UAF Educators Head to El Salvador

Submitted by Roxanne Creamer
Phone: (907) 474-5406
11/06/03

A team of four educators from the University of Alaska Fairbanks will travel to San Salvador, El Salvador, on Nov. 14 to present a 15-day intensive workshop to 12 Salvadoran high-school teachers. The primary goal of the workshop is to improve the capability of the Salvadoran teachers to teach English. The specific objectives are to encourage positive attitudes regarding the use of the English language, improve basic English language skills in usage and pronunciation, and provide the methodology and other tools for more effective instruction in their high school English classes.

Representing UAF will be Daphne Hofschulte and Dianne Coursey, adjunct instructors with the UAF School of Education; and Karen Peterson and Tony Gasbarro, program assistant and associate professor emeritus, respectively, of the Cooperative Extension Service. The UAF team will be cooperating with Don Bosco University and the Salvadoran Ministry of Education.

"Many high school teachers who teach English in El Salvador have not received adequate training in teaching English as a foreign language," said Gasbarro. "Due to the lack of financial resources and low salaries there is virtually no opportunity for teachers to improve their skills. The Salvadoran Ministry of Education has very little funds for teacher training because most of its budget is currently being spent on rebuilding or repairing the schools damaged by the 2001 earthquakes."

The participants will spend their mornings reviewing the methodology of teaching English as a second language which will be conducted in Spanish by the faculty of Don Bosco University in San Salvador. During the afternoons the participants will improve their own English language skills in structured practice sessions in groups of three with the volunteer teachers from Alaska who have training in teaching English as a foreign language.

The UAF educators are paying for their own travel, lodging and meals during the three-week period. The UAF team has received about $4,100 in grants to cover the costs of the Salvadoran faculty, materials and a small stipend for each Salvadoran teacher to cover transportation and food. The grants are from the Education Foundation of Delta Kappa Gamma Society International and the Beta Chapter of Delta Kappa Gamma of Fairbanks.