Teaching Across Borders - Program Relaunched in 2015

The recently relaunched Teaching Across Borders (TAB) program will see 15 Werklund School of Education students travelling to one of four partner countries to live and volunteer teach in local schools. Students in the third semester of their Bachelor of Education program have the option to spend 10 weeks abroad during which time they will experience the host culture through activities organized by the partner institutions while volunteering in schools up to 12 hours a week.

While the experiences vary by country, Roswita Dressler, director of the TAB program, says students will take language courses and participate in local holiday celebrations, field trips and cultural outings.

Dressler adds that these experiences will provide Werklund students with an opportunity to learn about another education system firsthand. “We anticipate that the students will return to Canada with a greater appreciation for the strengths of the Canadian educational system, a clearer vision for how one might deal with the challenges and an empathy toward students and parents who navigate our system, having come from a different educational and language background.”

A deeper understanding of education is what Zachary Wierzbicki is eager to acquire during his time in Japan. “I hope to gain perspective on the practices that help to engage members of a learning community across language barriers,” says Wierzbicki.

In addition to Japan, students can have a TAB experience in Brazil, Vietnam or Spain. 

Hannah Li chose to travel to Spain to immerse herself in the culture. “The Spanish courses that I took in high school and university initially sparked my interest in this country. Spain’s rich history of art and culture has produced some of the world’s most amazing festivals and architecture, which I am very excited to explore,” she says.

While the students are occupied with thoughts of the experience, Dressler and Werklund Associate Dean Internationalization, Colleen Kawalilak, are focused on ensuring the safety of the participants. 

“I visit each country and institution personally to negotiate the agreements and establish working relationships with each institution’s contact person. I then connect Roswita with the local liaison and we keep the lines of communication open through regular email contact,” explains Kawalilak.

In addition, students register with Risk Management and with the Canadian embassy, are provided contact information in case of emergencies and are asked to download the International SOS app for their smart phones.

Kawalilak is currently pursuing agreements with universities in Australia, Germany, China and Scotland as future host destinations for TAB students. As well, both Dressler and Kawalilak are working to increase the number of placements from 25 to 50 for the next TAB offering in order to help the university meet its goal of providing 50% of students with an international experience.

“While expanding the program is important, we also want to ensure that the experience is meaningful and therefore place a strong emphasis on negotiating contracts that include exposure to language and cultural learning, time in schools and learning about the schools.”

While abroad, Wierzbicki, Li and the other TAB students will be blogging about their experiences at http://teachingacrossborders.ning.com/