About the U.S.A.
PROGRAM ANNOUNCEMENT
The Government of the United States of America is pleased to announce the Teaching Excellence and Achievement Program
The Teaching Excellence and Achievement Program (TEA) is a program of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the U.S. Department of State, and implemented by IREX, a Washington, DC-based nonprofit organization. TEA will provide 156 secondary school teachers from Europe and Eurasia, East Asia and the Pacific, the Near East, South and Central Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, and the Western Hemisphere with unique opportunities to develop expertise in their subject areas, enhance their teaching skills, and increase their knowledge about the United States. The international participants will travel to the United States in two cohorts of 75-78 teachers each in spring or fall 2010. Their program will include coursework and intensive training in teaching methodologies, lesson planning, and teaching strategies for the participants’ home environment, as well as the use of computers for Internet, word processing, and as teaching tools. The 6-week program will also include a 2-week internship at a secondary school to actively engage participants with American teachers and students. Trips to U.S. cultural sites and academic support will be provided for participants throughout the program.
Eligible applicants must:
- Be secondary-level, full-time teachers with five or more years of classroom experience in either English as a Foreign Language, Social Sciences (social studies, civics, history, or geography) or Math and Sciences
- Be citizens of and residents in Latvia;
- Have proficiency in written and spoken English;
- Continue teaching for at least five years after completion of the program; and
- Have submitted a complete application
In spring and summer 2011 a cohort of 78 U.S. teachers will reciprocate the visits of the international teachers. Each U.S. teacher will be hosted by a TEA alumni school in the participating country where they will team-teach, discuss best teaching practices, curriculum, and educational issues in the host country. The trip will include visits to local schools and parent committees, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and local government offices.
Also, TEA will provide follow-on grants to the international teachers to purchase essential materials for their schools, to offer follow-on training for other teachers, and to conduct other activities that will build on their exchange experience.
The fellowship provides J-1 visa support, a pre-departure orientation held in participant’s home country, round-trip airfare to and within the U.S., a Welcome Orientation in Washington, D.C., academic program fees, housing (generally shared with other program fellows) and meals, accident and sickness coverage, transportation to the internship school (if necessary), a book/professional development allowance, a closing seminar hosted by one of the TEA host universities in the U.S., the opportunity to host a U.S. teacher for two weeks, and the opportunity to apply for follow-on grants.
Application Deadline: 5:00 PM, Monday, May 25, 2009
Applications for the Teaching Excellence and Achievement Program can be obtained at http://riga.usembassy.gov/
For more info contact Andris Purvlicis at the U.S. Embassy’s Public Affairs Section, e-mail: PurvlicisA@state.gov,
tel: 67509035