Opinion
Teaching Profession Opinion

Trip to South Africa Inspires Teachers

By Brett Bigham — September 05, 2018 4 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

Editor’s Note: Brett Bigham is the 2014 Oregon State Teacher of the Year and author of a series of over 150 books called Ability Guidebooks that help autistic people get out into the world. This summer, he traveled to South Africa with a group of teachers as part of the NEA Foundation Global Learning Fellowship program. Here, he shares insights from the group.

For many teachers, the idea of global education means finding YouTube videos to watch and books to read. Other teachers bring the world to their students through Twitter or programs that make use of the internet to bring classrooms closer together.

For the lucky few, there are rare chances to actually visit with schools and classrooms around the globe. The NEA Foundation Global Learning Fellowship programis one of those rare opportunities, and the program brings together educators from across the U.S., who, after a year-long professional development program to integrate global competence into their classroom, travel as a cohort to an international location for the summer. This year, the program brought together a group of teachers from forty-seven states and culminated in a trip to South Africa. The teachers were selected as Fellows because of their deep interest and passion for global education.

Some of these teachers come from as far away as a Native Alaskan village in Alaska; others from some of the smallest rural towns in the United States. Several of the Global Fellows shared their experiences and insights with me, and I’ve recounted them below.

Norman Ayagalria

English Language Arts and Yugtun Immersion Program, Bethel, Alaska

In Cape Town, the Fellows visited the Rainbow Academy, an arts program open to young people with an interest in becoming professional dancers, actors, poets, and musicians. They performed traditional as well as modern South African songs and dances. As they invited Fellows to join their drum circle, Norman jumped right up to participate. To see him bound up into the drum circle surprised me initially, given his quiet nature, but only for a moment—he was clearly in his element. Then I remembered Native Alaskan performers I had seen in my youth, and it was easy to see that Norman’s Native Alaskan culture and these traditional drum circle dances of South Africa had much in common. You can’t get much further from Cape Town, South Africa, than Bethel, Alaska, but these distant cousins had more in common than you would think. When I asked Norman about the similarities, he said, “There are enough parallels between my culture and African culture that it is very easy for me to make connections regardless of the separate continents. It would be easy to teach my culture—the Yupik culture—(in Africa) and broaden that to other cultures around the world, starting with South Africa.”

Vasiliki Dardeshi
Social Studies, Doylestown, Pennsylvania

Vasiliki teaches de-colonization to her students in Doylestown. Her knowledge of the government and culture gave her a much deeper perspective on the recent damage that apartheid did to South Africa. She says: “This is the best professional development opportunity I’ve taken because you hear all these stories. I remember apartheid in the 1980s and never thought I’d come to South Africa. The experience, the cause, and the effect of seeing apartheid in place and the impact that is still felt today in society. All of these primary sources are so important to understand past history and how history impacts today.”

Vasiliki drew a parallel between issues that we are seeing in the southern United States and South Africa: “You see statues of white imperialists all over town. When you look at the statues and think of the time they were created—a select few made those decisions for the whole country—I saw a commonality between the two. Though they are memorials, in today’s world, is it appropriate to have such a statue if it upsets the people who were oppressed?”

Noah Zeichner

Social Studies and Spanish Language, Seattle, Washington

At Cape Town’s South African Jewish Museum, Noah charmed a museum worker into giving the two of us a private tour of the closed Great Synagogue. The ensuing conversation gave us both a deeper understanding of how the ending of apartheid sent ripples of change through the Jewish community. Following one of our school visits, Noah shared these thoughts with me:

“There is no substitute for visiting schools in different countries. I have learned so much from teachers and students I have met during international trips. I have gained new ideas for my classroom and I have gained new insights into how schools are structured. In South Africa, for example, I was excited to learn that many high school principals teach at least one class. My favorite part, though, is creating new relationships that can lead to virtual exchanges benefiting students in both countries.”

Understanding the World

It was clear from my discussions with the other Fellows that this trip to South Africa was going to have immense impact in their classrooms. For example, a middle school teacher, Angie Madsen, from Omaha, Nebraska, observed, “After traveling internationally, I feel I am better in pointing out to students that others have different perspectives. I can authentically share “another side of the story.""

I agree. You cannot face the results of apartheid without understanding that when the leadership of a country does not believe in equality, oppression will often follow. That is why global education is so important. To know other cultures is to respect them. That must remain one of education’s highest priorities.

Connect with Brett, Heather, and the Center for Global Education on Twitter.

Top image of the author speaking with a student in South Africa was taken by, and used with the permission of, Dr. Joe Underwood, 2018 Global Learning Fellow.

Quote image created on Pablo.

Related Tags:

The opinions expressed in Global Learning are strictly those of the author(s) and do not reflect the opinions or endorsement of Editorial Projects in Education, or any of its publications.

Events

This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Mathematics Webinar
Pave the Path to Excellence in Math
Empower your students' math journey with Sue O'Connell, author of “Math in Practice” and “Navigating Numeracy.”
Content provided by hand2mind
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Recruitment & Retention Webinar
Combatting Teacher Shortages: Strategies for Classroom Balance and Learning Success
Learn from leaders in education as they share insights and strategies to support teachers and students.
Content provided by DreamBox Learning
Classroom Technology K-12 Essentials Forum Reading Instruction and AI: New Strategies for the Big Education Challenges of Our Time
Join the conversation as experts in the field explore these instructional pain points and offer game-changing guidance for K-12 leaders and educators.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Teaching Profession Teachers Work 50-Plus Hours a Week—And Other Findings From a New Survey on Teacher Pay
Planning, preparation, and other duties stretch teachers' working hours long past what's in their contracts.
5 min read
Elementary teacher, working at her desk in an empty classroom.
martinedoucet/E+
Teaching Profession From Our Research Center How Many Teachers Work in Their Hometown? Here's the Latest Data
New survey data shows that many teachers stay close to home, but do they want to?
1 min read
Illustration of a 3D map with arrows going all over the states.
iStock/Getty
Teaching Profession In Their Own Words 'I Was Not Done': How Politics Drove This Teacher of the Year Out of the Classroom
Karen Lauritzen was accused of being a pro-LGBTQ+ activist. The consequences derailed her career.
6 min read
Karen Lauritzen stands for a portrait on the Millikin University Campus in Decatur, Ill., on August 30, 2023. Idaho’s Teacher of the Year moved to Illinois for a new job due to right-wing harassment over her support of the LGBTQ+ community and Black Lives Matter.
Karen Lauritzen stands for a portrait on the Millikin University Campus in Decatur, Ill., on August 30, 2023. Laurizen, Idaho’s 2023 Teacher of the Year, moved to Illinois for a new job due to harassment over her support of the LGBTQ+ community and Black Lives Matter.
Neeta R. Satam for Education Week
Teaching Profession Reported Essay Public Schools Rely on Underpaid Female Labor. It’s Not Sustainable
Women now have more career options. Is that why they are leaving the teaching profession?
9 min read
Illustration of contemporary teacher looking at a line-up of mostly female teachers through the history of public education in the United States.
Traci Debarko for Education Week