Program areas at IEARN
Iearn global projects:in 2023, Iearn teachers and students around the world connected online, collaborated on global projects, and built friendships as they addressed sustainable development challenges in their community. Teachers and students designed and facilitated projects aligned with the un sustainable development goals. (continued on schedule o)iearn professional development:iearn-usa professional development services play a key role in supporting educators to become global education leaders. They create a professional learning community, provide support, and guide educators in integrating global projects into their curriculum. In 2023, iearn-usa's professional development opportunities included virtual workshops, training webinars, and sharing digital resources to provide teachers with hands-on tools and skills to empower them to build long-lasting global connections.global education ambassadors:iearn-usa's leadership program for u.s. Educators, named the global education ambassadors (geas), is a select group of volunteer educators and administrators who play a critical role in supporting Iearn's efforts to support and expand global education. These ambassadors promoted global education and virtual exchange, led online projects and course facilitation, and created exchange resources throughout the year.the kennedy-lugar youth exchange and study (yes) program:funded by the u.s. department of state and sponsored by the bureau of educational and cultural affairs, the yes program is an academic year exchange program for secondary school students from countries with significant muslim populations. The yes program is managed by various partners in the u.s. and internationally. Iearn manages yes programming for bangladesh, cameroon, israel (arab communities), liberia, mali, pakistan, sierra leone, and suriname, and advises and manages virtual exchange activities, program websites, social media campaigns and webinars for participants and alumni.iearn-usa supported and engaged yes alumni through training and workshops. National security language initiative for youth (nsli-y):iearn-usa continued its partnership with american councils for international education to implement the nsli-y program. Nsli-y is a u.s. department of state program that provides merit-based scholarships for eligible high school students and recent high school graduates to learn less commonly taught languages in summer and academic-year overseas immersion programs.in 2023, iearn-usa implemented three grant cycles for the nsli-y program: 27 students participated in the academic year program for 2022-2023. 88 students participated in overseas summer programs in 2023 and 27 students began their academic year programs for 2023-2024. Iearn-usa began developing the academic year program for 2024-2025.iearn-usa also managed development and content publishing for the nsli-y interactive website (http://nsliy-interactive.org), which showcases language learning and cross-cultural experiences of nsliy students and alumni.sister2sister:the u.s. sister2sister exchange program provides scholarships for 60 pakistani female students (roughly 20 per cohort year) to attend university undergraduate summer programs in the u.s. The overarching goal is to empower pakistani female college students to overcome cultural limitations that inhibit their participation in pursuing competitive and lucrative careers. Sister2sister is funded by the u.s. department of state and is administered by a consortium of partners, including american university, iearn-pakistan, and iearn-usa. Design squad latinx:funded by the national science foundation, iearn-usa partnered with gbh to develop the design squad latinx program. Design squad latinx was an engineering club and included a variety of engineering challenges in both english and spanish to encourage young people (primarily ages 10-13) to discover engineering and to motivate latinx youth to consider engineering as a possible career in their future. The program was tested as a pilot program with 3 clubs (approx. 55 students) in early 2022 in puerto rico. The program was implemented in fall 2022 with 44 clubs in puerto rico (approximately 650 students) and the us (approximately 600 students). Iearn-usa also worked with 4 clubs (4 leaders and approximately 65 teachers) in puerto rico to create a virtual exchange pilot on the Iearn collaboration centre.fhi360 - english access microscholarship program:funded by the bureau of educational and cultural affairs (eca) of the u.s. department of state, and administered by fhi360, the developing digital citizenship exchange was a 10-week virtual program focused on developing digital citizenship for 40 non-native english language educators including access teachers and other secondary school teachers. The second iteration of this exchange equipped participants to teach their students the skills and knowledge they need to succeed as global digital citizens. The exchange focused on cross-cultural communication, digital security, digital etiquette, media literacy, cyberbullying prevention, digital responsibility, and digital health and wellness. The participants concluded the program by submitting a final project and demonstrated ways to share the knowledge gained throughout the exchange.steven's initiative - iearn-usa storytelling for social change program: iearn-usa's storytelling for social change draws on the un sustainable development goals (sdgs) to explore the transformative power of storytelling. High school-aged youth from algeria, tunisia, and the united states collaborate with international peers through a 7-week virtual exchange as they choose a local or global issue inspired by the sdgs and examine their personal connections to it. Participants learn a range of storytelling, communication, and technical skills through media analysis and hands-on audiovisual assignments. By developing a deeper understanding of global issues from different social and cultural perspectives, participants ultimately create a more equitable society and become active global citizens.steven's initiative - compaeros de clase globales programcompaeros de clase globales, ignites learning and sparks students' curiosity about the world and their role in it by bringing the world into their classrooms through a series of collaborative projects. This program pairs elementary and high school spanish-speaking classrooms in the u.s. with peer classrooms in guatemala and mexico inspiring and developing global leaders by engaging students in virtual, cross-cultural and collaborative learning as they examine compelling real-world issues and explore ways they can make a difference.