Only three people from all of Poland and approximately one hundred from around the world took part in the American Teaching Excellence and Achievement program, organized by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the United States Department of State and the international organization IREX (International Research and Exchanges Board) for teachers of English, social sciences and science subjects.
The training lasted six weeks. It took place at American university centers. Katarzyna Cieślak-Ostrowska was assigned to Montana (a state in the northern USA bordering Canada), to Montana State University in Bozeman.
First, the woman from Bolesławiec underwent a rigorous selection process, including language examinations. “Although I am an English teacher, I had to take the TOEFL exam,” Katarzyna explains. “It is a prestigious examination confirming knowledge of English in the context of studies and the academic environment.”
For the project, the Americans were looking for people who were active, open-minded and had already participated in or carried out international projects. “I do not know what determined the selection of my application,” says Cieślak-Ostrowska. “I coordinated two international projects, and I am currently coordinating a third, ‘Share Online Safely,’ together with partners from Denmark, Germany, France and Northern Ireland. I have been involved in projects since 2005. I like traveling and I am not afraid of new challenges,” the English teacher adds.
The training began at the end of January this year. Participants from 100 countries met in the US capital, Washington. There, after a three-day stay, they dispersed to five university centers. Katarzyna Cieślak-Ostrowska and 19 other people went to a university campus in the heart of the Rocky Mountains, near Yellowstone National Park.
“It was an extraordinary stay. Together with the other participants, we learned how to be good leaders and about different teaching methods, tried various ideas for teaching English, and at the same time discovered one another. It was a challenge to experience all these cultural differences and nuances. In my group, I worked with teachers from Ukraine, Latvia, Russia, Estonia, Georgia, the Dominican Republic, Chile, India, Nepal, Oman, Cambodia, Morocco, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana and South Africa,” the teacher says.
An important experience was the practical training at a secondary school. Each participant was assigned a partner teacher with whom they discussed lessons and whose classes they observed. They also attended other teachers’ classes. Each project participant conducted their own lessons and, which was highly developmental, took part in classes and workshops with students of Montana State University.
“One interesting thing I noticed was that, in the well-equipped computer laboratories, all websites unnecessary for learning were blocked. You could not access Facebook,” the teacher says with a smile. “There were also strict restrictions concerning photographs. It was forbidden to photograph students for their safety, so that a student’s photo would not accidentally be published online later. What completely surprised me was a nursery at one of the secondary schools. It was created for the children of female students who had become pregnant but wanted to continue their education. Female teachers could also send their children there, but they had to pay for the service,” she adds.
Katarzyna was impressed by the openness of young Americans and the way classes were conducted. “Students ask a lot of questions during lessons,” she says. “And the teacher patiently answers them. This form of interaction is really great. There are no unnecessary or irrelevant questions. In the American education system, students choose the subjects they want to study themselves. I even had the pleasure of advising one student who came up to me and asked which subjects I would recommend he choose. I was surprised, but I interviewed him and we managed to select the classes he preferred.
Katarzyna Cieślak-Ostrowska admits that after the training she returned to Bolesławiec as if from another planet. “It was wonderful, but cultural diversity can also be exhausting,” she recalls. “Today I have wonderful friends from all over the world, but I am happy to be home and truly experienced the joy of being Polish and having been raised in this particular culture.”
The teacher independently looks for interesting training opportunities, guided by the principle that learning English also means gaining practical knowledge about the cultures of various English-speaking countries. “When a student asks me what it is like in the United States, I will be able to answer truthfully that I do not know all the US states, but I can say what it is like where I have been,” she says.
After returning from the United States, the English teacher draws on her experience and new professional contacts and, among other things, organizes international conferences for her students via Skype. Soon her students will speak with peers from the Dominican Republic.
(Grażyna Hanaf)