Students who have been considering spending a semester overseas will be given another opportunity to pursue their dreams; starting this semester, AU has implemented an exchange program in Brazil which allows students to either study or teach abroad.

“We’ve had student teaching abroad since 2005,” Rebecca Parillo, director of global education, said. “But this is actually an exchange that has been set up between Ashland University and Our Lady of Mercy School in Brazil.” Like the Taiwan program, which is also a recent teaching abroad opportunity, the Brazil exchange is specifically for Ashland University students.

Currently, Ashley Meyerrose and Lynzie Keck are going through their senior field experience at the Our Lady of Mercy School. They are the first students at AU to try out the teaching abroad exchange program.

“Ashley and Lynzie proved to be the strongest applicants. They had an interest in gaining knowledge of a different culture. They wanted to experience that,” Dr. Jason Ellis, the initiator of the teaching abroad program in Brazil, said. He and his wife, Dr. Carla Abreu-Ellis, have both helped establish two programs in which students could choose to either teach or earn credits for their core or major in Brazil. Dr. Jason Ellis, however, was particularly involved with the start of the teaching abroad opportunity.

Ellis explained the idea of bringing such a unique overseas option to Ashland University began with speaking to Bowling Green University’s superintendent about their own program. He and his wife learned Bowling Green had four slots available for students to travel to Brazil, yet not enough students wanted to take part in the program.

“We had heard that from the current superintendent and proposed having the program brought over to AU,” Ellis said.

Dr. Ellis knew this would be a great opportunity to provide students because of his prior connection to the school AU students would teach at.

“There’s a certain level of trust [Carla and I] have with the administration; It’s the same administration we had when we were teaching there,” Ellis said.

So far, the exchange program has proven to be a success. Meyerrose and Keck are going through their fourth week of student teaching and are enjoying their time.

“We’ve been here for three weeks and this experience has been more than I could ever dream of,” Meyerrose said via Skype.

This is Meyerrose’s and Keck’s first time out of the U.S. and they are both challenged on a daily basis to reconcile the differences between their life back at home and their new life in Brazil.

“There are times when I miss my family and friends, but you have to come in with the mindset that [teaching abroad] will be different and take things for what they are and make the best out of it. But know that you’re going to have the experience of a lifetime,” Keck said via Skype.

Both Meyerrose and Keck have noted the more relaxed classroom structure and the students’ highly energetic behavior.

“They’re very social; our students are very close with one another,” Meyerrose said. “They have gone to the same school for years so they’re very comfortable and close with their classmates. This is good, but they’re very social and it takes a while to adjust to that.”

Although classroom management may be an issue, a language barrier, surprisingly, is not.

Keck, for example, teaches a first-grade class; because of the students’ young ages, they are not fluent with English. In spite of this, the difficulty in communicating that sometimes arises does not hinder the students’ relationship with Keck.

“It’s interesting to deal with the language barrier,” Keck said. “I have students come running up to me saying something in Portuguese and then I always have to remind them to speak in English. It’s actually really cool because they teach me words in Portuguese and they think it’s hilarious when I say a word in Portuguese. But it’s fun.”

Since Meyerrose teaches eighth graders, she does not encounter language issues as much as Keck while in the classroom.

“It helps our school is an American-based school. Students know some English so they can speak it. I feel like the only cultural issue is the social aspect,” Meyerrose said.

According to Meyerrose’s blog that she utilizes to document her experiences in Brazil, she had trouble communicating with sales clerks while going shopping.

Keck, on the other hand, believes the food could take some getting used to as opposed to adapting to a country that primarily speaks Portuguese.

“We’re eating a lot of rice, beans and meat. There are just a lot of foods that are ‘out there.’ For the most part, I’m fine with it because I’m open to trying new foods,” Keck said.

Meyerrose and Keck do not consider themselves picky eaters, yet they found some difficulty in adjusting to the culinary tastes of a different country. So far, they have sampled dishes that could make any American cringe, such as chicken hearts and ostrich.

While an AU student may not be envious of Meyerrose’s and Keck’s meal options, they may be over the weather. According to Keck, the temperature recently reached as high as 41 degrees Celsius, which converts to about 106 degrees Fahrenheit.

Weather and culinary preferences aside, Meyerrose and Keck ventured to Brazil primarily for pedagogical purposes.

“I’ve been wanting to travel out of the country for a while, but because of the cost, I haven’t been able to,” Meyerrose said. “This program afforded me the ability to travel and do my student teaching at a low cost. I have taught in Wooster for two years, and I really wanted to gain a better understanding of cultural diversity. I was seeing the same kinds of kids in my classroom and I wanted something that was going to help me in the future as a teacher in the classrooms in America.”

In agreement with this, Parillo emphasizes how much a person can grow from going to a different country.

“I would say that students learn more about themselves personally than academically,” Parillo said. “The College of Education prepares students to become teachers and students have six weeks to teach in Ohio…this program challenges students academically in different ways then what they could have gotten here. When things are not familiar, it challenges them personally.”

Regardless of the many benefits of going abroad, students who are considering involvement with an overseas program may shy away because of a few powerful factors, such as the cost.

“It’s a competitive market for education majors. [Teaching abroad] will set students apart. I think there are a lot of myths out there about study abroad-that it’s too expensive, that one can’t fit it into their major-and those are just myths,” Parillo said.

One of the biggest myths that Parillo aims to debunk pertains to the cost of travelling abroad for a semester.

“The school pays not only for their plane ticket, but room and board, and many activities,” Parillo said.

In other words, unlike the COST program, which is the primary teach abroad program for students since 2005, students who are in the Brazil exchange program do not have to pay for airfare. They also do not have to pay AU prices for room and board.

“When you student teach, it’s usually a six-week program; you spend six weeks teaching at an Ohio school, then six weeks teaching [abroad],” Parillo said. “But with the Brazil program, you spend 12 weeks-the full semester. For the 12-week program, you have to either commute or live with friends to take the 2-week prep class. So you’re saving an entire semester’s worth of room and board. A student once said it is the ‘best priced experience for the longest amount of time.'”

Parillo also added that there are grants available for students to apply for.

“There is money to help support students with their expenses,” Parillo said. “Students who teach abroad are eligible for the Ashland University Global Education grants. Deadlines for those are October 1st [to study or teach in the spring] and March 1st [to study or teach in the fall].”

As demonstrated with Meyerrose and Keck, the affordability of the study and teach abroad exchange programs is not the only benefit; one develops “intellectually, socially and professionally,” according to Parillo.

Katie DiMarino and Alaina Hurley, for example, were the first students to take part in AU’s exchange program in Taiwan. Like Meyerrose and Keck, they have gone through intense cultural experiences that the traditional AU student cannot account for.

Dr. Nate Myers, the interim Executive Director of International Programs who had initialized the exchange program in Taiwan, believes that students who go to Brazil as opposed to students who go to Taiwan will encounter obstacles of a different degree.

“In some ways, Brazil will be easier [to adjust to] because at least, if you speak a little Spanish, the writing will look familiar and you might be able to figure some things out,” Myers said.

“On the flip side, outside of the school community, you’re not going to run into too much English. If you speak Spanish, that doesn’t really help you with Portuguese; the accents are so different,” she added.

Myers pointed out that in Taiwan, students are required to take at least six years of English so the native English speaker would be able to communicate with people outside of the classroom. On the other hand, the culture isn’t nearly as Westernized as it is in Brazil.

“One hundred percent of the time, you’re going to be crossing a culture boundary, communicating to students who are not native English speakers and that’s going to set you in a different spot,” Myers said.

While some people may see this as an obstacle too demanding to overcome, Parillo views coping with the cultural differences as a positive experience, especially for future teachers.

“Students [gain] a new empathy for non-English speakers in their classroom as well through being in a minority…it’s a very enlightening experience not many students have. It really widens their perspective,” Parillo said.

If students are interested in the Brazil exchange program, they are encouraged to contact Parillo or Joe Hendershott, the director of field experiences; preferably as soon as possible.

“We’re actively looking for participants in the program. We have two placements, both fall and spring, for student teaching. We do have spots available, but they are going to be competitive, based on GPA and faculty recommendations,” Ellis said.

If a student is truly considering an out-of-country experience, Ellis has a piece of sound advice.

“Get the application in, and get it in early. We’re really looking for applicants who can embrace a world perspective and perhaps haven’t had the capability to travel before.”

Parillo stressed that as of now, the deadline to get one’s application in is by March 15th. It is for that reason students should allow themselves plenty of time to decide if they can fit a semester abroad into their graduation plan.

If curious about exploring a new culture and driven to grow in more ways than just academically, consider studying or teaching abroad for a semester.