September 21, 2007—On Saturday Cypress Falls High School New Arrival Center (NAC) teacher Pamela Broussard returned from three months of educational travel that took her from Afghanistan to Thailand.
The first leg of her journey, spanning the month of June in Afghanistan, was made possible by a $5,000 grant from the national education foundation Fund For Teachers. During her 3 ½ weeks there, Broussard conducted three teacher training seminars for local educators at the Phoenix Learning Center. While she helped the foreign teachers with their training, the experience also gave her valuable firsthand knowledge to use in her own job.
“I was able to observe what life was like in another culture that you don’t understand,” she said. “When I saw things written out I could know what was going to happen next; visual cues were very important. As I teach new arrivals in this country, that experience will help me to help them.”
Upon arriving at the Phoenix Learning Center, Broussard presented a “peace quilt” to the school’s director and instructors—a project that Dean Middle School students completed in the spring when Broussard was teaching there. Emblazoned with messages of peace intended to bridge the two countries’ children, the quilt was hung from a brass rod near the entrance of the school.
“It meant a lot to them,” Broussard said. “It made a statement that we all believe in education and the future of both American and Afghan children.”
Broussard found the trip to be an invaluable experience, despite being “heartbroken” at seeing the state of Afghani schools. Most of the schools she saw in Afghanistan were set up outside in tattered tents, as 120-degree heat scorched the 70-plus students who were jammed into each class. It was common to see 11th-grade teachers teaching 10th-grade students, she said.
“They don’t have enough books, teachers or supplies. Some of the schools were running two or three shifts a day to try to accommodate all the students who are dying to go to school, but there’s not a building for them,” she said. “It was very difficult to believe that in the 21st Century, spending on education is still an option.”
Broussard encouraged fellow CFISD educators to apply for a 2008 Fund For Teachers grant. Applications can be completed online at fundforteachers.org, and must be submitted by Jan. 31, 2008.
“I think every teacher should go overseas. Teaching is a gift that many countries in the world are dying for,” she said. “We can teach people to get along and how to think and how to have independent thoughts and contrary thoughts. I not only believe that educators are a force for good, but a very powerful force against evil.”
Cypress Falls High School New Arrival Center (NAC) teacher Pamela Broussard helps draw up a lesson plan for two teachers at the Phoenix Learning Center in Afghanistan, over the summer.
Broussard presents a “peace quilt” to the director of the Phoenix Learning Center. When she was at Dean Middle School last year, a group of art students created the quilt to give to their Afghani peers.
Many of the schools Broussard visited in Afghanistan were comprised of tents like this, where overcrowded classrooms were set up in 120-degree heat.
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