KOLKATA: As cultural ambassadors of bilateral relations, a group of five youngsters from the United States of America are now teaching at different schools in Kolkata for a nine-month period.

Under the Fulbright-Nehru English Teaching Assistantship Programme run by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the U.S. government, the young graduates are teaching conversational English and value-based education to middle and high school students.

"The class environment is so different here. In America, students don't seek permission to go to the washroom or drink water when in a classroom. But here students are so disciplined and give more respect to a teacher. We are like a celebrity here," Adizah Afua Eghan

A political science graduate from Boston College, she has been teaching at Ballygunge Shiksha Sadan School for the last few months.

Experimenting with teaching methodologies new to Indian schools, they are assisting teachers in strengthening English language instruction, composition, while providing cultural insights as a native speaker of the language.

Interestingly, most of them say they do not want to be teachers but opted for this short-term teaching assignment because they wanted to experience India and stay in a country culturally and geographically different from the U.S.

"I wanted an opportunity to come and stay in India because it is such a diverse country," says Christine Z Purdy who is teaching at St John's Diocesan Girls Higher Secondary School.
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