All items from American Councils for International Education

Ed Seminars Alum Wins Photo Contest Hon. Mention
From American Councils for International Education
Educational Seminars Alum Kristin Vrabie (Uruguay, 2010) wins Honorable mention in the 2011 "The Language Educator" photo contest. Her photo was was chosen as one of the top 7 photos from over 100 submissions and will appear in the August issue of the Language Educator magazine, as well as on the ACTFL website. In the photo, the children in Uruguay are waving to Ms. Vrabie's students from Marlborough, CT via a live SKYPE session.

Title VIII Program Alumni Bring their Expertise to U.S. Policymakers
From American Councils for International Education
On July 28, three Title VIII program alumni briefed U.S. Department of State officials at an event organized by American Councils, entitled "Labor Migration and Its Effects on Gender, Children and Household Dynamics: Three Case Studies from the Independent States of the Former Soviet Union." The scholar panel included Reid Hamel, University of California–Berkeley; Erin Hofmann, University of Texas–Austin; and Dr. Mihaela Robila, Queens College, City University of New York. The panelists presented the results of their research recently conducted in Tajikistan, Georgia, and Moldova under the auspices of the Title VIII Program.

FLEX and YES Program Alumni Share their Impressions of the Global Village Program
From American Councils for International Education
Fourteen FLEX and seven YES Program alumni attended a reception in their honor at the American Councils office in Washington, DC on July 28. The alumni joined a group of 101 young professionals from 57 countries at the Global Village for Future Leaders of Business and Industry, which is taking place from June 26-August 6 at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, PA. Global Village is an applied leadership and cross-cultural training program.

At Bell High School, Arabic-Language Classes Attack Cultural Prejudices, Monitor Arab Spring
From American Councils for International Education
At Bell High School in Los Angeles, California, TCLP teacher Mohamed Hassan and his mentor teacher Nada Shaath will teach a growing enrollment of students in the Arabic language classes this year. Embedded within the language classes are discussions about culture and the ongoing political and social changes in the Arab world that have helped students develop a greater understanding for other cultures. Published in the LAUSD Journal Online.

CLS Students Attend U.S.-Indonesia Comprehensive Partnership's Education Working Group
From American Councils for International Education
On July 23, two Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) students from the program in Malang, Indonesia, had the opportunity to represent their peers at the Education Working Group in Bali. The meeting was part of a larger forum dedicated to increasing bilateral ties between the United States and Indonesia, a key foreign policy objective of the Obama Administration since the launching of a Comprehensive Partnership program last year together with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.