Photo：Sophie Chou (center left), Dr. James Lee (center right), and visiting students from Soochow University.

As part of its efforts to foster outstanding educators who have a global perspective, the Center for Teacher Education at Soochow University has a program run in conjunction with the Department of English Language and Literature offering students a one-month internship abroad every summer. This internship abroad program began in 2009. Its focus is on the after-school learning of disadvantaged students.

This year, the director of the Center for Teacher Education, Professor James Lee, and a group of 6 outstanding students from Soochow University visited Houston from August 21 to September 20 on this internship program. The students completed internships of one week each in KIPP Intrepid Preparatory School and in Sharpstown International High School.

The program is highly appreciated by the students and academic institutions alike. It allows these future educators from Taiwan to personally experience and learn more about the differences between school operations, curricula, and the classroom atmospheres in the U.S. and in Taiwan. This definitely broadens their horizons, and it also increases the opportunities for education collaboration between the U.S. and Taiwan.

The Education Division of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office also arranged field trips to several other local education institutions for the visiting group, including the University of St. Thomas, the University of Houston, Taylor High School, and Houston Christian High School. This gave them many opportunities to enhance their knowledge and skills of education through observation and interaction with the local educators and students.

The director of the Education Division, Sophie Chou, is very happy to see so many outstanding Taiwanese students visit Texas for this academic exchange every summer. She encouraged the students to embrace this opportunity to explore the diverse culture of the United States, and observe the education system and environments of the U.S. first hand. She also urged them to fully incorporate positive aspects of their experiences and the knowledge gained into their future education practices.