Expand teaching of critical foreign languages in the U.S. and internationally

TCLP Host School Alumni Pratt Community School’s Superintendent Bernadeia Johnson was awarded funding for a grant titled “Arabic Language in the World Today”. This proposal included the creation of an Arabic Language Café, where students and their families can practice their Arabic skills in a 'real life' environment. Students used Arabic to create signage for the restaurant, menus, and table learning opportunities. Students waited on tables and utilized their Arabic skills in the ordering and serving of food.

TCLP Host School Alumna Veronique Lahey was awarded funding to create a collaborative learning environment between Mandarin students at Arlington High School in Massachusetts and Exchange Teacher Alumnus Yu Bo’s home school in China. To accomplish this goal, Lahey used an interactive whiteboard, blogs, and videoconferencing software to share student-created videos, facilitate virtual discussions, and assign chat buddies for all students.

TCLP Arabic Teacher Alumnus Ahmed Mohamed was awarded a grant to implement a professional development project he designed to help other teachers in his home school district in Egypt. The project helped teachers of English as a foreign language (EFL) build a pedagogical foundation, exchange best practices for EFL teaching, learn about the U.S. educational system, and share resources. Planned to be a multi-day training program, Ahmed made use of published education materials as well as those provided at no cost by the U.S. Department of State’s Regional English Language Officer.

Mentor Teacher, Dr. Steven Berbeco was awarded a grant to host a best practices workshop and professional networking meeting for the New England Association of Arabic Teachers (NEAAT), which is a network of elementary and secondary school teachers from public and private schools in the New England states. The best practices workshop and professional networking meeting was at the Massachusetts Foreign Languages Association in Sturbridge, MA, October 25th-27th. CLP funding allows NEAAT to offer these events as well as provide teacher-training materials for teachers from diverse schools.

With the help of CLP grant, TCLP alumna Fu Ailing worked with volunteers to conduct summer English lessons for students in grades 4-6 at Jinye Primary School in Guizhou Province, China. Jinye is situated far away from major cities in the mountains and consequently does not have a regular English teacher. The primary objective of Fu Ailing's project was to teach these students some basic English and to lay a sound foundation for their English learning in middle school.

2013 alumna exchange teacher, Tan Lihua, received a CLP grant to help implement a Joint-Classroom Project between her U.S. host school district and her home school in China. The goal of the project was to facilitate opportunities for students in the U.S. and China to develop oral and written communication skills in their target languages, learn about one another's cultures and traditions, and ultimately formalize a sister school partnership between JN Fries Magnet School and Concord High School in North Carolina and Da Zu High School in Chongqing, China.

Wendy Pugh, World Cultures Coordinator at Columbia Heights Educational Campus (CHEC) in Washington, DC, received a CLP grant to purchase Arabic language resources for students. CHEC purchased textbooks and CDs on language instruction and Arabic culture to help expand the Arabic language program developed by TCLP teacher Yasser Eldeabes. The school also used the purchased books to implement an Arabic Reading Group that focuses on Arabic language and culture and is open to all students within the District of Columbia Public School system.

Exchange teacher Wei Wei received a CLP grant to implement the Joy of Eight Project at her U.S. host school, Roton Middle School. The project encompassed various activities with the overall goal of motivating middle school students enrolled in Mandarin classes to continue to study the language after they enter high school.

Exchange teacher Min Haiwei received a CLP grant to increase exposure and understanding of Chinese culture in his host community of Cumberland, Maryland. Mr. Min organized a Chinese New Year event at a local shopping center to garner community support for the Chinese Immersion Program at West Side Elementary and to introduce members of the local community to the vast and rich heritage of China.