Отчет по участию в международной программе академических обменов. На английском языке.

Sharing Experience Got During Participation in an Exchange Program.

Summer, 2015

Once in a lifetime, there comes a moment when your life’s journey seems to be divided into two periods: before and after.  Participation in the Study of the United States Institutes for Scholars and Secondary Educators (SUSI) has become this milestone in my career as well as in my personal and professional development.  Beings selected from the Russian Federation to attend the comprehensive and exciting SUSI academic exchange program is a first step on my long journey to continue my successful education and transformative teaching.  I see it as both a milestone and a triumph.

Our group consisted of 20 participants from 20 different countries; within this marvelous diversity, I discovered and explored the United States for the first time. Each group member brought a unique view and national perspective so that we were enriched by our interactions from the very first day.  Isn’t it great to come together in the United States and build a unified community based on diversity and common interests!  The success of the program lies in its smart organization, outstanding program staff, and careful procedures; it is unbelievable how much must be done before hosting so many different people from all over the world!  Bravo!

        Before now, I had no experience visiting an English- speaking country. The information I shared with my students and colleagues was taken out of books, professional literature, the internet, international  (spell out the organization) FEELTA conferences, on line and social media communications, and infrequent face to face interactions with native English speakers.  So, until now, I lacked  direct experience in an English speaking culture.  When you read something like a book in translation, you only get someone else’s point of view.  There is no direct exchange of views.

        This summer, however, I had a chance to experience American life directly like reading in the original..  I could see everything with my own eyes and communicate first hand with so many wonderful people.  Before now, I could only dream about such an opportunity.  Nothing can substitute for real communications, sightseeing, site visits and seminars. Even webinars are no substitute for direction interactions.  And so I have come to America and become completely immersed.  Fully. Incredibly. Absolutely.  I immersed myself in that American world I have talked about during classes at school.  I have been able to explore on my own important educational issues such as access, equity, and equality.

        The SUSI program  focused on those important issues in a variety of ways: academic approach (lectures/seminars/workshops with a focus on immigration, education, guided independent research and civic engagement; institutional approach (visits to schools and universities and seminar luncheons); multinational interactive approach (family days, group interaction exercises and activities, group based organization including recreation and dining.)

        But I am getting ahead of myself.  First things first.

        Professors from California State University at Chico (CSU) served as our outstanding educational professionals and leaders.  They provided us with important information on intercultural communication from which I learned the important idea that culture can hide more than it reveals.  Professor Ann Schulte introduced us to historical and current trends regarding issues of access and equity in US education policy and American society.  

A short film taught us that even a long time ago, American education followed a learning by doing strategy.  US education focused on talented students to promote future leaders in society.  That strategy has worked.  The American system has used IQ tests to determine the most promising young minds---and to divide the talented from mediocre students.  That sounds rude to me, but the approach has worked.  Indeed, talented people from abroad seek to come to the United States where they know their skills are valued and where they are able to pursue their American dream.  Unfortunately, in Russia, most of our talented students remain unnoticed.  Too often, students leave Russia for better opportunities elsewhere.

Before I came to the US, I hadn’t heard about “civic engagement and service learning.”  Although during the era of the Soviet Union, Russia had something like these concepts, they did not approach what we observed in the United States.  We learned that in the United States there is a systematic approach to cultivate a desire in young minds to contribute to the community and to participate in real civic actions.  Doing so makes those youngsters responsible citizens who know how to make a difference with the knowledge and skills they have.   I learned that engaging students in political reforms or other community problems allows them to initiate smart ideas and to make a difference.  I am going to implement a community service component in my school’s curriculum during the upcoming school year.

It is not easy to create a culture of service, learning and leadership within a school.  But that’s what makes education meaningful, relevant, and rewarding. It’s better to start with small narrow steps focused on service. Such an approach is more likely to succeed.  The SUSI program provided us with many examples to draw from.

I have learned the four basic steps needed to create a successful service learning project: prepare, act, demonstrate, and reflect.  In Russia, we have a sort of service learning, but the programing and overall structure leave much to be desired.  Service learning is not a separate subject in Russia; it is included in other subjects. As a result, contributions to the community are not as good as they could be.  I strongly believe we can improve this by paying more attention to practical applications of knowledge and skills and by encouraging students to participate more actively in solving local problems.  In Russia, we have “Youth Parliaments” and school governments that are civically engaged, but they include only a limited number of students.  Most students remain outside of that process.  Social responsibility matters a great deal and should be more accessible for young people in my country.

So, as is evident, while in the United States I learned and learned without stopping. I was a sponge, open to everything new and up to date.  Even now, a month later,  I need time to organized the immense amount of information I received through the SUSI program.  Each lecture or workshop provided us with so much that is new, it will take me months if not years to share everything I learned with my students and colleagues.  Let me take a moment, however, to highlight some of the ones that impressed me the most.

One of the most interesting topics in our program was about immigration. America is a country of immigrants----“E pluribus unum”---“Out of many, one”.  Different people from different corners of the world came to build a better future in a new land. They succeeded.  I admire those leaders and their people.  They have endured the ups and downs of immigration and have become citizens in a free land, sharing a common desire of constructing and developing a better future.   Several waves of immigration have connected America with the world, and despite laws and restrictions, the US has attracted a labor force with the skills necessary to build a successful economy and culture.  That process has not been an easy one.  America still struggles with how to handle illegal and undocumented immigrants.  Nevertheless, even now the US provides such immigrants with special programs to help them adapt to the American way of life.  Young people, including young immigrants, believe that the American flag can wrap them in security and hospitality, and can become their homeland.

For example, I had never heard about the Hmong people in the United States, nor the details about their “Secret war” in Southeast Asia. The Hmong survived forty years of tragic history and have finally found a happy ending in the US.  Their people have been frustrated without a homeland, but nowadays have the opportunity to save their identity within the rich cultural diversity of America.  Their story assured me how important it is to know historical background when teaching.  Prehistory is important to know.

Today Russia also has a large number of immigrants from former Soviet republics.  Those immigrants must pay for and take an exam in the Russian language and pay for documents which allow them to work in Russia.  Russia also supports a continual stream of Ukrainian refugees by providing them refuge and resources needed to live.  At the same time, it seems to me that Russia doesn’t have the same sort of support programs for immigrants as the United States provides, for example, to the Hmong people or to Mexican immigrants.  Slowly, but surely, however, Russia is on the right track.

Another major theme of the SUSI program concerned access for disabled people to education and other activities.  I found a site visit to a summer camp for children with disabilities to be remarkable.  This issue is a crucial one for me.  I have great sympathy for those disabled children and great admiration for the people who take noble steps to make their lives easier.   Access means equity.  In the United States, this effort began through legislation passed in 1990. I am sad to say that in this area, Russia is far behind. We don’t see people with disabilities very often because they lack access and mobility.  Russia must work on this problem and should consult with America to learn about progressive programs for the disabled.  Nowadays, there are some improvements, however, including free university education for disabled students, free medical care, etc.  But access and mobility for the disabled remain limited in Russia.

Other important topics included in the program involved gender issues in schools, feminization in teaching, bilingual education, the relationship between the federal government and the states, credentials for teachers, improving education standards and performance for all students, and future challenges in education.  It was an inspiration to learn about these topics in official buildings including the California State Capitol building, the California Commission for Teacher Credentialing, and the US Department of Education building in Washington DC.  We also discussed benefits for SUSI alumni and future education projects in cooperation with the US Department of State while we visited the nation’s capital.

Personally, I found it profoundly inspirational to learn inside those government buildings and offices of different education organizations.  Our SUSI lectures and workshops went outside the boundaries of classroom walls on a campus.  We enjoyed exclusive access to many educational institutions and political buildings from the US Capitol building where we heard about political structure to  the State Department where we discussed international education ideas to the Chico California Town Hall where we became acquainted with the role of local school boards and issues regarding funding.

Perhaps one of the greatest strengths of this intensive program was our visits to schools.  We attended high schools, elementary schools, public schools,  alternative and charter schools.  We found topics of interest in every school, including ideas we could bring back to our own classrooms.  These included wall posters with motivational words and slogans, educational strategies and techniques, ice-breaking activities, and summer camp programs.  I observed “living” documents on school walls which provoke interest and develop a sense of duty among the students.  Each student is encouraged to contribute to the documents with ideas they find important.   We learned that the education system in the US is decentralized; schools differ from state to state.  Each system has its own set of challenges.  We also learned about the “common core” now being adapted to all states in an attempt to set uniform national standards.

We do not have such structures and practices in the Russian Federation. Creating  an education partnership between Russia and the United States could help solve some of our mutual problems by sharing our countries’ experiences.   To my surprise, as I understand it, there are no official links between the Russian Ministry of Education and the US Department of Education. I have discovered an important void that should be filled with innovative ideas, communications, and interaction.

In sum, the experiences and educational topics included in the SUSI program were extremely valuable to me.  I am excited about using what I have learned in my future educational career.  I hope, for example, that my students will benefit from the “gallery walk” technique using posters and group discussions.  I hope that my students will learn key elements of democracy in which they would have a voice and the right to participate.  I realize the importance of different learning styles which emphasize a variety of approaches.  Always plan lessons using variety, variety, variety! Our academic director, Mr. Bob Kohen, provided us with great examples of how to create engaging group discussions and how to organize the process of teaching and learning.  He advised us to define a problem, encourage questions, consider answers, and to sum up what we have found. The more I learned through the SUSI program, the more I understand how many things are ahead of me that I must explore and discover.

Among the many rich learning experiences and the most unforgettable ones I experienced the SUSI was coming to know America.  Our program took us all over the country from California to the Midwest to the nation’s capital, Washington DC.  In California we visited Coloma, the home of the Gold Rush, Angel Island Immigration Station, Mission Dolores, and museums and galleries of the fine arts in San Francisco.  Through SUSI, we educated our mind without forgetting to enrich our souls.  We saw the classic beauty of world famous paintings in the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC; we enjoyed the masterpieces of Chagall in the Chicago Art Institute, and toured so many other memorable exhibits.   The cultural component of the SUSI program was simply indescribable. We were so fortunate to learn from and explore the beauty of the United States, its cultural heritage and wonderful monuments.  

Visiting different American cities is like talking to different people with their characters and faces.  We had a long, sincere, comfortable conversation, for example, with Chico, California, our university campus home where we spent most of our time.  Luxury Bidwell park, cozy streets, no rush, friendly people---all these little pieces bespoke a sense of community and belonging. Sacramento smiled at us, showing its gorgeous palms and treated us with Mexican cuisine. What a lovely whisper we could hear in old Sacramento, walking on the pathway next to the river.   Crossing the Golden Gate Bridge through the fog and hearing the voices of the wind, I felt at home.  San Francisco really resembles my home town of Vladivostok! America’s architectural gem, Chicago, spoke to us via its proud tall buildings which we passed by on a boat along the Chicago river.  Washington DC is the most monumental city I have ever seen!  Its strength and energy were everywhere. We discussed America’s history while standing in front of world famous monuments.  We listened with rabid interest as we visited the Smithsonian museums.  The National Air and Space Museum made me proud of Russian triumphs in space and the peaceful scientific cooperation between our two countries.  Isn’t it tremendous when two powerful nations explore the universe TOGETHER so successfully!  Isn’t it exciting to see this cooperative work continue.   Clearly, Russian and American students could launch many cooperative space projects together in the future.

While I was in the United States, I kept my mind open to new information.  It came at me all the time, whether I was looking at something, talking with someone, or even “jaywalking”!  The SUSI program provided me with so many activities and opportunities for communication and educational models I can’t possibly process it all in a short time.   I have much work to do as I look back on my experience.  It is very clear to me that the SUSI program has met and exceeded its goal  to provide us with a rich program of professional development and to deepen our understanding of the diverse society of the United States.  I believe that the program will serve to increase mutual understanding among nations.  Our multinational group of educators enriched each other and now stand ready to implement the many exciting ideas we learned during the program.  I intend, for example to create an extracurricular course, “A Study of the United States” for high school students in Russia.  I will work to implement ideas from the program to benefit my community and to make relations between the US and Russia deeper and mutually beneficial.

I am deeply grateful to the staff of California State University at Chico for such a well-planned, organized and implemented intensive academic seminar.  I also thank the US Department of State for their sponsorship of the program and hosting us while we were in Washington DC.  Through the State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, I received an opportunity I never would have otherwise had.  I sincerely hope that the Bureau will continue to pursue and expand cooperation with international education programs with the Russian Federation.

Education will save the world-----that is my strong belief! Uniting teachers from all over the world can create a team that can change the globe.  We must start by changing ourselves with the help of  effective international educational programs which broaden and inspire students’ horizons.

My warmest words of thanks goes out to the US Embassy in Moscow whose professional staff providing opportunities and access to the rich American heritage that so many teachers of English are hungry for.   The SUSI program has transformed my life with new ideas, professional collaboration, and ongoing inspiration for personal and professional development.  I am transformed and excited about my professional future as an international educator.

(This report does not represent an official statement on behalf of the Study of the U.S. Institutes  (SUSI) program.   The views expressed are entirely of the author, Natalia Sidorova SUSI Class of 2015)