Support Letter

National-Louis University Wheeling Campus Office of School-College Relations 1000 Capitol Drive Wheeling Illinois 60090-7201 847/947-5564 Fax: 847/947-5564 [email protected]

May 12, 2009 To Whom It May Concern: Our partnership with Educators Abroad Global Student Teaching began in the fall of 2003 and, to-date, have placed over 30 students in countries including Argentina, Australia, Cameroon, Czech Republic, Ecuador, England, France, Germany, Greece, Israel, Ireland, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Portugal, South Africa, and Spain. This partnership provides opportunities for teachers-in-training at NLU in the Master of Arts in teaching (M.A.T.) program to meet certification requirements, broaden their world view and foster a global perspective in education decision-making through student teaching placements in primary and secondary schools around the world. We also believe this experience provides students in the Global Student Teaching partnership an advantage when competing for jobs after graduation. Laurie Block, an elementary education M.A.T. student, participated in the global student teaching program in Japan. She said, “The entire experience was phenomenal, just like everything else that has happened to me since I have been here. I have met amazing people, experienced amazing things, and been on amazing adventures. . . . I am still so happy to have had this experience, and don’t want it to end—this amazing fairytale!” Renee Vai, a secondary education/English M.A.T. student, did her global student teaching at St. George’s British International School in Rome, Italy. “Having been familiar and educated in the U.S. national curriculum, and teaching with the U.K. national curriculum, I was able to compare and contrast the different goals, standards and testing methods utilized by each, which I feel in turn has given me insight into the effectiveness and importance of the two,” Vai explains about her global student teaching experience. “Overall, I have become a well-educated, well-prepared teacher, and I am capable of adapting to an array of diverse cultures, environments, curriculums and institutions, while successfully teaching my students.” Our original conversations with Craig Kissock in 2003 where truly collaborative and sensitive to the needs of our university’s teacher certification program and were finalized in an agreement we felt, first, served our student well by providing a supportive and complete field placement experience; and, secondly, promoted other placement options for our students in the heavily represented area such as Language Arts and Social Studies. Thirdly, it provided the extra benefit of not needing to find a placement and hire a supervisor. Our students do not receive transfer credit, but pay tuition to NLU and receive their final grade in an exit interview with their advisor here at the university. The cost to our university is a little less than the placement costs would normally be for students placed locally. This, of course, makes our “bean counters” very happy. The Educators Abroad staff has been most willing to accommodate us in any needed requests and in continually improving our tailored Global Student Teaching program. For this, the students, this office, and our university have been most grateful. If you have more specific questions about the program at this university, feel free to contact me by phone or email.

Fred Chesek, Ph.D. Director, Office of School-College Relations