Teachers of Critical Languages Program - TCLP

A very Happy Lunar New Year to the TCLP Mandarin exchange teachers, alumni, students, and host schools! 新年快乐!

New year, new opportunities to teach, inspire, and change lives. Happy New Year to the TCLP teachers who make it all possible!

Happy Thanksgiving to our wonderful TCLP teachers! We hope you have a restful holiday weekend and take time to reflect on the things you feel gratitude for. We are grateful for all of you, near and far!

November 18-22 is International Education Week! Join us in celebrating and learn more at iew.state.gov.

👻📖 Happy Halloween! 📖👻
This spooky season, our exchange teachers are casting spells of wisdom and crafting lessons that are frightfully fun!

Congratulations to Chi Jiu-Ching, hosted at Vanguard Van Gogh Elementary & Secondary in Pharr, TX from 2023-2024, for successfully completing her Critical Language Project, “Come On! Let Me Show You This Beautiful World!” Ms. Chi’s project, carried out during the Spring 2024 semester, aimed to encourage language and culture exploration between the students in Ms. Chi's Mandarin club at her U.S. host school and the students at her home school in Taiwan. First, Ms. Chi’s U.S. host school students learned how to cook different Taiwanese dishes, including Taiwanese pizza and other traditional Taiwanese food, such as dumplings and sweet and sour fish, to celebrate the Lunar New Year. After practicing cooking their dishes, students presented the food to teachers and parents in the community. Ms. Chi’s students also went on several local field trips during the spring to the Pharr Memorial Library, the Museum of Texas History, and South Padre Island, with the intention of getting to know their own culture better in addition to getting to know Taiwanese culture. Throughout the semester, Ms. Chi’s host school students met and communicated with the students in Taiwan over videochat and emails to share their experiences cooking Taiwanese food, going on field trips, and learning Mandarin. Finally, Ms. Chi’s project culminated in “Taiwan Culture Night,” during which Ms. Chi’s U.S. host school students and her students in Taiwan took turns giving cultural presentations and performances in groups and through video. In total, 15 students from Ms. Chi’s U.S. host school as well as approximately 15 students from Ms. Chi’s home school in Taiwan participated in this Critical Language Project.

TCLP is excited to welcome this year's Exchange and Mentor Teachers to the Fall Workshop in Washington D.C.! We look forward to seeing you all soon!

October 5 is World Teacher's Day! This international holiday recognizes the importance of teachers around the globe. TCLP especially wishes to honor the amazing exchange teachers of TCLP in the US, China, Egypt, Morocco and Taiwan. Thank you for making a difference!
If you or your school hosted a TCLP teacher, please help us celebrate them in the comments by sharing a memory or just wishing them a Happy World Teacher's Day ✏️📓🍎

Today marks the start of the Mid-Autumn Festival, or Zhong Qiu Jie in Mandarin. This holiday is often a time for family reunions and celebrations. Happy Zhong Qiu Jie to all who celebrate!

TCLP would like to extend the final warm welcome to Peng Yun! Peng Yun is from Taoyuan City, Taiwan and received her master’s degree in Computer Science and Information Engineering from Shu-Te University and a bachelor’s degree in Children English Education from National Taipei University of Education. She has been a Curriculum Development Section Chief and English teacher at Tainan Nanan Elementary School since 2022. She is also a classroom English seed lecturer for Tainan City, and an organizer of the bilingual community in school. Before transferring to Tainan, she worked in Kaohsiung Laonong Elementary School and represented the school to collaborate with English Teaching Assistants from Fulbright in both 2019 and 2021. Outside of teaching, she enjoys listening to music, attending concerts, and traveling. During her year in the United States, she is looking forward to celebrating American holidays, watching American sports events, and most importantly, sharing Taiwanese culture with her students. Her primary objectives for participating in the Teachers of Critical Languages Program are to experience foreign culture, learn to collaborate with people from different countries, and broaden her horizons so that she can lead her students to expand their perspectives. Ms. Yun will spend the next year teaching Mandarin at German International School in Beaverton, OR.

TCLP is excited to welcome exchange teacher Lee Yu-Ku! Lee Yu-Ku is from Taoyuan, Taiwan and received her master's degree in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) from the Institute of Education at University College London. She has been an English teacher and a homeroom teacher at Taoyuan Municipal Yang Ming Senior High School since 2015. Her professional repertoire includes experiences collaborating with foreign teachers in English listening and speaking courses, as well as arranging a visit to the American Institute in Taiwan and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with students in her gifted language class. Outside of teaching, she enjoys traveling and cultural activities. During her year in the United States, she is looking forward to visiting renowned landmarks, celebrating Thanksgiving, Christmas and Taiwanese cultural holidays with her students. She also looks forward to attending football, basketball, and baseball games. Her primary objective for participating in the Teachers of Critical Languages Program is to promote cultural exchange and to apply what she learns during the program to her teaching journey in the future. Ms. Lee will spend the next year teaching Mandarin at Wildwood High School in Wildwood, NJ.