Dozens of international teachers prepare for the school year in Gaston County

Karen Archer, Gaston County Schools’ new teacher support facilitator for international teachers, recently spoke to a group of teachers from around the world who have come to teach in Gaston County Schools.

For several decades, the district has partnered with two organizations that pair international teachers with United States school systems.

Each teacher starts with a three-year contract and has the option to sign on for an additional two years afterward.

According to district spokesman Todd Hagans, the program primarily helps GCS fill gaps left empty by the teacher shortage, but it also offers students a unique glimpse into other cultures.

“Kids don’t travel,” Hagans said.

However, when they are learning from teachers who come from different countries, it can broaden their understanding of the world and give them knowledge of different cultures, he said.

Before taking on her current role with the district, Archer came to Gaston County in 2003 as an international teacher.

She taught for 14 years at Bessemer City Middle School and then worked an additional six years as a science facilitator, helping to write the science curriculum for the district before taking on her current role, she said.

According to Archer, three supportive school principals helped her be successful in her time at Bessemer City, and she now supports other incoming international teachers in a similar manner.

Archer said teachers coming to Gaston County through the Educational Partners International and Participate Learning programs already know how to teach, but they often need assistance adjusting to the culture of the American education system.

When she first came to the states as a teacher, Archer said, she often found herself saying, “In my country, we do this.”

However, she said she found that it was easy to alienate the kids when using phrases like that one.

So, in her current role, she teaches incoming international teachers about procedures that are not the norm in their home countries, classroom management, and cultural differences that might not feel natural to them.

Archer said a good example of the cultural differences would be how children in the U.S. express themselves.

In Archer’s home country, Jamaica, questioning directions or voicing a differing opinion out loud would be considered disrespectful, but in the states, children are more open and willing to express their emotions, she said.

There are also additional rules and procedures in place for safety reasons that international teachers might not be used to in their home country, Archer said.

According to Archer, many of the teachers coming to the U.S. through these programs are motivated by the prestige of teaching in America and a variety of personal, professional and financial reasons.

Four incoming international teachers, Emmanuel Kobina Andrews from Ghana, Oscar Nieto Pavia from Colombia, Selma Patterson Khani from Jamaica, and Romnick Alinzuas from the Philippines, all offered a variety of reasons they chose to teach in America.

Andrews, Pavia, and Khani are teaching in Gaston County for the first time, and said they were largely drawn to the opportunity by their passion for teaching and a desire to do some traveling in the U.S.

Alinzuas previously taught in Gaston County at the middle school level for six years before returning home for two years.

He said he enjoyed the experience and wanted the opportunity to teach at the high school level, so he decided to come back.

All four instructors said they are excited for the school year to start.

When asked what they were most worried about going into the school year, none of the instructors mentioned the cultural differences or their ability to teach the curriculum.

“Will I be accepted,” Khani said.

Andrews said he was most worried about his accent and making sure he uses the same terminology for math symbols as the U.S.

In Ghana, he said, the symbols are the same but have different names in some cases.

Pavia said he hopes to be as good at teaching in the states as he is in Colombia.

In his home country, he was teacher of the year, he added.

For Alinzuas, he hopes to do just as well teaching high school this year as he did when teaching middle school the last time he taught in Gaston County.

This article originally appeared on The Gaston Gazette: Dozens of international teachers prepare for the school year in Gaston County