Intercultural Student Teaching: A Bridge to Global Competence

In response to the changing global climate and the growing recognition of the professional associations in the teacher education community, universities around the country are beginning to recognize the need to add a global dimension to their education programs. One way to prepare teachers to address the challenges associated with teaching children in a global age is through carefully structured, international and intercultural field experiences where candidates are immersed in another culture. Since student teaching requires candidates to show they can translate theory into practice over a sustained period of time, it is ideally suited for strengthening candidates’ intercultural understanding. Intercultural Student Teaching demonstrates examples of these successful programs and provides documented experience from professionals currently engaged in intercultural teaching practice. Readers will learn from the contributor’s experiences through carefully crafted chapters that focus on major elements of program implementation and delivery. The contributors report how they have created, organized, and maintained programs in their purview and address program features such as selection, orientation and supervision of participating candidates, interaction with host families and communities, and strategies for enhancing understanding of global and domestic diversity.