A Trip To Remember

by PAD Ximena Tisnés

Last March 12, I started a trip that would take me to visit different educational institutions and
offices in 5 different cities around the USA: Washington DC, San Francisco, Boston, Kansas City
and Tampa. I wasn’t alone. I was one of the 10 participants of the USA Department of State’s
Program “ILVP” (International Leadership Visitor Program). With me there were English
teachers from Argentina, Colombia, Guatemala, Bolivia, Mexico, Haiti, Costa Rica and
Venezuela.

The program’s objectives were to examine the organization and methodology of Teaching
English as a Second Language around the USA; to provide teachers of English an opportunity to
meet with American colleagues to discuss current trends and developments in the field with
special attention to distance education, on-line courses, and multimedia in the classroom; to
develop a better understanding of the educational system in the US; and to provide exposure
to the complexity of social, political, economic and demographic dynamics in the US, paying
particular attention to immigration patterns and the impact they have on English acquisition
and usage in the US.

To achieve the program’s goals, the group travelled to 5 different cities in the US. Each city was
assigned a different theme:

Washington DC: The topics addressed in the capital city

dealt mainly with federal support for English Language
Acquisition, English language testing, curriculum
development and support for bilingual education. Among
others, we visited and had several meetings with different
professionals and representatives in the offices of the
Department of State of the US,

the Department of Education, the Office of English Language

Programs, ETS (Educational Testing Services), the Center for
Applied Linguistics and our first visit to a school: the “Carlos
Rosario International Public Charter School”. In DC, every
meeting we had and every person we met was really
interesting and profitable, but what impressed me the most
was the job that the teachers and students at “Carlos Rosario”
school do every day. In this school we were able to see the
great job they are doing to provide adult students with
educational training to promote a successful introduction and
integration into American life.
 San Francisco, California: In this wonderful city the topics were
University Programs, Citizenship Programs and Spanish
Literacy Programs. We met teachers and other
administrators in a University, a Community College and we
visited a Bilingual Elementary School in which the focus is
teaching Japanese to little children. It was incredible to see
how elementary school children could actually read, write
and speak in Japanese!!

Boston, Massachusetts: Since the topic for Boston was Professional Training and Networking we
had the chance of choosing what we wanted to listen at the TESOL CONFERENCE 2010. We
spent 3 great days delighting ourselves with speakers like Howard Gardner and David Nunan.
Personally, I tried to attend workshops that dealt with classroom observation, peer
observation and the use of technology in the classroom, and I must say that I had the chance
of participating in really enlightening workshops. And it was rewarding to listen and exchange
experiences with teachers from all over the world, and being able to see that in Uruguay we
are several steps ahead of many countries, and in some cases I dare to say we are working as
countries from the 1st world. We definitely ARE on the right path!! And also amazing was to
see that one of the “hot topics” of the conference were the workshops on the SIOP model.

Kansas City, Missouri: What a city!! A quiet place, they really

made us feel at home. Located right in the middle of the
country, Kansas is the typical city we watch in movies with
beautiful houses with big front gardens, family life and most
of all, a safe place to live… well, except for the tornadoes. Our
topics in Kansas were ESL Teaching and Technology, Applied
Linguistics, ESL for Vocational Purposes and ESL Learning and
American Culture. Again we visited a University, the Kansas
University where they told us about the work they do at
campus, they have a GREAT Writing Lab where students can
go and they get help from teachers. We also met 3 students
 from the students union. We also went to a “Don Bosco”
center where they teach English to refugees and immigrants.
In this center we were allowed to observe some classes. It
was interesting to get into a classroom in which the students
spoke 12 different languages and were united by one:
English. Our last visit in Kansas was to an elementary school
in the Blue Valley district. Here they showed us how they
integrate technology to their teaching practices.

Tampa, Florida: Our last city and a great place to do the program closure! Hot weather,
beaches, sunshine, seafood... and meetings! Before closing the program we met Linda Evans,
a professor at the University of South Florida. Mrs. Evans is involved with undergraduate and
graduate teacher education in the areas of bilingualism, ESL, literacy and technology. And last,
but not least, our group’s last visit in the US was to the community Development Corporation,
a University Area which has developed the “Even Start” program. This program is focused on
offering opportunities for immigrant parents to study ESOL, take exams and other adult
education classes, while their children are stimulated by a professional teaching staff in the
same building. In this place we were actually able to see the parents attending classes and
their children attending theirs. During lunchtime families gather, have lunch together and after
that they go to their respective classes again.

It is very difficult to express in three pages how amazing this trip

was, not only because of the visits, the meetings, the chances of
attending workshops and observing classes around the USA, but
also because of being able to explain to my group partners the
Uruguayan experience and compare it to that of other Latin
countries. I could not believe that Uruguay is the only country of
the 10 represented in the program that is actually using or trying to
implement the SIOP model. I came back satisfied and really proud
of being part of the PAD team, a team that is working really hard to
make a difference and to improve standards by building strong
learning and teaching communities. It has not been an easy task,
but now I know that the effort we are doing to help our hard-
working teachers and ourselves to be updated and to establish
common goals and objectives throughout the country is paying off.
We are definitely on the right path… hope everyone wants to follow
this path with us…

It’s good to be back home!!

Ximena

If you want to see more pictures of the trip, find me in facebook: Ximena Tisnés (ximentis@hotmail.com)