Innocents Abroad: Foreign Exchange -- You Know, for Kids
By Diane Demee-Benoit
12/19/06
Many of us are familiar with study-abroad programs for high school and college students. Less known are the few programs designed for upper elementary school and middle school students.
The Portland Public Schools's Japanese Magnet Program, in Portland, Oregon, was an early pioneer in developing a cultural exchange for fifth grade and a research-residency program for eighth grade.
The success of these foreign-exchange programs is due, in large part, to the active participation of parents who have established a nonprofit organization to support this magnet program. Besides fundraising for an intern program for native Japanese speakers, plus the foreign-exchange trips and classroom supplies, the parent group, called Oya No Kai, works to build bridges within the school district and the broader community at large.
Exchange and travel programs are important. Not all have to be extended experiences. There are shorter involvements such as EarthWatch, which the New York Times says is the most successful model for conservation-oriented travel.
Earthwatch their partners offer a number of Educator Fellowships every year to teachers. Besides covering most costs, graduate and professional credit may be available. I participated in two EarthWatch expeditions -- Prehistoric Man of Mallorca, where I learned about Mediterranean history and archeology; and a project in the Carribean researching the natural history of a mongoose species and a population census of sea turtles.
Tampa Bay Devil Rays, is offering expedition fellowships for six K-12 educators from Tampa Bay and St. Petersburg, FL. Deadline 2/1/07.
Travel and exchange programs offer a different way of learning. It is an awesome experience.
I really think that it is great that in 5th grade students are getting the opportunity to learn and actually go to different cultures. I did not have my first study abroad expiernece until I was a senior in College and it drasticaly changed my life. How incredible that at 5th graders are getting this expiernece! My wish is that money was not an issue and all students who wanted to go could.
I think this is great because it will help the young children to develop their skills in terms of different culture and particularly in socialization because they are given a chance to be with other people who has different culture. In the midst of the call for change in our nation’s educational system, the officials out in New Hampshire have come up with an idea all their own, which is to push high-schoolers to graduate by 10th grade, or at least some of them. The proposed program will create board exams that students can sit for by the end of their sophomore year, and those that pass can move on to community college or technical schools. However, are 16 year olds really prepared to handle those kinds of responsibilities at that age? Most of us are barely prepared enough by 18, let alone the age we were when we finally graduated. A 16 year old trying to navigate the murky waters of higher education and its burden of tuition, textbooks, and transportation costs is difficult to imagine, and they don’t need to grow up any faster. If they fell short, and didn’t have parental help to rely on, they wouldn’t be old enough to get payday loans if they needed one to cover school costs.