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Study Abroad for College Credit
Are you a college student looking for a study abroad opportunity? Are you finding most traditional study abroad programs are:
EXPENSIVE
The same....
OK its good to visit another country and spend 3 months sitting in classrooms that look pretty similar to the ones you left. Its better than sitting in those same old classrooms anyway. But wouldn't it be better to have a program that is:
- Unique Unique Please forgive me as I take an extremely cynical view of traditional Study Abroad. While I understand that many of you are very involved in traditional programs, and that these programs certainly benefit the participants, its not completely inaccurate to say that most study abroad programs consist of sending students to a foreign university where they are warehoused in the foreign dormitory (with all the other foreign students) and study the local language and perhaps a bit of culture and history in a classroom setting not all that different than they left. Perhaps I am being harsh when I suggest that, often, their most significant intercultural experience is ordering the local beer. In my opinion, these types of study abroad experiences, while valuable and worthwhile, are still wasted opportunities. TEFL International, in partnership with Design for Change (www.designforchangecontest.com) , offers something that we believe is completely unique in Study Abroad. A Service Learning project that involves learning new skills, helping others gain new skills, empowering children, becoming truly involved in, and even improving the local communities, and, dare I say it? Changing the world. World-changing How can we be so audacious as to suggest that mere university students from the United States can change the world? The term “Think globally, act locally” seems extremely apt here. Instead of developing projects from the “top down”, students are encouraged and allowed to tackle local issues of their own choosing. Allow me to explain the project in more detail. Step 1: TESOL training Upon arrival in country, the students will receive professional training in TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages). This 120-hour course involves the following components:
- Language Awareness (Grammar and Phonology) Step 2: Contest training The student will also be trained in the Design for Change contest. Design For Change is a world-changing contest for children, and a children-changing contest for the world. Children are given a simple task: design a solution to a problem in your community and make it happen! The purpose of the project is to:
- Help children believe that they matter.
- Help them discover that change can happen and that they can become drivers of it.
- Help them to believe, "I Can!"
The Contest is designed to be flexible and 'teacher friendly' - allowing each participating school to design its own project, in its own way, to fit with school terms, holidays, and other curriculum demands.
The contest started in India in 2009 at the Riverside School in Ahmedabad, India. Incredibly, the contest reached 33,000 schools.
Riverside School's Founder and Head Teacher Kiran Bir Sethi was invited to speak about the project at the TED India Conference in November 2009. This presentation sparked a global response and Design for Change Contests are now being held throughout the world, with more countries and regions signing up month.
For more information on Design For Change see www.designforchangecontest.com
Step 3: Teach the contest Upon arrival at the host school the student will go about teaching the contest to the teachers and school students and preparing to run the contest. Their skills gained in their TESOL training will be very much put to use during this step. Step 4: Prepare and run the contest Small groups of school students will submit project proposals and a panel from the school and local community as organized by the student will choose the winner. Step 5: Implement the winning contest The student, along with the host school students and teachers, will implement the winning contest proposal. Step 6: Document the entire process The student then creates a website or Facebook page that shows and explains steps 3, 4 and 5. Step 7: The student then reports back to their university adviser about the entire process—steps 1 to 6. By the time the student has completed steps 1 through 7, they will have:
- Gained a new skill (TESOL) Safe TEFL International shares your concern for safety. If all of your students do not return home safely, even the best most interesting and worthy project has been a failure. We cannot stop bad things from ever happening, but we have a perfect safety record even after assisting over 13,000 students in 30 different international locations for over a decade. How? Over a decade of experience preparing students in:
- Pre-arrival We are international experts. It is not just a job, its a way of life. I have been living overseas for 20 years and I am proud to say our US “corporate headquarters” is my parents home which we use for a registered address. Affordable For $2,490 we will provide:
- A full 120-hour TESOL certificate course I would be surprised if you could find any similar program with similar support for less than $6,000. And we will donate $300 from every students fees to Design for Change. Airfare is not included. Fully documented One of the great things about this project is that it requires full and open documentation not only for the contest but for the benefit of the college advisers as a Capstone project and the benefit of world! Credit-worthy TEFL International and our Service learning projects have been reviewed for credit by Dr. Bill Leon from our former partnership with the University of Washington. His evaluation is attached to this document. He evaluated the TEFL International course alone to be worth six semester credits. The additional volunteer teaching and contest organization and implementation are also certainly credit worthy. It is our hope that this project can result in at least 12 credits, allowing students to retain full-time student status and use financial aid. Interdisciplinary One of the unique aspects of this project is that it can be structured to incorporate nearly any major or focus of study. How? Well in a perfect world, the winning entry might also be relevant to the students major. However, if it is not, there is nothing which stops the student from running a second contest with a special emphasis. As an example, the students arrives at his placement school and runs the contest. The winning entry is about an environmental issue, like cleaning up the beach. This winning project can be completed first. Then, upon completion, the student can run a second target with a special focus—a focus of their choice. Flexible
- Groups are not necessary. Single students may attend at the same fee. Groups can be arranged and a discount offered. Downloads |
