University of Oregon FLTA

Final presentations in LT 528, "Teaching English Language and Culture." The FLTAs found powerful themes to drive their selection of texts and media: courage, identity, freedom of expression, and human rights. The lessons they built around these materials were creative, focused on critical thinking, and highly personalized.

So very proud of our UO FLTAs (Amira, Fundagül, Halima, and Hildephonce), who traveled to Washington D.C. to take part in the Fulbright mid-year conference. We're lucky to have them on campus; we're delighted they get to represent their cultures and languages (Egypt-Arabic, Turkey-Turkish, Pakistan-Urdu, and Tanzania-Swahili) to the 400 other conference attendees.

"Climb every mountain!" should be an FLTA rallying cry.
(Or at least the mountains that are in town, not too high, easily permit good conversation, and definitely not too far from a good café. 😉)

No, this is not the UO team preparing for a Washington Monument challenge at the FLTA MidYear Reunion next month. Just some friends exercising their legs on a warm but smoky Sunday.

We hope that all of you have settled into healthy routines and your Sundays are spent discovering your surroundings.

"All great things must come to pass…" and so it is for U. Oregon's FLTAs who are taking a last hike together (minus one joyful member who was recovering from that scourge which can not be mentioned).

You can read about their year (and reflect on your own--past or upcoming) here:
https://blogs.uoregon.edu/linglts/2022/06/08/a-wonderful-year-with-our-fulbright-fltas/

The "cultural ambassador" role that FLTAs get to play looks different from campus to campus. Here's a nice profile of how Laure P. at Gannon University gets to combine her various interests and academic pursuits. Sometimes, like when you end up directing a play in French, it just helps to be in the right place at the right time.

Gannon University | Q&A with Laure Primerano, Fulbright Scholar at Gannon University Gannon is a Catholic, Diocesan university dedicated to excellence in teaching, scholarship and service. Our faculty and staff prepare students to be global citizens through programs grounded in the liberal arts and sciences and professional specializations.

Oregon's "liquid sunshine" is legendary, but only 4 intrepid UO FLTAs would choose a rainy, snowy, sleeting April day to go waterfall sightseeing--17,200 steps later, the smiles had not diminished, but the need for hot chocolate (and dry socks) was urgent.

While this summer's FLTA orientation (Aug. 8-19) won't be F2F, we promise to bring the same sense of adventure and wonder to your pre-service experience.

Let's take a walk together!

Another virtual summer FLTA Orientation is over. Congratulations to our 190 participants!

Your hard work, camaraderie, and good sense of humor enabled you to accomplish all of our goals. The talent show served as a fitting way to say goodbye.

From the joyous smile of our MC to the soaring lyrics of Frank's "FLTA" you shared your lives and cultures in moving ways. We look forward to hearing about your teaching experiences and cross cultural takeaways in the coming year.

All the best from the team at UO!

So, the invitations have been sent out. If your summer orientation site will be UO, we warmly welcome you. Here's a brief look at what orientation will be, and will not be. Thanks to the cohort of 2019 for demonstrating the former; we can't wait to see what the cohort of 2021 creates for posterity.

FLTA Orientation: What will it be like? Preview of what this summer's virtual orientation probably won't be like.

Dear UO FLTA alums,
We've just started getting ready for the 2021 FLTA Orientation in Eugene, which will take place July 19-30. Yes, it's once again a virtual event, but this year we're hopeful that most FLTAs will be able to travel to their respective host institutions in August/September.

There'll be just two orientation sites, Oregon and Arkansas, which means that each university will be welcoming ~200 FLTAs.

If you're reading this, you've probably experienced a previous orientation. Please feel free to write and offer suggestions on how we can make this one better.

Better yet, if you're interested in participating, please get in touch with us and let us know what you'd like to contribute (lesson planning, observe microteaching, be on a panel, advise new FLTAs, etc.)

There'll be 2 synchronous sessions daily, approx. 90 minutes each, one at 8am and one at 6pm US Pacific time (UTC-7).

Many thanks,
Jeff Magoto

P.S. As you can see below, with all the unpredictability in the world, we've now incorporated fortune telling as the "exit ticket" for every class. Special thanks to our Turkish students and their dynamic FLTA!

Warmest greetings to our two newest FLTAs, Damla Özyer (Turkey) and Hafeez ur-Rehman (Pakistan). We're so glad you can finally join us!

Who is that on the big screen Reymund Lara? Hope you're having a good year with your students Gonzaga University! 😃