ESL Professionals Travel Seminar: Exploring Themes of Immigration and Education

The ESL Professionals Travel Seminar program design seeks to fulfill the needs of both the Center for Global Education (CGE) at Augsburg College and professionals in the field of teaching English as a Second Language (ESL). The needs assessment and literature review undertaken for the development of this program seek to determine how both groups can be benefited by this program. It is determined that an international immersion experience at CGE’s site in Cuernavaca, Mexico (CGE Mexico) exploring issues of immigration, education, and U.S.-Mexico relations will be most advantageous for ESL professionals. Though CGE Mexico is an organization which desires to create a short-term travel seminar targeted at ESL professionals, recent staff and budget cuts have not allowed the resources for extensive new program development. The design and implementation of this short-term program allows CGE to market to this previously unutilized participant group. Additionally, ESL professionals are able to gain continuing education units (CEUs) toward their teaching recertification while becoming more acquainted with the daily realities of many of their students’ lives. The travel seminar program adheres to CGE’s firm commitment to the principles of experiential education and social justice, with special consideration paid to the needs of adult learners. As CGE’s pedagogy emphasizes the importance of learning taking place in the community, participants are afforded many opportunities to interact with local citizens. The program design may be altered for future travel seminars based on evaluation feedback from participants and all involved staff, in the hope that the program continues to serve the interests and needs of all important stakeholders