare organizations. These
interactions will facilitate close continued collaboration of
participants with their African contacts, while they share their
experiences in Southern Africa with their United States students,
colleagues, communities and professional organizations.

Participants will be selected in January 2008, study Southern Africa
interactively on our Web site, attend a pre-departure workshop in May
and be abroad from June 21 to July 30, 2008. Each will pay \$850 in cost
sharing to supplement the allotted federal and university funds.

**YALE UNIVERSITY**

"Teaching about Africa: The Daily Lives of Ghanaian People"

PIER-African Studies, the Outreach Program of the Council on African
Studies at the Whitney and Betty MacMillan Center for International and
Area Studies at Yale, will lead fourteen K-12 teachers and educators
from around the United States on a six-week GPA program to Ghana in July
and August 2007.

The project objectives are: (1) to increase the knowledge and
sensitivity of the participants with regard to West Africa in general
and Ghana in particular; (2) to develop curricular products that will
advance the study of this region in the classrooms of the school
districts in which the participants teach; and (3) to disseminate
curricular materials developed by the participants throughout the United
States, and to encourage the participants to take part in workshops,
professional meetings, and civic events which will further knowledge
about Ghana and West Africa in communities throughout the United States.
To realize these objectives we will: (a) organize a three-day
pre-departure orientation at Yale University to build a cohesive group
and prepare the participants to understand the purpose of the program in
order to fully enjoy their Ghanaian experience; (b) give the
participants exposure to a rich and diverse range of experiences during
their six-week study tour of Ghana, allowing them an in-depth view of
the peoples and cultures of Ghana; (c) engage participants in programs
of instruction, research, field visits and home-stays, and acquire
resource materials for teaching and for curriculum development; and (d)
support the GPA participants in a series of follow-up activities to
complete their curriculum modules and disseminate them throughout the
United States, and to present their curricular units at professional
meetings and workshops at the local, district, regional, and national
levels.

**EAST ASIA (5)**

**[EAST CAROLINA UNIVERSITY]{.underline}**

"Infusing Japanese Language and Culture in the Pitt County, NC School
System: A Short-term Seminar in Japan for K-12 Teachers"

Infusing Japanese language and culture into the Pitt County, North
Carolina School System: A Short-term Seminar in Japan for K-12 Teachers
East Carolina University\'s (ECU) Asian Studies Program, in partnership
with the Pitt County, North Carolina School System, proposes a
four-week, short-term seminar designed to empower participating K-12
teachers with the first-hand knowledge necessary to develop modules for
introducing the study of Japanese language, history and culture in the
K-12 curriculum in eastern North Carolina. Via Internet postings at a
proposed ECU Web site, \"Education About Japan,\" accessible to
educators nationwide, these modules will be available to the larger
educational community. Curricular developments will also be made
available through conference presentations and publications in
teacher-related works such as *Education About Asia*.

The seminar will include twelve K-12 teachers; an ECU professor of
Japanese history, John Tucker, who is project director; and an ECU
instructor of Japanese language, Shigeo Yamaguchi, who also teaches in
the public schools and will count as one of the K-12 teachers.
Curriculum specialists from the Pitt County Schools will assist
participating teachers, following their return from Japan, in creating
grade-appropriate teaching modules. At least one module will be related
to Japanese language, and the other to Japanese history and culture.
Every effort will be made to include a diverse range of elementary and
secondary teachers in the seminar to ensure diverse, vertical
integration in the resulting teaching modules. Pre-departure,
in-country, and post-return workshops, orientation sessions, field
studies, and the resulting teaching modules related to Japanese
language, history, and culture will be the subjects of on-going,
rigorous evaluations by the K-12 participants, ECU faculty, Pitt school
administrators, and Japanese coordinators, in order to ensure a program
of the highest quality.

**[HAMILTON COLLEGE]{.underline}**

"ACC Post Study Abroad Field Experience Program in China for United
States Undergraduate Students"

Associated Colleges in China (ACC) at Hamilton College, which represents
its six consortium colleges and universities[^1] and over 50
participating colleges and universities,[^2] respectfully requests
\[insert final budget number\] from the Fulbright-Hays Group Project
Abroad Program to establish a post study abroad program in China. The
proposed project, ACC Post Study Abroad Field Experience Program for
United States Undergraduate Students**,** will provide twelve nationally
selected students, who have already completed a term or more of a study
abroad program in China, with the opportunity to participate in a
language intensive and experience-based language/culture internship in
China for seven weeks in the summer of 2007.

This proposal meets the [absolute priority]{.underline} of the of GPA
program by creating a program with a focus on East Asia. Further, we
address [competitive preference priority I]{.underline} by establishing
a program that fosters the development of advanced language skills in
one of the critical languages -- Chinese -- as outlined in the GPA
program announcement. [Competitive preference priority II]{.underline}
is also addressed -- upon their return, all students will reach out to
elementary and secondary schools to discuss experiences and introduce
students to aspects of Chinese culture and society. Additionally, we are
targeting students with career aspirations in education -- primarily
elementary and secondary. Graduates of the Post Study Abroad program
will enter graduate education programs with a high degree of language
competency and will be fully prepared to introduce the development of
Chinese language and area studies into their future classrooms.

**[VALPARAISO UNIVERSITY]{.underline}**

####### "A Chinese-Based Intensive Summer Training Program Aimed at Helping Chinese Language and Culture into the K-12 Curriculum"

Lutheran University Association Inc. (Valparaiso University (VU))
building on last year's successful GPA-supported summer immersion
program, will launch one-month and seven-week (respectively) advanced
language and cultural immersion programs in Hangzhou, China in summer
2007 in conjunction with our partner, Zhejiang University of Technology
(ZUT). The program will target K-12 teachers currently teaching or
planning to teach Chinese, school administrators (i.e., primarily
principals and school superintendents) in a position to promote the
integration of Chinese language and culture into a K-12 curriculum, and
select college students majoring in education or planning to teach
Chinese language and culture in K-12 schools. In order to accommodate
the diverse demands of prospective participants, the program will offer
two tracks--- culture-emphasis and language-emphasis. Each track will
incorporate elements of the other to ensure that all participants
receive significant exposure to both language and cultural issues; and
each will be used to support and "cross-fertilize" the activities of the
other.

The end-goals of the 2007 summer program are to improve Chinese language
ability and pedagogy among current and future teachers; to imbue
participants with a solid understanding and appreciation of Chinese
culture, traditions and history; and to provide the desire, knowledge,
and skills for implementing Chinese language and culture curricula in
K-12 schools in our region. To this end, we will: (1) recruit nationally
14-16 K-12 teachers and administrators; (2) recruit nationally 10
undergraduate and graduate education majors or students with significant
Chinese language coursework intending to teach Chinese language/culture
at United States schools; (3) utilize our existing partnership with ZUT
to provide teaching staff and logistical support for the program. VU
will take responsibility for selection of participants, curriculum
design, and on-site management; (4) implement a pre-departure
orientation that reviews program goals and methods, prepares
participants for cultural change and sets up individualized plans,
including expected outcomes for all participants; (5) develop, test, and
deliver a seven-week, advanced Chinese language-emphasis track aimed
primarily toward student participants who have taken at least two years
of college-level Chinese (6) develop, test, and deliver a one-month
culture-emphasis track aimed primarily toward K-12 Chinese language
teachers and school administrators; (7) plan exercises for points of
intersection so that participants in different tracks can regularly
share their perspectives with each other, learn and provide mutual
feedback, and together develop pedagogical strategies and materials that
will help improve Chinese language learning at K-12 schools; and (8)
develop and undertake an assessment of the immediate (post-program) and
longer term (three-six months post-program) impact of the program on
curricular implementation and pedagogical strategies related to Chinese
language instruction.

**[UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO- BOULDER]{.underline}**

"Texts and Contents: Japan through Children's Literature"

The Program for Teaching East Asia (TEA) at the University of Colorado
at Boulder will conduct a four-week seminar and curriculum development
project in Japan through the Fulbright-Hays Group Projects Abroad
Program. This project abroad will constitute one component of an
extended professional development program in Japan studies and
literature-based curriculum development for 14 Colorado elementary
educators. Entitled "Texts and Contexts: Japan through Children's
Literature," the full program will address the need for (1) curriculum
development on Japan that combines cultural studies and literacy
education, and (2) professional development that enhances elementary
educators' content knowledge about Japan, cultural studies, and
cross-cultural pedagogy. The program will produce a CD-ROM of
literature-based cross-curricular thematic units and lessons to teach
Japan at the elementary level, which participants and TEA will
disseminate in Colorado and nationwide.

The four-week program in Japan will provide the 14 participants with an
intensive, first-hand cultural immersion experience, academic learning,
and opportunities for authentic resource material gathering and
networking in Japan. The design of the program will integrate formal and
experiential study about Japanese culture, history, geography,
education, and children's lives with literature-based elementary
curriculum development. Six Japanese cities (Tokyo, Kyoto, Hiroshima,
Okayama, Yamagata, and Yokohama) and their surrounding areas will serve
as classrooms where participants will study a featured children's
literature text and develop lessons around the text. Participants also
will visit several elementary schools and do a homestay with a Japanese
family. Prior to departure to Japan, TEA will conduct a three-day,
U.S.-based orientation. During the school-year following the study
abroad program, teachers will participate in follow-through activities
that include workshops and curriculum revision, implementation, and
dissemination. The project director and a bilingual project scholar will
guide and instruct the 14 educators during all components of the
program.

**[UNIVERSITY OF MEMPHIS]{.underline}**

"Short-term Seminar on Chinese Culture"

The purpose of this seminar is to develop and improve the study of China
in the Memphis area, Shelby County, Tennessee and Kansas area public
schools. The project will provide an opportunity for twenty elementary
and secondary school teachers and faculty to prepare a curriculum on
Chinese culture appropriate for their grade level. The study of China
will become part of the Memphis City and Shelby County School Systems\'
general curriculum.

After selection through a competitive application process, the teachers
will participate in a two-week preparatory workshop conducted by the
Asian Studies program of the University of Memphis. Asian Studies
faculty will introduce the teachers to the culture of China, including
geography, history, religion, art, language, literature and politics. In
the summer of 2008, the project director and 20 teachers will travel to
China and begin a five-week study of this immense and diverse country.
The group will be hosted by and based in Hubei University in Wuhan,
Hubei Province, and take lessons in Hubei University for three weeks.
The group also will visit Shanghai, Nanjing, Wuhan, Yichang (Three Gorge
dam projects), Chongqing, Xian, and Beijing. They will travel within
China by air, train and boat.

Highlights of the field study will be Shanghai\'s role in the
development of a socialist market economy, the ethnic diversity of
China, the role of Buddhism in the history of China, the place of the
Yangtze River in China\'s history and economy, the terra-cotta army of
China, the Forbidden City and the Great Wall. Participants will visit a
primary school and a secondary school to observe Chinese teaching
methods and to establish links with their counterparts in China.

Because of the large African-American population of the Memphis area,
one of the most valuable impacts of this group study abroad project will
be to introduce China to minority students in the elementary, middle and
high schools. With a population of more than 1.3 billion people and a
rapidly growing economy, China represents one of the greatest
opportunities for United States manufacturers, service providers,
exporters and investors. By increasing the understanding of China within
the public schools, this project will make a major contribution to the
internationalization of Memphis and Shelby County and promote its
economic and cultural development.

**EAST AND CENTRAL EUROPE & EURASIA (3)**

**[AMERICAN COUNCILS FOR INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION]{.underline}**

"Contemporary Russia"

The strategic importance of preparing a new generation of United States
citizens with high-level professional competence in critical foreign
languages and cultures, including Russian is recognized by both
educators and political leaders. American Councils for International
Education: ACTR/ACCELS (American Councils) administers high quality
language and cultural programs at leading educational centers in Moscow,
St. Petersburg, and Vladimir. American Councils' *Contemporary Russia*
program is a short-term summer program conducted in Moscow designed to
explore the economic, cultural, and political issues currently facing
Russia while providing Russian-language instruction to participants at
all proficiency levels, including those with no prior training in the
language. Current and future teachers will enhance their knowledge of
Russian culture, history, and language, and bring a renewed vigor to
their Russian language classrooms at the elementary and secondary school
level.

For more than 30 years, American Councils has successfully pursued its
mission to advance education, research, and mutual understanding across
the United States and the countries of Eurasia, Southeast Europe, and
South Asia. With a staff of over 375 professionals, American Councils
designs, implements, and supports innovative programs in education,
professional development, community outreach, and scholarly research.
The "Contemporary Russia" program is another avenue in achieving
significant results in promoting high-level expertise in Russian
language and culture.

**[THE UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL ARKANSAS]{.underline}**

"Culture, Taiga and Tundra: A Seminar on Russian North"

The Russian Federation is the largest country on Earth and contains
approximately 142 million inhabitants, many of whom reside in the
Russian North. In most respects, knowledge about the Russian Federation
is based on European Russia and the dominance of Russian culture there.
Indeed, European Russia dominates the country; yet, there are thousands
of citizens living in the North who contribute to the overall richness
of the culture of the Federation. It is this Russian region, the North,
with the cities of Petrozavodsk and Murmansk and their environs as the
focus, which will be the environmental and cultural laboratory, and
academic setting for this Short-term Seminar.

This seminar will enable educators to travel to Petrozavodsk and
Murmansk -- two northern Russian cities that are only rarely visited by
American educators. Thus, the seminar will enhance, deepen, and broaden
the educators' understanding of Russia as they observe, study, and live
in Petrozavodsk and Murmansk, travel to adjacent locations, and as they
learn about the environmental and cultural characteristics of the taiga
and tundra in the Russian North. During the seminar, participants will:
(1) live in Petrozavodsk and Murmansk; (2) study history, geography,
economics, politics, and the environment; (3) observe significant sites
in and adjacent to Petrozavodsk and Murmansk; (4) meet with Russian
school teachers; (5) participate in Russian language lessons; and (6)
collect material to create lesson plans and teaching units. These
activities will provide an intensive immersion into characteristics of
the Russian North enabling participants to improve their foreign
language skills, their area studies programs, and their technological
expertise.

Prior to departure, three pre-seminar orientations will occur in May and
June 2007. Teachers will learn to create Web pages and Microsoft
PowerPoint presentations. The foreign segment will begin June 10 and end
July 10, 2007. During that time, teachers will attend classes, build Web
pages, create PowerPoint presentations, and write four lesson plans.
Following the seminar, teachers will finalize their work and present it
at the Arkansas Conference on Teaching, November 1 -- 2, 2007.

The seminar is organized as follows: (1) a brief stay in Moscow for
orientation, lectures, and adjustment; (2) a six-day stay in
Petrozavodsk with classroom study on language and a focus on the taiga
and culture of the Karelia Region; (3) an extended stay in Murmansk
where participants will continue Russian language instruction, attend
lectures on history, politics, economics, geography, and the
environment, and develop lesson plans (while in Petrozavodsk and
Murmansk, full-day excursions in Karelia and the Kola Peninsula will
enable the group to personally examine taiga and tundra landscapes and
cultures); and (4) at the end of the Murmansk segment, the group will
travel to St. Petersburg for a brief stay prior to returning to Moscow
and the United States.

**[THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN]{.underline}**

"Understanding Russia through Everyday Life"

The Russian, East European, and Eurasian Center (REEC) at the University
of Illinois at Urbana--Champaign, in conjunction with faculty from
Illinois State University, will lead a four-week short-term seminar in
Russia entitled "Understanding Russia through Everyday Life" for 15
United States elementary and secondary educators. Russian history is
full of dramatic moments that drastically changed all aspects of Russian
life. Since 1991 the Russian people have been confronting yet another
revolutionary transformation of their lives. This Fulbright-Hays project
is designed to assist United States elementary and secondary teachers
gain a better understanding of Russian history, society, politics,
economy, the arts, language, and culture by studying these topics from
the perspective of everyday life in Russia. Based on the new knowledge
and material they will gain, the participating educators will develop
lesson plans on Russia to incorporate into their classes. For greater
impact, the lesson plans will be compiled into a curriculum guide and
disseminated to other educators through various avenues, including
curriculum workshops and online media. The proposed seminar and
curriculum guide will be aligned with the Illinois Learning Standards
and necessary national standards.

The project is designed to take place in three stages: (1) pre-departure
preparations and a five-day curriculum development workshop on Russia at
Illinois from 20 to 24 June 2007; (2) a four-week seminar in Russia from
25 June to 23 July 2007; and (3) post-travel development of lesson plans
and a curriculum guide and presentations in two teacher training
workshops at Illinois in summer 2008 and other workshops in the
participants' local districts. This three-stage design will allow for
timely dissemination of information to program participants; processing
of necessary travel documents, introduction of background material
during the pre-departure workshop; an intensive study seminar in Russia;
and the development and dissemination of curriculum materials. The
project will have widespread and lasting impact on the study of Russia
in United States elementary and secondary schools.

Participating educators will gain a deeper understanding of Russian
history, society, and culture, which will allow them to develop and
implement lesson plans on Russia in their classrooms. The resulting
curriculum guide will be disseminated nationally, aiding hundreds of
teachers who did not participate in the program. Over the years, the
project will impact thousands of students as teachers adopt the
curriculum guide and incorporate it into their teaching about Russia.

# NEAR EAST (3)

# 

### MISSOURI COMMUNITY COLLEGE ASSOCIATION

"Religious Pluralism as Exhibited in Two Secular Muslim States"

# Legislation pending in the United States Senate would provide funding for 30,000 students from our nation's community colleges to study abroad annually. Though a noble undertaking, this goal is currently impractical. Few community college students now receive a foundation in language and international studies that make study abroad attractive, and fewer than 6,000 now do so. This 32-day project serves in a modest beginning to remedy this problem. It involves 14 faculty from community colleges and secondary schools from across the Midwest in an intensive emersion experience involving the diverse religious communities of two secular Muslim states; Turkey and Syria. Through lectures, visits to historic and modern religious communities, stays in villages and with religious orders, and conversations with leading religious and secular figures, these faculty will gain the experience and information needed to revise curricula so that it presents a balanced and stimulating view of this important part of the world.

#  They will also gain an appreciation for the need to include Arabic in modern language study in their institutions. All 14 will develop instructional units focusing on the Near East for their own courses to be shared via Web sites with a national network of community colleges and their associated secondary schools. The participants will present on the experience to 42 or more diverse audiences, including primary and secondary school groups, and will facilitate the expansion of Arabic language offerings and student/faculty exchange programs throughout the 350 college consortium they represent. The Web-accessible instructional units will be promoted through national and regional community college associations, creating a multiplier effect that can begin the process of developing the student interest in international study needed to meet our national goals. 

# [UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH]{.underline} 

"Islam, the West, and the Muslim World, Group Projects Abroad"

"Islam, the West, and the Muslim World" is a one-month Group Study
Program that will bring secondary and tertiary level educators from
Pennsylvania and Ohio to Egypt, in order to directly facilitate
curricula expansion in Islamic Studies. It will be administered by the
University of Pittsburgh's Global Studies Program, which houses the
Secretariat of an innovative consortia of 24 colleges, universities and
community organizations in eastern Ohio and Pennsylvania that have
pooled their resources and expertise in Islamic Studies: the Consortium
for Educational Resources on Islamic Studies (CERIS). The program will
enrich the world views and curricula of twelve university faculty and
secondary school educators from CERIS institutions and secondary
schools, through pre-travel and post-travel workshops and seminars, and
a rich Study-Tour in Egypt developed in close collaboration with South
Valley University in Qena and the Program for Dialogue between
Civilizations at the Faculty of Economics at Cairo University. This
program involving study in Arabic speaking Egypt (Africa) fulfills GPA
Absolute Priority and Competitive Preference Priority I, while the
format and objectives of the program fulfill Competitive Preference
Priority II.

"Islam, the West, and the Muslim World" fulfills CERIS member
institutions' needs for curricula on the Muslim World and for educator
understandings of historical and modern day encounters between the
Muslim World and the West. Specifically, the direct goals of the project
are to: (a) develop new courses and expand existing courses in order to
bring Islamic studies curricula to tertiary level institutions, thus
providing complimentary academic content to CERIS members' recently
expanded Arabic language course offerings; (b) enhance social studies
curricula with content on the Islamic World at the secondary level; and
(c) establish sustainable inter-institutional, faculty and student
dialogues across countries for continuing collaboration in the future.

The program has six integrated phases: (1) Competitive Selection of
Faculty and Secondary School Educators; (2) Pre-travel Directed Study &
Intensive Workshop; (3) Four Week In-country Study Tour in Egypt; (4)
Post-travel Curriculum Development Workshop; 5) Curriculum
Dissemination, Workshop Deliberations and Public Presentations; and (6)
Sustained International Electronic Exchanges.

A team of CERIS Islamic Studies faculty experts and secondary level
curriculum specialists will support the selected educators. The selected
educators may have little or no previous experience in the Middle East,
but will be committed to creating and integrating the Middle East and
Islamic World into their curricula. By immersing educators in an
intensive, hands-on experience in one of the focal points of the Islamic
World, the project will radically improve their ability to offer
credible and pertinent information in their respective classrooms; to
design curriculum modules for secondary and tertiary instruction; and to
speak about the Islamic World in the community. The resulting course
work, curriculum modules and publicly available syllabi, as well as
inter-institutional infrastructures for dialogue, will expand academic
offerings and shape student futures at a range of secondary and higher
education institutions that together enroll nearly 110,000 students and
serve a regional population of over 2.2 million.

**[UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MILWAUKEE]{.underline}**

"Group Project Abroad on Education and Culture in Morocco"

In July 2007, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM) will offer an
intensive overseas foreign language and area studies seminar, under the
leadership of UWM Professor Hamid Ouali, for twenty Wisconsin educators
that will foster mutual understanding and cultural exchange between
teachers and their students in the United States and the Muslim world.
With the support and resources of the UWM Center for International
Education (CIE), a team of faculty and administrators has designed this
seminar on education and culture in Morocco to meet educators\' needs
for high quality, interdisciplinary professional development focused on
integrating international perspectives into their individual teaching
plans.

This group project is designed to fulfill both state and federal
education policy objectives. Moreover, in line with wider United States
foreign and domestic policy goals, it also provides a unique immersion
experience within the Muslim world. Project goals reflect Wisconsin
state education priorities and include: global literacy in the
classroom, access to international education experiences for teachers
and students, and promotion of world languages at all levels of
education. CIE will draw on its extensive overseas program and K-12
outreach experience to implement all phases of this project, facilitate
participant involvement beyond the overseas program, and promote
long-term benefits for international education in Wisconsin.

The experience for participating educators will extend well beyond the
overseas program and therefore serve as a replicable model of CIE\'s
comprehensive approach to the internationalization of K-12 teaching
across the state. This model builds on two previously distinct sets of
existing relationships between: CIE and the statewide network of K-12
teachers, fostered over years of working together to strengthen
international teaching; and UWM and its institutional partners in
Morocco: Mohammed V University, AMIDEAST, and the Arabic Language
Institute in Fez.

The seminar seeks to utilize these relationships to provide both an
intensive and extended collaborative, professional development
experience that will impact not only the participating teachers and
their students, but also colleagues and classrooms across the state.
Guided by an advisory committee of experienced university and K-12
faculty and administrators, it incorporates three main phases: (1) a
partially Web-based, facilitated, pre-departure seminar that draws on
the resources of UWM and its partner institutions and will enable
participants to prepare for and maximize the use of their time in
Morocco; (2) an intensive overseas component providing access to unique
resources and experiences in three, distinctly-different Moroccan cities
and their surrounding regions; and (3) a series of follow-up activities
and forums through which participants will receive assistance in
implementing their new curricula, continue to dialogue with one, another
and their partner teachers in Morocco, share their teaching strategies
with other educators, and evaluate the impact of their overseas
experiences on their teaching, students, and colleagues. Integrated into
the mission and framework of an office dedicated to K-16
internationalization of education, this project will provide an
excellent return on the modest federal investment in Wisconsin\'s
teachers and students.

#### SOUTH ASIA (2)

#### AUSTIN COLLEGE 

##### "Globalization and Societal Change in South India"

The Globalization and Societal Change in South India Project is a joint
proposal from Austin College and Richland Community College for a
short-term seminar in India in summer 2007. India has become more
tangible to Americans in recent years due to rising numbers of Indian
immigrants, increased security concerns in the region after 9/11, and
economic developments that have led to business process outsourcing.
South India is a multi-ethnic region with a unique history and culture.
The cities we will visit have historically been ports for the spice
trade, sites of pilgrimage, independent kingdoms, and colonial
possessions. Today many of them are also primary centers for new
technology and business outsourcing that has become synonymous with
economic globalization. Some have prospered, but the wave of development
has passed others by.

We will explore how religion, culture, linguistics, gender roles,
literacy rates, family structure, infrastructure and tourism make
globalization more or less likely and how, in turn, globalization has
affected them. Following several pre-departure orientation workshops, a
group of 18 college faculty and K-12 teachers will travel to Trivandrum,
Munnar and Cochin in Kerala; Madurai and Chennai in Tamil Nadu;
Hyderabad in Andhra Pradesh; and end in Delhi and Agra. They will hear
lectures from academics and cultural experts in each city and will visit
sites such as call centers to understand globalization in concrete
terms. They will participate in service projects in several cities to
create connections between the countries, and on their return they will
create curriculum projects and a Web site to disseminate the information
they have learned. The overall goals of the project are to enhance the
study of Asia, especially India, at both colleges and in area K-12
schools, and to promote intercultural understanding.

**[UNIVERSITY OF NORTHERN IOWA]{.underline}**

"Fulbright-Hays Group Projects Abroad -- Bangladesh"

Bangladesh is one of the most disaster-prone countries in the world. In
almost every year this country experiences natural events such as
floods, tropical cyclones and associated surges, droughts, and
tornadoes. This country is proposed by the University of Northern Iowa
(UNI) for development of issues and standards based geography curricular
project under the Fulbright-Hays Group Projects Abroad Program (GPA) for
May 1, 2007 to April 30, 2008. The team will consist of sixteen members.
The purpose of the project is the development of geography standards and
issues based curricular materials focusing on how humans living in
Bangladesh cope with their many natural hazards and health related
issues. This country and the topic of interest of this project is
scantly studied in area studies courses in Iowa, the Midwest, and the
country at large, at all levels of education.

This project involves three distinct phases: (1) work conducted prior to
going to Bangladesh; (2) work conducted in Bangladesh; (3) work
conducted upon returning to the United States including a professional
development program enabling educators anywhere to integrate the
developed materials into their curriculum. The project will take the
group to four primary destinations; Dhaka, Chittagong, Sylhet, and
Rajshahi, Bangladesh. These destinations provide accessibility for field
trips to observe locations where drought, monsoon floods, tropical
cyclones**,** flash floods and landslides, and arsenic contamination
occur.

**WESTERN HEMISPHERE (7)**

**[ARKANSAS TECH UNIVERSITY]{.underline}**

**"**A Comparative Study of Mexican Cultures: Ancient, Colonial, and
Contemporary"

This Fulbright-Hays Group Projects Abroad (GPA) program is a five-week,
curriculum-development seminar designed to strengthen Mexican and
International Studies at the participating institutions. Consistent with
that focus, the Project Director has selected six cities which represent
the old, the colonial, and the contemporary cultures of Mexico: Mérida;
Villahermosa; Oaxaca; Mexico City; Guadalajara; and Monterrey. Arkansas
Tech University has strong programs in a variety of academic fields, and
several of these academic areas have intersecting interests in Mexican
studies from the ancient cultural heritage of the Americas to the North
American Free Trade Agreement.

The design of the project includes a plan for the selection and
orientation of participants in the United States; a series of lectures
and seminars at major universities in Mexico; field trips to important
archaeological and cultural centers; curriculum development workshops
with Mexican scholars; interviews with leaders of business, industry and
politics; negotiations on faculty and student exchanges with
universities and service agencies; multiple program evaluations; and the
development of curriculum modules and multimedia units in Mexican
studies. The program includes twenty lecture and panel discussions and
five curriculum development workshops. Whenever possible, lectures in
the morning will focus on the sites to be visited in the afternoon.
Curriculum development sessions will be intensive two- to three-hour
workshops with Mexican scholars designed to prepare specific curriculum
modules on previously selected themes. In addition to lectures, panel
discussions, and curriculum development workshops, there will be
interviews and informal meetings with scholars in various departments.
The various sessions are intended to draw Mexican perspectives on a
variety of issues confronting the two countries. In each of the six
selected cities, there will be a coordinator or coordinating institution
that will be responsible for the activities scheduled in that city.

This project reserves five of the fifteen participant slots for
elementary and secondary school teachers who wish to develop and improve
foreign language and area studies at their respective elementary and
secondary schools, although the expectation is that the majority of the
applicants will probably be college and university faculty in the social
sciences, humanities, education, and business who wish to achieve the
same goal at the post-secondary level.

The fifteen participants will be required to attend all officially
scheduled events, complete all assignments on time, and submit the
evaluation reports and curriculum plans within six weeks after the
completion of the project. Each participant will also be required to
submit an evaluation report and a curriculum plan based on study in
Mexico. In addition, each participant will be required to make
individual contributions to the multimedia project with photos or films.
Moreover, during the academic year following the program in Mexico,
participants will be expected to be in touch with the project director
as he develops proposals for faculty and student exchanges as well as
intensive Spanish classes and service internships in Mexico. Similarly,
participants will be expected to work together on papers and panels with
professional associations such as the Southwestern Social Science
Association.

This project is being sponsored by the Department of Social Sciences and
Philosophy at Arkansas Tech University (ATU). The proposal has been
developed in consultation with ATU faculty and area school teachers, who
will be fully involved at various stages of the project.

**[KANSAS STATE UNIVERSITY]{.underline}**

**"**Culture and Language Learning in Paraguay (CLLIP) Project"

The CLLIP project design supports overseas training, research, and
curriculum development in Paraguay for in-service K-12 Spanish and area
studies teachers, junior and senior university level Spanish education
candidates, Spanish teacher education faculty, and eligible
participants. This thirty-day program will result in better-prepared
teachers who will provide effective instruction and impact student
achievement in Spanish language and area studies classrooms. Project
partners include the Kansas State Department of Education (KSDE),
Pittsburg State University (PSU - Kansas), Kansas Paraguay Partners,
Comite Paraguay Kansas, PAIDEIA, and the Spanish Language and Culture
Institute.

The purpose of this grant application is to provide better-trained
elementary, middle, and secondary Spanish and area studies teachers. As
a result of the grant, teachers will improve their language proficiency,
develop pedagogical knowledge, and engage with an international
socio-cultural environment with which they are not familiar. The
measurable benchmarks will help participants: (1) improve fluency in
Spanish by a minimum of one level (2) improve written Spanish by a
minimum of one level (3) improve listening comprehension in Spanish by a
minimum of one level; (4) gain knowledge of the history and culture of
Paraguay; (5) observe methodologies of teachers in Paraguay; and (6)
create lesson plans to use in K-12 Spanish and area studies classes.

The goals and objectives will be achieved through a variety of
interrelated activities. Participants will travel to Asuncion, Paraguay
where they will attend the Spanish Language and Culture Institute (80
hours) taught by highly qualified, native language instructors with a
customized curricula. Participants will observe at high quality Colegios
(K-12 schools) to learn new methodologies and instructional strategies.
One afternoon per week, participants will work together to create
language and culture lesson plans and place them on the KS Department of
Education and PSU Web sites.

In order to have a comprehensive cultural experience, participants will
stay with a host family. Two afternoons per week they will attend
history, cultural, political, and/or economic lectures presented by
professionals in their fields. Field trips to museums and historic sites
will enhance cultural experiences and knowledge. Additionally,
participants will conduct interviews and write ten ethnographies. This
will intensify the participants' acquisition of cultural knowledge and
improve linguistic skills. The ethnographies will be posted to the KSDE
and PSU Web sites. On the weekends, participants will have an
opportunity to travel to historic and cultural sites outside of
Asuncion.

The CLLIP Project team developed a comprehensive evaluation plan that
includes an overall goal and six objectives. Each measurable objective
has one or more activities designed to facilitate achievement of the
objective. The evaluation plan includes quantitative and qualitative
assessments.

### NORTHEASTERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY

"A Fulbright Hays Group Study Project: Language, Culture, and Social
Transformation (LCST Project): Jamaican Perspectives: A Curriculum
Development Project"

The need for raising international and global awareness among educators
of different profiles is one of the most important challenges facing
comparative and international education and will be at the center of
this study group project. One of the most significant impacts of this
proposal is the collaborative nature of curriculum development. The
Group Study Abroad in Jamaica will allow eight pre-service and/or
service teachers and five faculty to develop new curricula about the
multilingual and multicultural context in Jamaica and collect data and
course materials to design a thematic unit. Due to the high
concentration of people of the Caribbean in the United States, the LCST
Project is uniquely poised to address the limited content of the
Caribbean in public school curriculums. The impact of working with this
population clearly affects most Northern Eastern Illinois University
faculty and staff, and American and Jamaican public schooling.

The dissemination phase of the LCST Project ensures the widest impact
possible. CPS teachers and NEIU faculty selected must commit to
incorporate knowledge of the Caribbean, and to modify and/or change
existing curricula. In collaborative teams (including partners in
Jamaica), LCST Project personnel will devote time to develop curricula
and resources that reflect the diversity of local, national, and
international communities. Curriculum units, curriculum boxes and
Internet resources will be developed for wide distribution. Information
will be shared through seminars, workshops, in-services, conferences and
professional meetings. NEIU students and faculty involved in Latino and
Latin American Studies, Social Work, Foreign Languages-Spanish,
Educational Leadership and Development, Sociology and Teacher Education,
as well as the Moneague College in Jamaica, will be directly impacted.
The LCST Project on-site study program and experiences in Jamaica will
create opportunities that could not be replicated without travel and
extensive research abroad. We expect our study in Jamaica's urban and
rural areas to help the collaborative team fill the gaps in current
curriculum both in K-12 schools and higher education classes.

The use of the Evolving, Continuous Feedback Model of Evaluation (ECFME)
model of evaluation will make it possible to use a wide range of
evaluation strategies to obtain an authentic picture of the LCST
Project, its strengths and weakness. There will be continuous monitoring
of the process of data collection. The participants' developed
curriculum materials on Jamaica and Jamaican culture will be analyzed
with a unit planning rubrics, with classroom usage feedback, and
students' response, as well as pre-post trip reflection survey of
participants' use of research skills and understanding of the culture of
Jamaica.

**[ST. JOHN'S UNIVERSITY]{.underline}**

"Language Learning and Teaching in Cross-Cultural Perspective:

An Overseas-based Short-term Seminar for Teachers of English Language
Learners"

In response to ongoing demographic shifts in the United States, notably
manifested in the rapidly increasing Latino populations, particularly in
schools, the Masters Program in Teaching English to Speakers of Other
Languages (TESOL) at St. John's University (STJ), Queens, New York,
proposes to conduct an overseas based short-term seminar in Spanish and
area studies (focusing on culture) for a group of eighteen pre- and
in-service teachers of English Language Learners (ELLs). The seminar,
which will take place during the summer of 2007 will be comprised of
three phases: a one-week pre-departure phase at the STJ campus; a
four-week phase overseas at the Pontificia Universidad Catolica Madre y
Maestra (PUCCM) located in Santiago in the Dominican Republic; and a
one-week post-seminar phase at STJ.

The conceptual background for the seminar is framed within the
literature on second language acquisition, intercultural competence, and
culturally responsive instruction. The objectives of the seminar are:
(1) to sensitize teachers to the phases and challenges of learning a
foreign language through immersion in the language and culture; (2) to
gain experiential knowledge of the home culture of immigrant students in
order of enhance understanding of their students' culturally-based
beliefs, values, norms, and social practices; and (3) to develop
intercultural competence in teachers so that they will be equipped with
the requisite culturally informed communication skills to interact
effectively with ELLs and their families, and to practice culturally
responsive instruction. The proposed seminar is consistent with the
goals of the Group Project Abroad (GPA) Program to improve modern
foreign language training and area studies among teachers in elementary
and secondary schools.

**[TOWSON UNIVERSITY]{.underline}**

"Partners in Education: Maryland's K-12 and University Educators Enhance
Latina American Studies -- 2007"

Maryland\'s Hispanic population has grown by 82 percent in the last
decade, about one and a half times faster than the national rate.
Despite this growth and parallel interest in the Spanish language and
culture, Maryland\'s K-12 schools offer no Latin American Studies
curricular program and face a critical shortage of teachers of Spanish.
This project responds to these needs by preparing a group with the
knowledge and experience to develop a Latin American Studies curriculum
and learning modules for Maryland\'s K-12 schools. Towson University\'s
Latin American Studies Program, Colleges of Liberal Arts and Education
will join with K-12 teachers and the Maryland State Department of
Education to prepare this curriculum and to disseminate it to teachers
and students throughout the state.

This joint program will have positive outcomes for K-12 schools and
communities and also Towson University (TU) as it initiates and fosters
a long-term dialogue and reciprocal support between these organizations.

For six weeks in Mexico, TU faculty, two TU teachers-in-training and
thirteen K-12 teachers will participate in language study, lectures,
homestays, excursions, workshops and cultural activities as they explore
six issues central to Latin America: social and geographic landscape;
conquest, independence, and revolution; indigenous peoples and changing
realities; art and architecture; migration immigration; and people and
voices of Mexico. The main goal of \"Partners in Education\" is to
foster and enhance the Latin American Studies curriculum and Spanish
language teaching of K-12 educators in Maryland. This goal will be met
through the following three objectives: (1) Immersion of K-12 educators
in the richness and variety of real-life Mexico. Teachers in the program
will become better teachers of Spanish and Latin American Studies and
will also become teacher mentors to other teachers and administrators as
they disseminate their experience, knowledge and the Latin American
Studies curriculum and learning modules produced in Mexico. The
curriculum and learning modules will be disseminated throughout the
state at teacher development workshops, presentations at schools and on
in-service days, and at the local meetings of professional
organizations. The dialogue established between K-12 teachers and
university faculty will impact the teaching of Latin American Studies as
K-12 teachers share their recommendations for enhancement of those
studies after the trip to Mexico. (2 Strengthening participant\'s
Spanish language skills. Participants will strengthen their Spanish
language skills through the six-week immersion in Mexico and through
formal language instruction at the Spanish Language Institute in Mexico.
With strengthened skills and heightened cultural awareness, participants
will be better prepared to serve the needs of Hispanic students in their
schools and communities. (3) Responding to Maryland\'s need for a Latin
American Studies curriculum through the collaborative effort of K-12
teachers and university faculty. From pre- to post-departure, K-12
instructors will work with Towson University faculty to identify,
design, implement, and disseminate a Latin American Studies curriculum
and learning modules for Maryland\'s K-12 schools. University faculty
and K-12 educators will partner in this endeavor with the Maryland State
Department of Education.

The curriculum and learning modules will be placed on the TU Web site
for all K-12 teachers to access. \"Partners in Education\" asks that we
respond to today\'s reality. As we recognize who we are, we will better
be able to ensure that all students succeed.

**[WEST CHESTER UNIVERSITY (GUADELOUPE)]{.underline}**

"Cultural Immersion in Guadeloupe for French Teachers"

The Foreign Languages Department of West Chester University proposes a
four-week study abroad to provide a total of twelve practicing K-12
teachers and student-teacher interns, with interdisciplinary knowledge
and tools to teach the language, culture, economy, geography and history
of Guadeloupe. The simultaneous exposure to the cultures of France and
that of the Caribbean will help participants develop a sensitivity to
the concept of *Francophonism*---French beyond France, inclusive of all
dialects and cultural expressions which constitute the French speaking
world. The request for funding is based on assessment of participants'
curricular deficiencies, which reveal that they are first-generation
college students from low or moderate-income households and, as
student-teacher interns and practicing K-12 teachers, have limited
opportunities for advanced language and cultural study abroad to
reinforce formal classroom training.

The introduction and improvement of the instruction of Francophone area
studies Pennsylvania K-12 schools is the major outcome of the study.
Project goals will be achieved by a discovery-study of the complex
Guadeloupean culture, with a rich cultural make-up from Venezuela (the
Arawaks Amerindians), Africa, and France, which is quite thriving today.
Guadeloupe is a model of cultural integration in that each ethnic group
has been able to flourish in harmony with the others. The result, as
attested by the broad phenotypical variety of its inhabitants, is a
stunning diversity of traditions, religions, music and dance, and
gastronomy. It is with this enrichment in mind for Fulbright-Hays
participants, that we selected Guadeloupe as the focus of our study
abroad project. Vehicles for delivery of instruction include, in
addition to presentations, group projects, lectures, workshops,
on-on-one community-based cultural immersion, field trips to key
historical sites and daily interface with local contacts.

Participants will compile a portfolio comprised of diverse instructional
materials collected on site, to integrate into the curricular units of
their K-12 schools and colleges. Teaching modules, derived from study
abroad activities and the participant's personal interest and discovery,
will be disseminated across Pennsylvania K-12 schools through a project
Web site, in-service presentations, workshops, practica and conferences.
The effect of the proposed project will be an increase in the teacher
participants' ability and confidence as demonstrated by: (a) a greater
cultural knowledge; (b) a quantifiable increased proficiency in
French/Francophone language skills; and (c) the development of
"authentic" quality teaching materials to be incorporated in the
curriculum.

**[WEST CHESTER UNIVERSITY (PERU)]{.underline}**

"Field Experience and Cultural Immersion for Intern and Practicing K-12
Teachers"

Student-teacher interns and practicing teachers will visit and study a
number of public and private educational centers in Lima and in Andean
mountain communities, to include rural, village, urban and suburban
schools. In addition they will visit Inca archeological sites, including
Machu Picchu and conduct hands-on field observations in the Amazon
Center for Environmental Education and Research (ACEER)-affiliated K-12
schools as part of its Los Amigos school partnerships.

The month-long study abroad is designed to take advantage of educational
facilities and sites present in Peru and in Amazon schools that are
absent in the United States. The experience will enable participants to
establish ties with Peruvian teachers in diverse educational settings,
develop a post-project exchange of curriculum models for K-12
instruction, and establish state-side series of pedagogies for practical
application that lead to responsive curricula and improved language
proficiency and cultural awareness.

The structured collaborative setting of the field component requires
four to five days per week of hands-on experience in schools and
programs where language education majors can observe a variety of K-12
students learning within broad-range instructional environments and
interact with teachers, their students and administrators in an
international context. Such interactions provide future and practicing
teachers with a professional and methodological framework of comparison
that represents a significant contribution to their ongoing professional
development and success in the classroom back home.

Upon completion of the program participants will be able to compare and
contrast public and private educational programs visited in Peru;
compare and contrast how United States and Peruvian educational programs
address the needs of K-12 children; describe in general terms Peruvian
cultural and educational norms, their history and influence today, and
identify instructional practices that could be adopted in the United
States to provide higher quality programs. Participants will become
familiar with pedagogies that their K-12 counterparts employ to support
the cognitive learning styles of their pupils, and understand how to use
these pedagogies to transform their own language classrooms. The
acquisition of new classroom practices will improve the participants'
teaching and, through post-program dissemination activities, they will
share new curriculum models with other K-12 schools.

Peru, as the host country, possesses cultural and historic advantages as
one of the leading Latin American countries that still retains and
honors its indigenous past and places a high value on eradicating
illiteracy. Foreign language teachers, as deliverers of instruction, are
more effective instructors when they have first-hand experience with the
languages they teach. This project seeks to provide a balance of
theoretical training and clinical and field observation, in which the
process of becoming a critically reflective teacher is emphasized. The
Fulbright-Hays project allows learners engage in developmentally
appropriate K-12 field observation activities that are challenging,
personally meaningful, and authentic. High standards of professional
development are essential for these teachers to remain at the forefront
of sound educational practice and change.

08/23/2007

[^1]: The six ACC consortium schools include Bowdoin College, Hamilton
    College, Oberlin College, Swarthmore College, Williams College and
    Lawrence University

[^2]: The participating schools include Yale University, Brown
    University, University of Pittsburgh, Pomona College, and Smith
    College, among others.