Fulbright NZ hosts US elementary school teachers

Fulbright New Zealand hosts US elementary school teachers

Fulbright New Zealand welcomes a study group of 15 American elementary school teachers to New Zealand today, on a two week study tour as part of the US Department of Education’s Fulbright-Hays Seminars Abroad programme.

The teachers will visit first New Zealand and then Mongolia on a six week, two country seminar on the theme of ‘A Day in the Life of - Exploring the Origins of Communities’. They will examine differences and similarities between life in these two contrasting countries to find out how societies are affected by factors such as geography, climate, culture and history, and how communities develop and sustain themselves over time. The seminar will combine visits to rural and urban communities, archaeological sites, schools and museums in both countries, with lectures on an array of relevant topics.

In New Zealand the tour will visit sites of historical, cultural and geographical significance throughout the country. Participants will visit a variety of New Zealand schools including kura kaupapa Mäori, training (“Normal”) and intermediate schools. They will learn about New Zealand education and culture from leading New Zealand university academics, and be hosted by Minister of Education Hon Anne Tolley at Parliament. The two week New Zealand tour is a partnership between Odyssey Travel and Fulbright New Zealand, and will take participants to Auckland, Bay of Islands, Rotorua, Turangi, Wellington, Nelson, Kaikoura and Christchurch.

Tour participants will each prepare a teaching project for American students based on a renewed understanding of universal concepts of society, community and daily life and distinctive qualities influenced by geography, climate, culture and history. As a result of their exchange they will be able to expand and improve their teaching of social sciences and the humanities once they return to their home schools in the US.

The Fulbright-Hays Seminars Abroad programme has visited New Zealand several times before, most recently in 2004.

ENDS

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