Attendance at National, Regional, and State Professional Meetings

At least 179 teachers attended professional conventions, conferences, or workshops, through arrangements made by the Office of Education or by university and school staffs. Meetings of the Illinois and Indiana State teacher association in Chicago and Indianapolis, respectively, were attended by 47 of the visiting teachers; and a meeting of the National Council for Teachers of English, also in Chicago, by 31 of them. Fourteen attended a Conference on Audiovisual Aids in Teaching Foreign Languages, held at Ann Arbor, Michigan; 13 the Annual Convention of the New York State Teachers Association at Syracuse; and 10 a con

vention of the Onandaga Association of Secondary School Principals, also at Syracuse.

A list of the meetings attended by the visiting teachers in 1960-61 appears in table 8 (p..66,).

Articles Written by Grantees and Published in the United States or Their Home Countries

While participating in the program, several grantees wrote articles about their experiences in the United States. Some of the articles were published in the United States, and others in the grantees' home countries, either during the period of the program or later. (See tables 9 and 10, p. 69 and for a list of the articles reported to the Office of Education. Others may have been published in the home countries after the grantees reported.)

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There have been many clear indications that the overall objectives of the 1960-61 program were realized. As in previous years, the most convincing proof comes from the participants themselves and from the American educators and laymen whom they met during the course of the program.

The grantees' reports and the letters they have written to the Office since returning home testify that they achieved the purposes for which they came: professional improvement, better understanding of the United States, her people, and her problems; and from their close association with many other participants of the program from all parts of the world, a better understanding of other countries-and even of their own. The teachers work with thousands of young people who will constitute the next generation in their countries, and they have the opportunity to influence and help mold young lives. If teachers from abroad are privileged to see the United States with their own eyes and obtain firsthand knowledge of it, they will be bet ter prepared to interpret it accurately to their pupils and to point out similarities and contrasts between the United States and their homelands.

Value From Participants' Viewpoint

Many grantees express appreciation for the educational benefits afforded them by the program. The following illustrations are typical:

Lydia E. Isola-Argentina.-I am very glad to inform you that I have already had a special interview with the Minister of Education of my country, and I have given him my impressions and I have also made special remarks about the excellent organization of the Teacher Training Program. I have also given him the bibliographical material I have gathered during my stay in the United States. This material will be destined to the Department for the planning of education. I also intend to write a detailed report on my activities as a grantee of the Department of State of the United States. I will make the results of my studies and observation in the United States known

among specialized teachers in my country. I have been given a new opportunity to apply some of the principles and practices on the teaching of English as a second language since immediately after my arrival I have been appointed teacher of English at the Higher School of Commerce of the University of Buenos Aires.

Marion Lima-Brazil-I still miss my stay in the United States and especially the good friends I left there. I have received many letters from the other grantees who feel the same as I do.

Lia Neiva spent last week end with me and we gave a talk about our program there at the "Culture Inglesa." The pupils and teachers liked it tremendously, especially the exhibition of slides. There will be a second talk at the "Brasil Estados Unidos"

soon.

Herman Boxill-British West Indies. -I was inspired by the spirit of cooperation existing between the parents and the teachers. . .Lastly, there was the close association between the people of the community and the schools. All this is a matter of attitude and might at very little cost be applied to our situation in St. Lucia and the West Indies. .It is good to be once more back home in the sunny West Indies, but one cannot help feeling some sort of regret that our stay in the U.S.A. was so fleeting and that we cannot immediately transplant to our own educational soil some of the good things that we saw in the U.S.A.

Mrs. Viola Soto de Pinto Guyman-Chile (while in Washington).-I consider it very possible to incorporate in our schools many of the new ideas in practice in Jefferson County, Colorado. . . The schools of Jefferson County are more similar to our schools. It seems to me we should incorporate the modified size classroom in our organization. The large class and the little ones, with a flexible schedule, would permit us to improve in the better utilization of the (35)

capacities and interests of our teachers. Each teacher of the team could give the lessons for a large group of 100 or 200 students in those aspects of the subject he knows better. On the other hand we should attend better to the individual differences of our pupils because we should organize the big group in small groups for many lessons, according to the experiences, abilities, and interests of our pupils. The slow learner and the gifted ones should be better attended to in such organization. Correlation with other subjects also could be possible. The flexible schedule and the team teaching offer more and easy opportunities to proceed in this way.

In the other hand the team, we know, offers to the teachers many possibilities to develop their own initiatives with the consequent benefits.

(A letter from this same teacher after returning home to Chile).—I am working very hard. The University of Chile asked me to direct and organize the first experiment to apply in my country, the television to the regular classes. It will be a project developed in my Liceo Experimental Manuel de Sales with control groups. I was able to present this project because my grant gave me the opportunities to collect material and to observe the appliance of television in secondary schools. At the same time I am writing about "New Education in the United States" and I am trying with a team of teachers of Spanish, the "grouping for abilities." We began this experiment in a seventh-grade class.

I gave three conferences to the experimental teachers about your country. I am invited to give another one to the pupils of one of our normal schools next week. El Mercurio, one of our best newspapers, published some of my comments about the Program of International Teacher Development.

cross-section of American educational systems, and, which is the most valuable of all, of discussing personally with the people in charge of the policies and execution. It was interesting to see education organized and administered in a new way, and to me the short experience ranks the best in my educational career so far.

Looking back at the few months in the States I feel so proud of myself. It was an opportunity in a lifetime. Nothing in my personal experience so far surpasses it.

Reverend Richard L. Pwamang-Ghana.—We enjoyed our stay in the United States and are now speaking to different groups about the 'glories' of your wonderful

country.

Popi Kieseritzky-Greece. -I have many projects concerning my activities when I go back to Greece and I will not be satisfied with myself until I will make other people and especially the pupils of our schools profit by my experiences.

Mahmood Payafar-Iran.-During these few months, I have learned many things from teachers. If I wanted to learn all this knowledge in another way, I would travel all around the world, and spend thousands of dollars. I am very thankful to the American government and those people who made it possible for teachers from all over the world to assemble here.

R. R. Essah-Ghana.-With the theory and practice of American education as a yardstick, I have for the first time been able to reappraise the work that I have done at home for the past five years as a High School Principal.

The visit has provided me with a wide horizon within which I can now set the work that I am doing here and evaluate it in terms of standards, policies and practices elsewhere.

J. Dawson Otoo-Ghana.-Although at the end, the programme seemed very exhausting, it was certainly very comprehensive, interesting, and very educative. It gave an exceptional opportunity of seeing a good

Teresa La Porta Brusa-Italy. -I am greatly indebted to all the constructive lectures for enriching my luggage of perspectives to better my understanding and my teaching. . .prompting new ideas.

Shigeru Kobayashi-Japan. -Now at the end of the program I feel my English has been improved a great deal and I can teach the language with far greater conviction when I go home. That is what I intended to achieve in the United States.

Timothy Ramtu-Kenya. -I am not exaggerating to say I know a little more about Holland, Jamaica,