Student Teaching in Diverse Settings

Year 2015, Volume: 2 Issue: 2, 93 - 101, 30.08.2015

Adem Bayar , Naime Elcan

https://doi.org/10.17275/per.14.15.2.2

Abstract

This study explores the cases of teachers who had overseas field
experience. In this study, it is aimed at hearing what teachers say
about their experiences and announce their reflections for others in
order to contribute others’ learning that have not had cross-cultural
experiences. In order to reach the aim of this study, the researchers
have addressed the following research questions throughout this
research: 1. Do participants perceive cross-cultural teaching as an
aid to self- development?, 2. Do participants believe overseas
experiences lead them to gain global perspectives?, and 3. What
kind of learning has occurred within overseas experiences? In order
to grasp the feelings and ideas of the teachers, semi-structure
interview has been used. The respondent group of this study is four
teachers. The findings of this current study obviously reveal that
the participant teachers have benefited positively as a result of
overseas experiences. These benefits include both personal and
professional development. The participant teachers explained that
they have learned much about instructional methodology, how to
access children, and various classroom management styles based
upon interaction with teachers in host nations and classroom
observations. Also, by living in a different country, the participant
teachers have reported that they have learned first-hand information
about culture, tradition, folklore, history, and social condition of
host nations. Learning these experiences help them, as teachers, to
gain a meaningful perspective on other cultures, figure out the
deepest ideas, assumptions, ideologies, which create that culture
and it allows being aware of their own place in the world. 

Keywords

Teacher, overseas experiences, diversity, teacher education

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