Foreign professors participate in teaching exchange program

The Cooperative Association of States for Scholarships is a UNC program in which 20 teachers from South America and the Caribbean Islands spend five months in the United States learning new teaching techniques, developing new content knowledge and working on professional development skills.

The countries the teachers came from are El Salvador, Guatemala, the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua and Honduras. Each of the educators also gives a cultural presentation for the University of Northern Colorado students and teachers to learn about the visitors’ cultures.
What the teachers learn in the program is supplemented by classroom observation, volunteer work and mentorship opportunities with professors, administrators and community leaders.

According the CASS Web site, the UNC program began in 2006, and the first group consisted of 18 teachers who were selected through each nation’s ministry of education.

The applications are sent to CASS headquarters in Washington, D.C., and after a series of interviews and background checks, the program coordinator looks through the approved applications and selects those she thinks will be right for the program.

Madeline Milian, the coordinator for the CASS program at UNC, said she is looking for knowledgeable teachers who have the potential to become advocates to their students and their schools. 

“What I like most about this program is that I have been able to find myself in collaboration with other cultures,” said Luciano Colop, a teacher from Guatemala. “It has allowed me to see how we often do not see the possibilities that exist in our settings. With this experience, I have been able to realize the possibilities that I have never ossibilities that I have never thought about.”

Teachers were also assigned a family friend, which is a host family that has them over for dinner, takes them to different tourist attractions and helps them understand American culture.

John Shaw, one of the family friends, said he heard about the program from Milian and has utilized the opportunity to get to know one of the students.

“It makes it seem like educators are doing the same thing, but they have different challenges and adversities that they overcome,” Shaw said.

The teachers participate the program until it ends in January and then return to their home countries to utilize what they learned.