Georgia Teachers of English to
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- John R. Stowe Cultural Immersion Grant
Please research and consider possible covid-19 travel restrictions in your area of choice as you are applying.
Who’s Eligible: Any current Georgia TESOL member in good standing
Purpose: This grant is intended to provide assistance for an immersion experience abroad for an educator who wishes to serve his or her students better by learning more about their culture and language through experiencing the culture firsthand. It is named in honor of our late colleague and Georgia TESOL member
John Stowe who was constantly learning languages, traveling, and spending time with students in order to better understand their culture. John also firmly believed that a strong sense of place is a vital part of being truly immersed and connected to a community. Here are just a few examples of the many ways in which this grant could be used:- An educator whose student population is predominantly Chinese and who has never visited China or learned the language could use the grant to visit the country, live with a host family, and enroll in a language program.
- An educator who teaches a largely Mexican population and who already speaks Spanish but has never visited Mexico could use the grant to tour the country and participate in a cultural exchange program.
- An educator who would like to take a graduate level class to become better prepared to teach his/her ELL population could use the grant to defray costs of participation in one of the many available study abroad courses that focus on language/culture/linguistics and have a cultural immersion component (UGA and Valdosta State offer such programs; there are many others available as well).
Amount: up to $2000
Criteria: Applications will be examined for evidence of (a) how the cultural immersion will further the applicant’s professional development, (b) how the experience gained will benefit the applicant’s ESL/EFL community, (c) implementation plan, (d) itemized budget (e) how the applicant will share what was learned with colleagues in Georgia TESOL.
How to apply:
Additional Comments:
- Grant funds will be dispersed as reimbursement when receipts are submitted to treasurer@gatesol.org.
- The grant will be offered on a yearly basis. However, the Review Committee may decide that no grant will be provided for a given year.
- The Review Committee may recommend to award the grant to 2 recipients. The recipient(s) will be notified by the end of February.
- A grantee may not reapply for at least three years.
- Applicants who do not receive the grant are encouraged to reapply next time.
Complete his/her/their travels within 1 year.
- Give a presentation related to the immersion experience at a Georgia TESOL conference and write an article related to the grant for the Georgia TESOL Newsletter.