


The East-West Center is now accepting applications for Focus on Indonesia , a Fulbright-Hays Group Projects Abroad Program . Designed with the overarching goal to improve global learning in U.S. K-12 schools, Focus on Indonesia will provide participants with direct experiences and unique learning opportunities in Honolulu, Hawaii, and in diverse locations in Indonesia.
The program is open to all U.S. citizens or permanents who are full-time educators. However, priority will be given to eligible applicants who are classroom teachers or education administrators responsible for teaching, planning, conducting, and/or supervising programs in the fields of social sciences, humanities, foreign languages, and/or area studies at the secondary level (grades 7 -12) as well as those who have successfully participated in teacher professional development programs offered by the East-West Center.
Throughout history the Indonesian archipelago has served as a meeting ground of the world’s peoples and cultures and where networks of ideas, knowledge, belief systems, and trade routes have overlapped, melded, and flourished. At the same time, the contemporary Republic of Indonesia – the world’s fourth most populous nation, the third largest democracy, and home to the largest Muslim population in the world – is barely 60 years old, having declared its independence from colonial rule in 1945 and finally achieving it only after four bitter years of armed struggle. Representing the political union of nearly 350 regional cultures and some 250 distinct linguistic groups spread over some 17,000 islands spanning more than 3,000 miles in what was once the Dutch East Indies, Indonesia today provides a living case study for understanding the long history and complex processes of cultural interactions and exchange that have shaped Southeast Asia, the impact of 300 years of Western colonialism and that of Japanese occupation during WWII on the region's development, and the challenges of a fast globalizing nation that is balancing democracy and modernity in a plural society.
Although the program will be rigorous and fast-paced, since the ultimate goal of the program is to enable teachers to integrate key concepts and elements integral to understanding Indonesia into their teaching/school curricula, time will be set aside for reflections and journal writing to help process diverse impressions and experiences; discussions to explore curriculum connections and teaching strategies; and collaborative work to facilitate curriculum integration and sharing beyond the classroom.
Upon their return to the U.S., participants will work with the East-West Center, with one another, and with their Indonesian counterparts from their host schools to generate and disseminate effective curriculum models and methods that infuse Indonesia-related content/concepts into existing school curricula, thereby expanding and enriching studies about world regions, and more specifically about Indonesia and Southeast Asia, in secondary schools across the United States.
Click here for a preliminary itinerary.
Travel between home city/town and Honolulu is not included.
A deposit of $450 is due upon acceptance, and the balance of $800 is due by April 20, 2010.
However, participants are responsible for travel between their home city/town and Honolulu, airline luggage fees, airport departure taxes in Indonesia (approx. $40), and travel insurance.
Participants must have a valid passport (valid for at least six months after their return date to the United States) and provide the EWC with a signed certificate from a personal physician attesting to their good health and readiness for travel.
Participants should plan to arrive in Honolulu by the afternoon of July 5. Housing will be provided starting July 5. Accommodations may be available at cost for those who wish to arrive a few days early/stay a few additional days in Honolulu at the conclusion of the program. If you wish to make pre- and/or post-program travel arrangements, please contact the East-West Center by April 20.
- A completed Application Form (typed or written in block letters using black ink).
- A statement of purpose: Please describe your professional background, what special perspective, skills and/or experiences that would contribute to the program, and how the experience would enhance your teaching or school service. Your statement of purpose must be typed (one or two pages, using font size not smaller than 11 pt and not larger than 12 pt; Times New Roman preferred) and should respond to/address the following points:
- Why are you applying to this program? Provide evidence of the seriousness of your objectives.
- What teaching and other related professional interests are you currently pursuing, and how do you see this program contributing to your overall professional/teaching objectives?
- Overseas travel involves significantly different living conditions, cultural environments, and social customs. Please tell us how your experiences and/or skills will help you cope with such differences.
- How will you share your program experience with your students and other teachers in your school/school district?
- Is there anything else you would like to tell us about yourself?
- One Reference Form sent by your referee directly to the East-West Center.
Application Deadline is March 22, 2010. Selection decisions will be made and applicants notified in late March. A deposit of $450, which will be applied toward the cost of the program, will be due upon acceptance; the balance will be due by April 20, 2010.
- Teaching secondary level (grades 7-12) social sciences and humanities subjects and curricular responsibilities relevant to international studies.
- A minimum of three years teaching experience, and at least three years away from retirement.
- Evidence of strong motivation and seriousness of purpose in undertaking the study as reflected in the required application essay and reference, with emphasis on evaluating the applicants’ demonstrated commitments to teaching, the strength and focus of their proposed use of the field study for their future teaching, and their envisioned contributions to improving teaching and learning in their classrooms/schools following their participation in the program.
- Geographic, socioeconomic, and other forms of diversity among participants and their schools; however, if feasible, selection of two participants per school/district, city, or sub-state region will be endorsed so that participants will have opportunities to work together in preparation, travel, and follow-on curriculum development work and program dissemination.
AsiaPacificEd Program, East-West Center
1601 East-West Road, Honolulu, HI 96848
Phone: 808-944-7378; Fax: 808-944-7070
Email: asiapacificed@eastwestcenter.org
Web: www.AsiaPacificEd.org