In April, the Collaborative Schools Network (CSN) organized sessions on Teaching Techniques, Student Behavior Management and Training on Planning and Co-Teaching for the ETAs. These sessions prepared the ETAs to manage classroom teaching through simple yet effective teaching techniques requiring minimal resources. CSN shared their tried and tested, effective management models and also outlined the ways to collaborate with teachers and students through lesson planning, coordination and management of expectations and behaviour.  

Our neighbors, the Peace Corps Nepal which deploys the largest number of volunteers for development assistance in the world, led two sessions for the Fulbright English Teaching Assistants.

The first session was on Community and Homestay Integration focused to help ETAs immerse themselves in the societies and families they are living in. The second session was on Safety & Security where various risk factors associated with living in Nepal and ways to mitigate and minimize them were discussed. The ETAs also attended the mandatory Regional Security Office briefing at the U.S. Embassy earlier in the month.  

American Spaces Specialist Sulav Bhatta facilitated a session on the U.S. Embassy’s American Spaces. There are a total of nine American Spaces located throughout Nepal offering various services like the Innovation Hub, educational advising, workshops, mobile library, film screenings and much more. The ETAs also visited two American Spaces: the Book Bus- a mobile library and outreach program based in   Lalitpur and Innovation Hub (iHub) located in Teku.Various discussions on collaborative ideas came about  such as bringing the Book Bus to their respective schools or hosting a MakerSpace workshop with  iHub Kathmandu.  

With the successful completion of their two month long, pre-placement, in country orientation, they will now start co-teaching from the 15th of May at their placement schools which are located throughout the Kathmandu Valley.