My placement:
My placement was amazing! I had a host mom and dad and a dog. Both of their children were grown up and lived in different countries. I was placed at a school in my neighborhood. I got the opportunity to teach 3-6 grade during my 8 weeks. My host family was outstanding! They were so helpful with whatever I needed and quickly became like my family. I loved traveling during my placement. Every weekend I tried to explore something new and different!
The host culture:
My favorite parts of my host culture were the beautiful views and unbelievable experiences that I had while I was there. I loved getting to travel and see as much as I could on the weekends and my days off. I met so many nice people and loved doing things that I wouldn’t normally do in Indiana, such as surf and go hiking in the mountains.
I urge anyone reading this, you will feel homesick, but push past it! Get into a routine, meet new people, ask your host family to show you around, sign up for a guided tour, hang with coworkers. This experience really showed me what I can handle on my own and gave me infinitely more confidence in myself.
Overcoming homesickness:
For me, the most challenging part of living in Scotland for 10 weeks was the loneliness. My host family could not have been better; they were so inclusive and welcoming. They made me feel part of their family. However, I tend to be a homebody. Not everyone is like me; some people can leave home for long periods of time and feel totally fine. But for those of you that get homesick, you’ll definitely feel it while overseas or in the Navajo Nation. The biggest factor causing my loneliness was because I was the only Global Gateway student in Scotland. Though you are pushed to meet new people and expand your horizons through this program, I think I definitely would have benefited from the security of knowing I had someone else in the country with me that knew what I was going through and that I could meet up with if needed. I would say the first 3 weeks of my placement were spent feeling very homesick and wondering if I had made the right decision to come. But I urge anyone reading this, you will feel homesick, but push past it! Get into a routine, meet new people, ask your host family to show you around, sign up for a guided tour, hang with coworkers. This experience really showed me what I can handle on my own and gave me infinitely more confidence in myself. It’s very freeing to know I can do anything on my own.
Professional development:
Scotland is in the midst of implementing a new program designed around play. Students are encouraged to learn through play and action. In addition, every Friday (if earned), students are given the entire afternoon to choose different play activities, such as outdoor sports, gardening, book club, engineering, and arts/crafts. Through this experience, I was able to develop my skills in implementing lots of action and play during lessons. Almost every single lesson I gave had us moving around and exploring through independent learning; whereas, in Indiana, lots of my lessons were more collaborative based learning. I also had to teach gym twice a week, which was super intimidating. But a lot of the lessons I taught in gym in Scotland could easily be adapted as brain breaks here in the States. I’m more conscious of the fact that students need to get up and move multiple times throughout the day. And I’m determined the include a brain break after each lesson in my first year of teaching.
Advice for future students:
Do not be afraid to speak your mind when it comes to expectations between you and your host family. You want to always respect your host family because they are going out of their way to accommodate you; however, this is your experience, so own it. Make sure your host family and you are on the same page for what you both expect and want out of this. They invited me to many, many outings and social events. There were times that I felt I wanted to do something else on the weekend, like travel to the highlands or see Edinburgh, but I felt obligated to do host family outings. I felt pulled in too many directions. I realized about half-way through my experience that I wouldn’t be happy if I continued to always say yes. I needed to do what was best for me in the time that I had. So my host family and I sat down and created a shared calendar where I would put in my travel dates and they would schedule outings around that. It was the best of both worlds, but wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t had the confidence to speak up about what I want and what they expect from me.