Lessons from Argentina
Elementary teacher visits South America as a Fulbright-Hayes Scholar.
Kyra Brogden, teacher at George Watts Magnet Montessori Elementary, recently took learning to a new level. Her story follows.
This summer, I had the opportunity to be a Fulbright-Hayes Scholar and spend 5 weeks in Argentina. The goal of this program is to promote cross-cultural understanding between countries. I went with 15 other teachers from across the United States and we traveled in the Northern part of Argentina to the cities of Buenos Aires, Cordoba, Salta and Mendoza.
The experience was amazing and I learned so much about the culture of Argentina and their educational system. We participated in tours and lectures based around the Argentine education system and even got to meet a Supreme Court Justice and the Ambassador from the United States. We visited at least five schools and got a good sense of how their school day runs (only half a day due to lack of space) and how similar some of their educational issues are to the issues that are facing the United States right now.
I wanted to go to Argentina in particular to study food and the development of local food in the nutrition of Argentines. I learned many things about the use of local food and found it much more prominent in the outlying provinces. I plan to use all that I learned about the role of food in Argentine culture in my classroom this year to help my students cook, write and learn about the cross-cultural connections between Argentina and the United States. I am eager to bring back all I learned to my students in the upcoming school year.
