Global Awareness

Isn't that the main purpose of the IFE? More specifically, to provide teacher candidates with:

"an opportunity to collaborate with Belizean teachers and provide instruction to Belizean children, merging US teaching methodologies with Belizean strategies."

I think the opportunities mentioned will be extremely exciting but also humbling. One of the things I learned in my US internship is that there is more than one right way to do things. Potato, potahto, right? And I learned that in a classroom that emphasizes structure and consistency! Imagine how exponentially increased that concept will seem in a completely different culture.

For example, my understanding is that Belizeans don't plan. I'm not talking about lesson planning; I'm talking about planning in general. (They probably don't see it that way. They probably think, "Americans don't relax," which is a fairly accurate generalization.) But if you know anything about me, it's that planning saves my life. I plan so that I can relax. So it will be difficult trying to assimilate into a society that shuns planning.

I think it will be like this for more than just the planning aspect. That's why I want to remember the "more than one right way" philosophy. Another way I see it...

"Get all the advice and instruction you can, so you will be wise the rest of your life." Proverbs 19:20

Just because I listen and learn something new doesn't mean I have to agree with it or apply it to my life (but maybe I will!). One thing's for certain: I never will if I never stop to listen.

Enough philosophizing. I need to go pack. This time tomorrow, I'll be on a plane to Belize City!