Fort Lee Hosts Teachers From Korea, Seeks Fort Lee Math and Science Teachers for Month Stay in Korea

The Fort Lee school district is hosting four Korean teachers of English for the next month, and school officials are also actively recruiting Fort Lee Math and Science teachers interested in spending a month in South Korea this summer.

The teacher exchange program is part of a recently expanded partnership with Bloomfield College on a program that brings teachers from South Korea to Fort Lee schools for stays of up to six months to be mentored by Fort Lee teachers in an American classroom setting.

The Total Immersion Course for Korean English Teachers (TICKET) program, now in its third year, was recently expanded to continue through the current school year, next year and long beyond.

The group of four Korean teachers will start their month of co-teaching in Fort Lee classrooms next week, the first Monday after spring recess. Two are assigned to the middle school and two to the high school.

At its latest meeting, the Fort Lee Board of Education made official its previous decision to renew and expand the partnership with the college, signing a formal memorandum of agreement that expands and extends the program for five years.

 “This is a program where we will have as many as five Math and Science teachers from Korea will come to [Fort Lee] from Korea most likely in January or February and work in our schools as co-teachers to learn more about how we work and for us to learn [from each other],” Superintendent Raymond Bandlow said at the meeting. “And we also have the opportunity for [as many as] five Fort Lee Math and Science teachers to go to Korea for a month this summer.”

The teachers from Fort Lee will spend a month in South Korea from June 24 to July 25 as guests of the National Institute for International Education of the Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology of the Republic of Korea. Their experience will include the opportunity to observe and co-teach in secondary Math and Science classrooms in Korea—Korean schools are in session during that time of year.

Their airfare, lodgings and “cultural experiences” will be paid for by the government of Korea, Bandlow said, emphasizing that there is no cost to the school district nor to the individual, “other than incidentals.”

Bandlow said Tuesday he’s in the process of recruiting now and has already spoken with some Fort Lee teachers about what he sees as a unique opportunity.

“I sent out a letter to all our Math and Science teachers inviting them to consider this, and there are a few that have contacted me,” Bandlow said. “I’m having some personal conversations with them this week and next.”

During last week’s BOE meeting, Bandlow called the entire program “a wonderful professional development experience for our teachers, as well as something that will have a larger impact too when they come here and spend time with our students and our staff.”

Before signing the memorandum that made the extension of the exchange program official, School Board president Carmelo Luppino called it “a great thing for the cultural acceptance of both countries.”

“To expand, to learn from each other, as the world turns, it’s becoming a global economy—a global world in which everybody’s intertwined,” Luppino said. “The boundaries are being dropped, and it’s a great, great thing.”

Dr. Peter Jeong, vice president of the Institute for Technology and Professional Studies at Bloomfield College, who specializes in setting up educational exchanges between Korea and other countries, was on hand at the meeting to receive the signed agreement.

“We’re so pleased to have this partnership with him that is growing,” Bandlow said of Jeong.

Jeong, who was born in South Korea and educated in the U.S., said Bloomfield College has about 120 partner universities and government agencies around the world in about 25 countries.

“Fort Lee is one of the great school districts we’ve been working with for the past three years,” Jeong said. “[The cultural exchange program] will be beneficial to your kids and school district, as well as parents.”

While school officials have already found local accommodations for the current group of visiting teachers, the district is still seeking Fort Lee families willing to provide homestays for future groups—the next group of Math and Science teachers will be arriving in Fort Lee at the end of the summer for a six-month stay as part of the program.

Host families are required to provide a private bedroom and access to kitchen, bathroom and living facilities to visiting teachers in exchange for a $500 monthly stipend.

“The teachers will pay the rent,” Jeong said. “[And] on time.”

A maximum of 5 teachers from Fort Lee will be selected to participate in this summer’s leg of the exchange, joining colleagues from Nutley and Chicago as guests of the Korean government. Knowledge of the Korean language is not required, according to the school district.

“These things are at no cost to us, and a wonderful, wonderful benefit,” Bandlow said.