The placement of preservice teachers in a preschool, elementary, middle, or high school, based on their request, to observe and work to the best of their ability given the language differences, and to teach English to Italian students.
Published in Chapter:
Enhancing Cultural and Linguistic Awareness Through an International Teaching Experience
Barbara A. Bradley (University of Kansas, USA), Andrea Miller Emerson (Western Oregon University, USA), and Arsenio F. Silva (Clemson University, USA)
Copyright: © 2019
|Pages: 20
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-5225-6249-8.ch012
Abstract
The population of students in the United States is becoming increasingly diverse. At the same time, we live in highly interconnected global society with complex world problems. Thus, teachers need to prepare students to live and work collaboratively with people, locally and globally, from diverse background. Yet, how do in-service and preservice teachers support students if they have had limited experiences interacting with and understanding people from diverse backgrounds? This chapter describes a four-week summer study-abroad program in Italy, in which preservice teacher lived with a host family and observed and taught in an Italian school. It presents findings about what preservice teachers learned from (1) living with a host family, (2) observing in an Italian school, (3) becoming a culturally and linguistically diverse learner, and (4) teaching.