Andrea Walton received Goethe-Institut fellowship to travel for
two weeks
San Benito High School teacher Andrea Walton spent part of her
summer overseas on an international fellowship that gave her a
unique view of German history. Walton, who teaches world history
and U.S. history, applied for the Transatlantic Outreach Program
after she came across it on the Goethe-Institut website.
Andrea Walton received Goethe-Institut fellowship to travel for two weeks
San Benito High School teacher Andrea Walton spent part of her summer overseas on an international fellowship that gave her a unique view of German history. Walton, who teaches world history and U.S. history, applied for the Transatlantic Outreach Program after she came across it on the Goethe-Institut website.
“I feel very lucky to have been accepted,” she said, of the two-week trip that allowed her to travel around Germany, with most of her expenses paid. “They accept 100 social studies teachers.”
On her trip, Walton had a chance to visit four cities, including Munich, Stuttgart, Dresden and Berlin.
“I did learn about different things about their society today and their school system,” Walton said. “I saw how it differs from ours. They cater more to students who are looking for careers in other fields – not specifically going to university. They are better about having programs in all different areas.”
She said that she also had a chance to visit the capital in Berlin, where it moved after the fall of the Berlin Wall. She said that during World War II when the Russians took over the city, they put graffiti on the inside of the building. The Germans left the graffiti there.
“They are trying to accept their past and show it the way it was,” Walton said, of the Nazi regime and the Holocaust. “They are not mincing it at all. They are making people aware of what happened. There are a lot of memorials. They are trying to teach the world that if you make mistakes in your past, you own up to them.”
The program is funded through a private-public partnership between the Federal Republic of Germany foreign office, the Deutsche Bank and Robert Bosch Stiftung. The goal of the fellowship, according to the Goethe-Institut website, is to “encourage cross-cultural dialogue and to provide Social Studies educators with global understanding from an international perspective using Modern Germany as the basis for comparison and contrast.”
Walton said the trip also focused a lot on the new technologies Germany is developing and the ways the country is modernizing.
“It is meant to teach teachers about modern Germany,” Walton said. “They really want you to learn about modern Germany – their technology, and they are really advanced in the environmental (protection policies) … And us taking it back to the classroom, teaching that, and our students learning about international awareness and tolerance to the world.”
After the study tour ended, Walton traveled to Bavaria on her own and “did some more exploring there.” She also went to Salzburg, Austria.
Since her trip to Germany started with an orientation in Washington, D.C., Walton arrived a week early so she could visit the nation’s capital.
“I had never been,” she said. “It was an opportunity since I had the ticket. I spent the week looking at everything there.”
She visited the White House and the Library of Congress, along with other sites.
“I did go to the House and Senate gallery,” she said. “I listened to them when they were in session and that was really fun.”
Walton said both parts of her trip will influence her teaching this year.
“When you’ve been there, you teach differently,” she said. “You have your own experiences to talk about and have a new excitement in the way that you teach students.”
Walton said that her own travels fall in line with her organizing trips for high school students to travel overseas. Walton is one of a few San Benito High School teachers who coordinates trips with students. Some of the past trips have been over spring break to places such as Spain, Mexico and France. Last spring she took three students to Germany with her on a tour of Germany, Austria and Switzerland. This year she has 12 students and parents who have expressed interest in a program that will take place when school is out in June.
“So now I’ve designed this new one to go to London and France,” she said. “That whole idea of giving these international experiences to students really awakens (them) to the world and how interconnected it is. It teaches tolerance of other people.”
The trip will take the students to the shores of Normandy, where United States soldiers landed during World War II, on D-Day.
“I want to see that myself and show the students that you fight for freedom and how important it is to honor that,” she said.
The trips relate to the curriculum, though students also have a chance to see some of the other tourist destinations in Paris and Versailles.
“Some of the attractions there are about revolution – people fighting for change,” Walton said. “It still relates today – to all the revolutions going on in the Middle East.”
The trip is open to students in ninth through 11th grade, and those interested can contact Walton for more information. The students will be doing fundraisers throughout the year as part of the Travel Club on campus, to raise money for the trip.
The fellowship that Walton received is open to American and Canadian social studies teachers who teach grades K-12, as well as methods professors, curriculum coordinators and applicable state department of education employees. Walton noted that most of the teachers who went on her study tour were middle or high school teachers. The program covers most domestic and international transportation fees, hotel accommodation fees, two meals per day while abroad, and any mandatory study tour related fees such as museum entry, bicycle rental and such. Participants had to pay a $350 deposit, which is refunded after they complete a unit on their travels in their classroom and conduct a workshop on TOP at the local, district or state regional level. The deadline for 2012 applicants is Feb. 6.
“I want to encourage teachers from my department and teachers from other areas to apply for it,” Walton said.
The site also notes that Germany has some similarities to the United States in that it is an immigrant nation, and a leader in environmental protection and green technologies.
For more information on Walton-led trip to Europe in June, or to donate to the fundraisers, call Walton at 637-5831, ext. 372, or e-mail awalton@[email protected].
