Can you believe two teachers from Tulsa, Oklahoma get to travel to South Africa July 13 to August 13, 2012? Well thanks to Funds for Teacher we get to do just that. Over the course of 33 days we will travel from our hometown to Johannesburg and Capetown to experience South African academics, arts, culture, and history firsthand. This will give us real world exposure and expand our knowledge of the South African culture beyond what we read about in books or online. Our home stay experiences during portions of our trip will allow us to build personal connections in Johannesburg. When we return from the fellowship, we will prepare a cross curricular unit using our photos and written diaries as tools for comparing and contrasting our city, rural areas and wildlife to those of Johannesburg. As teachers, we endeavor to broaden our student’s horizons both academically and personally. Since we teach in a high poverty area, we know our students rarely are exposed to the world beyond their own neighborhood. It is our goal through this fellowship to teach our children global and social awareness. When we return from South Africa we plan to develop a cross curricular unit based on our experiences to show our students the world outside their own “backyards”. We hope that by fostering relationships with their South African peers through this unit and reading about their lives through our pen-pal exchange it will inspire and encourage them to persevere in spite of obstacles which may arise in their lives. We hope you will follow us.
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