The Institute of International Education (IIE) has launched a campaign to target high school K-12 teachers across the country to “pledge” to the Generation Study Abroad (GSA) initiative which aims to help 600,000 US students study abroad annually.
Around 130 teachers from 37 US states have already signed up and IIE is aiming to increase this to 1,000.
Teachers who join will be eligible for grants and awards, a toolkit of resources, a copy of the latest IIE book published in collaboration with the American Institute for Foreign Study Foundation and an e-book licence of IIE’s Guide to Study Abroad.
“Our hope is to get 1,000 teachers to take the pledge which means taking concrete action to advocate for study abroad in their schools in their classrooms”
“Our hope is to get 1,000 teachers to take the pledge which means taking concrete action to advocate for study abroad in their schools, in their classrooms, and in their communities because collectively we can really move the needle,” said IIE’s Deputy Vice President for International Partnerships, Daniel Obst.
To access additional resources to support the Take The Pledge campaign, IIE has formed strategic partnership with ACTFL (the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages), the Asia Society, National Geographic and other organisations.
“These organisations have a wealth on online resources, they have maps, games, lesson plans, education materials and all other kinds of interactive activities that really help teachers teach about other languages and cultures,” said Obst.
IIE has also put together a coalition of colleges, universities and study abroad organisations since the launch of GSA in March 2014.
“What is really remarkable is that just in the last nine months we have assembled a coalition of nearly 500 commitment partners and those commitment partners are setting specific actionable targets, and goals and are putting together tangible financial targets,” remarked Obst.
Asia Society’s Heather Singmaster commented that the GSA initiative is two-fold in its support for professional development and intercultural competency.
“Asia Society has a long history of helping K-12 teachers to integrate global content into all curricula areas, from Math to physical education by providing classroom resources and professional development and we believe that this is important not just because of business’s demands but also because here in the US we’re becoming more diverse,” said Singmaster.
In coming months IIE will announce the winner of is the GSA Teacher Travel Award that is also sponsored by the AIFF Foundation.
