Going Global in Grades K-8: Introduction to NAIS’s Global Programs

Ioana Simona Suciu Wheeler

NAIS Associate Director of Global Initiatives

wheeler@nais.org

For K-8 Schools, NAIS recommends:

• International Partnerships/Online Collaboration (NAIS’s Challenge 20/20 Program)

• Languages (NAIS’s China Connection Program)• Service Learning• Summer Programs

• Exchanges

NAIS’s Challenge 20/20 Program

Apply Now! Join Hundreds of Schools Solving the World’s Problems!

Website: http://www.nais.org/go/challenge2020

Based on J.F. Richard’s book: High Noon: 20 Global Problems, 20 Years to Solve Them

Contact: Ioana Simona Suciu Wheeler, associate director of global initiatives at wheeler@nais.org

Sharing our planet: issues involving the global commons• Global warming• Biodiversity and ecosystem losses• Fisheries depletion• Deforestation• Water deficits• Maritime safety and pollution

Sharing our humanity: issues requiring a global commitment• Massive step-up in the fight against poverty• Peacekeeping, conflict prevention, combating terrorism• Education for all• Global Infectious Diseases• Digital divide• Natural disaster prevention and mitigation

Sharing our rulebook: issues needing a global regulatory approach

• Reinventing taxation for the 21st century• Biotechnology rules• Global financial architecture• Illegal drugs• Trade, investment, and competition rules• Intellectual property rights• E-commerce rules• International labor and migration rules.

Program Details:

• Flexible• No benchmarks or strict

requirements• Free of cost (purchase book)• No travel is required • Online collaboration (wikis, Skype,

Facebook, Ning, Moodle, Second Life, videoconferencing, teleconferencing)

• We accept all schools: elementary and secondary, public and private

• Schools can find their own partners or ask NAIS to partner them

• Southern and Northern Hemisphere schools

Challenge 20/20 Stats as of June 2010:

• Sixth year; program developed in 2005-06

• 300-500 schools participate every year

• 2 to 4 schools within a partnership• Over 1,050 schools in the US and

724 schools in other countries have participated in 656 partnerships since 2005-2006

• 99 countries represented and 47 U.S. states

Joining the Challenge 20/20 Program:

• Submit your application from March to August!

• Select Term One (September to January) or Term Two (January to May). Partnerships made by September.

• Submit an Agreement for Participation.

• Contact your partner school/s to begin your collaboration.

• At the end of each Term, submit an online team report as well as photographs, testimonials and supplemental materials.

Examples of Challenge 20/20 Projects:

• Mosquito Nets designed for small children in Africa (CO)

• Supplying a village in India with a nurse/medical facility (PA)

• Supplying hand sanitizers to hospitals in Mexico and Honduras (TX)

• Rebuilding a school in Tanzania (CA)

• Public service announcements regarding water deficits (OK)

NAIS’s China Connection Program

Register by early March to Hire a New Chinese Teacher! Visit Beijing and Shanghai in March!

Website: http://www.nais.org/go/global under China Connection

Contact: Ioana Simona Suciu Wheeler, associate director of global initiatives at wheeler@nais.org

Who Can Participate?•Schools interested in starting a Mandarin program•Schools interested in expanding an existing Mandarin program•Schools interested in hiring qualified native Mandarin teachers•NAIS member schools only

Why Participate?

•Easy and inexpensive way to introduce Mandarin into your school’s curriculum

•NAIS, HANBAN and IIE do most of the work; we assist with logistics, finding qualified candidates, J-1 visas, acculturation trainings, stipends, teacher support through the China Connection Listserve, etc. CAIS in San Francisco.

•Teachers can stay in the U.S. for up to three years

China Connection Stats as of June 2010:

•Fifth year: the program was launched in 2006•To date, 32 independent schools•45 Chinese teachers. Many of them returned to teach in the US for up to three years•If interested, sign up now!

Details and Contacts:

Websites:

• http://www.nais.org/go/challenge2020 (Challenge 20/20)

• http://www.nais.org/go/global (China Connection)

Contact: Ioana Simona Suciu Wheeler, associate director of global initiatives at (202) 973-9755 or by email at

wheeler@nais.org.