Wanted: Teachers interested in Africa

Posted by on June 17, 2005

As part of the Fulbright-Hays Group Projects Abroad grant that we have for the coming year, Across the Ocean and Back Again: Study Abroad and Service Learning in Equatorial Guinea, we are looking for local K-12 teachers who would be interested in doing a unit (or who typically do a unit) on Africa as part of their social studies curriculum and who would like to collaborate with a college student to bring some aspects of that unit alive in new ways. We would like to match college students who are going on the program with Philadelphia-area teachers before they leave for Equatorial Guinea in late September so that these students can gather information while they are abroad to share with K-12 teachers and students when they return (and perhaps be in touch with local students via e-mail while they are away). When students return in December, they would do an interactive presentation/ demonstration in this teacher?s classroom that addressed their experiences in Africa in the context of the goals/standards/content/interests of the teacher and his/her students.

We hope to have 12 students going to spend a semester in Equatorial Guinea (if you are interested in reading more about the program, go to: http://www.arcadiaabroad.com/) in the Fall 2005 semester and are interested in working with 12 teachers. During the program, they will learn about wildlife conservation, linguistic and cultural diversity in the region, and the economic issues facing a country that has (relatively recently) discovered a significant amount of oil. Students engage in two service-learning activities ? one that has to do with wildlife conservation and another that has to do with teaching English at a local community organization.

Do you know teachers (or are you a teacher) who might be interested in this kind of collaboration? If so, I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to forward this message to others.

Thanks,

Ellen Skilton-Sylvester
Associate Professor of Education
Arcadia University
sylveste@arcadia.edu