Alumni Resources
As a member of the Ambassador Teachers Alumni Network, we hope that you will keep in touch with your Participate Learning colleagues and our staff, share your ongoing experiences, and continue to promote international education. We have several ways for you to connect with other Ambassador Teacher Alumni, and we encourage you to share your expertise in partnering with U.S. classrooms and establishing global partnerships.
Stay involved with other Ambassador Teachers in our Ambassador Teacher Alumni Community of Practice. You can also access additional resources to support your continued cultural exchange journey.
If you need to update your contact information with us, please let us know at [email protected] so you can stay up-to-date with the latest Participate Learning news.
Refer a friend to teach with Participate Learning
Participate Learning needs your help finding passionate, knowledgeable, and qualified teachers to teach in the U.S. As an accomplished global educator, you are an excellent judge for identifying strong international teaching candidates.
Even better, you can earn $1,000 for every teacher you refer to us who is successfully placed in a U.S. school! To refer a teacher to Participate Learning, direct them to our Ambassador Teacher application page and make sure they include your name in the application (if your name is not listed in the application, you will not receive the referral reward).
See our teacher referral program page for more information about the referral process.
Apply for multiple tours
Successful Ambassador Teachers who have completed our program are encouraged to apply for additional tours following their home residency requirement. To indicate your interest in returning, visit the Participate Learning website and complete a new application. A Participate Learning staff member will contact you to invite you to re-apply and discuss the condensed admissions process available to Participate Learning Alumni. Returning Ambassador Teachers wanting to apply for another tour must complete their home residency requirement to be eligible for participation.
Partnership and collaboration opportunities
As Participate Learning Alumni, you know first-hand how valuable global learning is to opening our world and expanding young minds. For all the students in the Participate Learning Network—particularly those that may not have the opportunity to experience the world outside of their own country or communities—we believe it is critical to learn that the world is interconnected and that the diversity of human culture is something to celebrate. For these students, you have brought the world into their classrooms and have made the global community their community.
Even if you are no longer teaching in a U.S. school with Participate Learning, you can continue to make a significant impact on the students in the United States. We encourage you, as Ambassador Teacher Alumni, to connect with a U.S. classroom and establish a meaningful, global partnership through which you can implement classroom-to-classroom collaborations. By maximizing the connections and opportunities you’ve gained as a Participate Learning Ambassador Teacher, you can allow your current students to directly benefit from your experiences in the United States.
Establish a global partnership
There are several ways in which you can establish a vibrant global partnership:
- Join the Empatico Community. Empatico offers classroom-to-classroom virtual exchange opportunities and can match you with other classrooms around the world for shared lessons and cultural exchange opportunities.
- Partner with a current Participate Learning Ambassador Teacher to implement an international education program. With the experiences you’ve gained as a Participate Learning Ambassador Teacher, you are not only a cultural representative of your home country—you are also a means to share U.S. culture with classrooms in your home country. As an Ambassador Teacher Alumnus, you have access to many U.S. classrooms through connections with other Ambassador Teachers in the Participate Learning Network as well as through our international education programs.Interested in creating a partnership between your classroom and one in the U.S. through Participate Learning? Email us at [email protected].
- ePals is a social learning platform for K-12 educators that facilitates communication and collaboration with classrooms around the world. Teachers can create groups for individual classrooms, team projects, school clubs, and local and global collaborations.
- iEARN is the world’s largest non-profit global network that enables teachers and students to collaborate on projects that enhance learning and make a difference in the world. iEARN involves more than 30,000 schools in over 130 countries and is a partner of the U.S. Department of State.
Global collaboration has a long-lasting impact on students and helps them to establish real and individual relationships with others around the world. Nothing is as powerful as first-hand experience and person-to-person connections. Examples of these types of collaborative projects abound, especially within our community of Participate Learning Ambassador Teachers. Connect your classroom and share your experience today!
Hear what other teachers have to say about the impact of virtual exchange in the classroom:
“I could not help but be struck by how engaged and enthused the students were, even as they experienced shock, while learning about the culture of some schools around the world.” — Jhaneille Downer, second grade teacher from Jamaica
The opportunity to see and hear students of the same age in a different school from a different country really helped the students make concrete connections between the research we were doing and the greater world outside of their community.” —Claire Aston, 1st grade teacher from the United Kingdom
“We had a Skype call with a school called Sunshine in La Lima, Cortes, Honduras. Children from Honduras could see them and talk to them in Spanish so my children here in North Carolina could communicate with them. Their reactions were amazing! They were very excited to see children speaking Spanish and learning English. There were some children with their same names and they were very happy to know there are children with the same names in other countries! They want to do more Skype calls with other children more often.” — Elsy Sibrian, kindergarten teacher from Honduras
Additional resources
We’ve gathered some resources that may help you in continuing your work as an international educator. However, we know that there is no better resource than you, our community of Ambassador Teachers around the world! We encourage you to check out our resources and to share your own on our Ambassador Teachers Alumni resource page.
Career
Like most of our Ambassador Teachers, your experience as an international educator doesn’t stop after your Participate Learning program experience. There is an incredible number of international teaching opportunities at your fingertips, and your time as a Participate Learning Ambassador Teacher makes you uniquely equipped for these positions.
Perhaps you’ll continue your teaching at a school in your home country. Working at an international school in your home country may be another option to continue your career in education. Whatever your path, we hope you find these Ambassador Teacher Alumni career resources helpful in your journey as an international educator.
Teaching
We hope these organizations and other resources can help you in your work as an international educator.