International Educational and Cultural Exchange Programs Post-pandemic

“Beyond their academic relevance, international educational and cultural exchanges for students are a dream to fulfill, an opportunity to learn a new language, to know a different culture, and to face a great challenge.”

The crisis caused by COVID-19 has created considerable global uncertainty about the future in all areas of our lives. Accelerated changes that arose in educational programs forced some schools to suspend activities, others to migrate to online environments. If education can be brought entirely online from anywhere in the world, what reason is there to continue offering international educational and cultural exchange programs? In this article, I will respond to this question by sharing my experience.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, many exchange programs have proceeded to return participants to their home countries. Some programs canceled due to border closures or administrative decisions, and many students had to wait for a humanitarian flight to return them home. According to a report submitted by the Erasmus Student Network, 25% of the student exchanges canceled due to COVID-19. Also, 37.5% of the students experienced at least one serious problem in returning to their home countries or facing difficulties accessing essential health services, sanitary products, food, or transportation (Gabriels y Benke-Aberg, 2020).

What will happen to educational and cultural exchanges once overcoming the current emergency? Will participants return to embark on programs that, for many, in addition to their academic relevance, meant the fulfillment of a dream, a possibility to learn a new language, a new culture, and, at the same time, face a significant challenge? The answer may be yes because the spirit of adventure and the need for new experiences is one of the principal characteristics of students.

“Students who have participated in a cultural exchange program, highlight the following benefits: personal growth, feel more confident expressing themselves in another language, understand other ways of life, feel appreciated by a family different from their own, and feel more proud of their own culture, among others.”

However, this period of compulsory pause has also provided educational institutions time to rethink the role of the international educational-cultural exchange in their houses of study. What relevance does an educational-cultural exchange program have for an educational institution?

To answer this question, researchers conducted a study at a Language Teaching Institute in Paraguay with an educational-cultural exchange program with institutions in the United States for ten years.

Cultural Educational Exchange Program between Paraguay and the United States

This program aims to create bonds of friendship between families in both regions and allow students to practice the language they have learned in a real context at an affordable cost. The program has worked, thanks to the administrators, teachers, officials, students, and families who volunteer in both countries. The volunteers deal with the applications and selection of students and the reception and follow-up provided to them during the exchange period. More than 200 young Paraguayans and Americans have participated in this program.

To learn about the impact of the educational-cultural exchange program, the researchers used different data collection techniques, such as interviewing the administrators, teachers, and exchange program participants and surveying the students who shared the classroom with an international student.

Impact of educational-cultural exchange programs

Exchange programs strengthen students’ personal and professional growth

The students interviewed stated that participation in this exchange program allowed them to improve their English level and feel more confident in expressing themselves in this language. They also highlighted their personal growth in terms of their ability to be more open and independent, understand other ways of life, make friends in another culture, and feel appreciated by a family different from their own. Apart from learning the United States culture, the students stated that they feel prouder of the Paraguayan culture, noting that it is appreciated abroad.

Living abroad, living with a host family, and attending a school in the United States has encouraged them to apply and participate successfully in top-level educational programs abroad. As for the impact on the thinking about their home educational institution, after the exchange experience, the students felt more part of the institution. They think that the home institution encourages them to keep growing, motivates them to increase their knowledge of the language, and achieve their goals.

International students enrich our courses

Having international students in classrooms results in students more motivated to continue improving their English and expressing themselves better by conversing with people who speak this language as a mother tongue. It also enriches the work of the teacher. The interaction between the Paraguayan and United States students is an opportunity for both groups to relate to each other and exchange knowledge and opinions.

The contact with the young international students also lets the host students learn other points of view about global situations, opens their minds to new experiences, and allows them to learn from other cultures. They consider it very productive and exciting to promote the exchange of knowledge on different topics, especially on lifestyles and cultural differences.

According to the teachers, the students are more motivated to participate because they are curious and want to know what adolescent life is like in the other country. It leads them to ask questions and establish dialogues. Also, they learn naturally by mimicking pronunciation. Noticing that they can understand and be understood, excites them to keep learning.

The experience of sharing with a foreigner in the classroom brings them closer to their world. They feel that they, too, can be part of the exchange experience. The international students can see the real use that the language they are studying might have, and these things make the class more meaningful, fun, and dynamic.

The Internationalization of educational institutions

One survey showed that 75% of enrolled students in Paraguay’s institution chose it because it offers educational exchanges with the United States, and they would have the opportunity to interact with students in that country. 93% of them were willing to participate in the exchange program offered by the institution. All the students surveyed considered it essential for the center to continue exchange activities once this would become possible after the pandemic.

Throughout this work, the exchange program receives a lot of acceptance by students, teachers, family members, and the institution’s educational community. One of the main reasons most students chose to study English at this school was to have the opportunity to travel to the United States and experience that culture.

Also, teachers are delighted with the program’s impact bec
ause it creates an environment where the use of the language studied is natural and meaningful. They point out the increase of curiosity on the part of the students and their motivation to learn the English language, accept a new culture, and appreciate their learning and personal growth.

Reflection

An educational institution that wants to remain in force in a community should not lose the ability to innovate. As for exchange programs, “the formal processes of student exchange favor the students’ academic formation, and Higher Education Institutions (HEI) play a fundamental role in their execution.” (Guillén Velastegui, 2017).

Undoubtedly, the global health crisis has brought many changes to our educational practices that are likely to remain; however, the cancellation of educational-cultural exchange programs should not be one of them. On the contrary, institutions are encouraged to carry out or resume such programs, especially those engaged in the teaching of foreign languages. These programs impact the participant’s personal and academic level and, importantly, attract students to the institution and increase enrollment.

About the author

Liza Mireille Ayala Pelzer (liza.ayala@humanidades.uni.edu.py) is a public translator and teacher of the English language at the National University of Itapúa and the Eurosur Institute for Teacher Training in Paraguay. Her areas of interest are education, bilingualism, and the learning of language.

References

Gabriels, W. y Benke-Aberg, R. (2020). Student Exchanges in Times of Crisis – Research report on the impact of COVID-19 on student exchanges in Europe. Erasmus Student Network AISBL. Retrieved from https://esn.org/sites/default/files/news/ student_exchanges_in_times_of_crisis_-_esn_research_report_april_2020.pdf

Guillén Velastegui, O. (2017). Análisis de la movilidad estudiantil internacional a nivel pregrado. Un caso de estudio. Journal of Science and Research: Revista Ciencia E Investigación. ISSN 2528-8083, 2(8), 37-43. https://doi.org/10.26910/issn.2528-8083vol2iss8.2017pp37-43

Editing by Rubí Román (rubi.roman@tec.mx) – Observatory of Educational Innovation.

Translation by Daniel Wetta.

Liza Mireille Ayala Pelzer

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