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The 1st National Youth Nitijela

Posted by Heather Tang in Marshall Islands

Sarah Lipson, WorldTeach volunteer in the Marshall Islands, writes below about some of her students’ impressive accomplishments.     This week I cried in the national chamber of the Marshall Islands. Though the state of national affairs in the RMI is often depressing, I was crying not in sadness but in pride. This past Saturday was the first-ever Youth Nitijela (Nitijela is the RMI national parliament). As I wrote about for The Marshall Islands Journal, forty-six MIHS seniors were selected to participate in a full-day mock government session in the national chamber, debating issues of great importance to Marshallese youth before members of the RMI Parliament (senators, ministers), teachers, peers and the Majuro community. At first I was fighting back…

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College Access: Anywhere But Here?

Posted by Heather Tang in Marshall Islands

Sarah Lipson, a WorldTeach volunteer in the Marshall Islands, writes about some of the challenges her senior students face as they pursue their hopes for college.     After much negotiation and the support of faculty and staff at the College of the Marshall Islands, Majuro’s March 5th TOEFL registration was re-opened last week to accommodate five more Marshall Islands High School students eager to take the test. For almost all students who attend colleges and universities off-island, the financial support of the RMI Scholarship Board is essential. To be eligible for this scholarship, students must score a 500 on the paper-based TOEFL, a cut-off my seniors are perhaps all too aware of after a presentation by the Scholarship Board…

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Home Is Where the Moyo* Is

Posted by Heather Tang in Tanzania

Shannon Schaubroeck, currently a staff intern at WorldTeach’s Cambridge office and a sophomore at Harvard, shares with us a reflection on her experience growing up in Tanzania, where WorldTeach has just recently opened its newest year-long program.  (*”Moyo” is Swahili for “heart”.)     My brothers and I grew up in the tiny Tanzanian village of Nshupu, which was perched on the side of Meru, an active volcano full of wild and mazy jungles. I remember when my youngest brother, Joshua, started attending a primary school on the other side of the river, and I’d walk him to class in the early mornings. After his first day at school, he came running home with a tear-streaked face, howling about the…

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Sook San Wan Valentine!

Posted by Heather Tang in Thailand

Haley Boone shares her heartwarming reflections on Valentine’s Day from her placement in Nakhon Phanom province…   Happy Valentine’s Day! In honor of the holiday, I thought I’d make a list of the things that I love most about my life here in Thailand. I’m not sure my heart could possibly be happier… I think I love my life here more and more everyday. Here are just a few reasons that I love this place:         These are just a few things that have me feeling all warm and fuzzy on this Valentine’s Day. I hope that yours back home is wonderful… enjoy the snow that I am missing!   Read more about Thailand See all WorldTeach…

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Teaching the Teacher: Cooking Lessons

Posted by Heather Tang in China

Jolie Lee, a year-long volunteer in China, writes about receiving a cooking lesson from some of her teenaged students at her teacher’s apartment! Jolie, a Northwestern graduate who worked as a reporter in Chicago prior to serving with WorldTeach, is teaching Middle School in a town called Lengshuijiang, or “Cold Water River”, located about four hours south of Changsha in Hunan Province.   I wouldn’t say I am a bad cook — just an infrequent one. I cook a few things and I cook them well, but my repertoire is very limited. When I told my students that the main dish I make is fried rice, they immediately offered to whip up a meal for me. Teach the teacher. I…

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The Friendliest People in the Pacific

Posted by Heather Tang in Marshall Islands

Marci McPhee, currently on a leave of absence from Brandeis University, reflects on the deep culture of sharing that she has encountered during her time as a WorldTeach volunteer in the Marshall Islands and the lessons that it has taught her even as the blurred lines between “sharing” and “cheating” present a challenge to her work in the classroom.     “When you live on a small island that is sometimes no wider than the road you are walking on, and at high tide only inches above sea level, your only two choices are to change the way you think and live, or go home.” – Jack Niedenthal, For the Good of Mankind: A History of the People of Bikini…

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