“It’s not that [American students] don’t want to know about different places and cultures,” said Hoboken Charter School teacher James “J.C.” Simpson last Tuesday. “They’re eager to learn about other countries; it’s just that they don’t get enough opportunities to be exposed to other cultures. That’s why programs that bring teachers [from around the world], like the one I was a part of, can be so important and valuable for students.”
Simpson, an eloquent and talented cultural-exchange teacher from about 30 minutes outside of Cape Town, South Africa, has taught at the charter school this past school year. He was recently named the New Jersey Cultural Educator of the Year by the Visiting International Faculty (VIF) program, a cultural-exchange program for teachers that educates students about different cultures and languages.
Simpson was honored at a ceremony on June 7 both for his efforts to integrate cultural lessons into his chemistry and physics classes and for his school-wide influence.
According to Ned Glascock, a spokesman for VIF, in order to share the culture of South Africa, Simpson taught students about the languages spoken in his homeland. During the annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Day observances, Simpson led an ensemble of students and faculty in performing the South African national anthem. He also gave a PowerPoint presentation on South Africa to all of the high school’s students during a planned week of extracurricular activities and made similar presentation to other students, some as young as kindergartners.
Simpson said he was thankful for the recognition and that his time here in the Mile-Square City has been rewarding. He added that during his stay he has noticed several differences between the educational system here and the one back in his home country. “The first thing that I noticed,” he said, “was how much smaller the class sizes are here. [In South Africa] it not uncommon to have up to 55 students in a class while here there are only 10 to 20, which is very nice.”
He also noted that the existence of consumerism is much more prevalent in the United States. “Consumerism is king over here,” said Simpson. “Everywhere you go and in everything that you do [in America,] there are so many more choices. This makes the students savvier when acting as consumers. When I needed something cheap, I would just ask my students, and they would point me in the right direction.”
Simpson further remarked that many American students’ mindsets are different than that of other global citizens when it comes to how they view the rest of the world. “America is so big and so diverse. You don’t have to go outside of America to do what you have to do,” he said.
“Hopefully in my time here, I have been able to open their eyes to the fact that there is a whole world out there to do business with,” he added. “Not only did I want to impart information on culture and historical background but also give then a sense of business acumen when it comes to the possibilities that exist in the global marketplace.”
Mark Silberberg, the co-coordinator of Hoboken Charter School, said that both Simpson and Jose Palomino – a teacher from Spain who taught Spanish at the school this year – have been welcome additions to the Charter School staff. “The kind of experience these teachers bring to the classroom is valuable in broadening the horizons of our students,” said Silberberg. “It makes places around the world seem much more real.”
Joe Pignato, the school’s lead teacher in Humanities, said that Simpson has brought a lot of talent into the Charter School’s classroom. “[Simpson] has made an indelible mark on our school culture,” he said. “Our students, many of whom were apprehensive about science and technology, have profited from his in-depth knowledge, hands-on instructional style and love of his subject area. In addition, he has furthered his contributions to the life of our school by regularly sharing information about his native South Africa.”
Over 1800 teachers nationwide
The VIF program, based out of Chapel Hill NC, recruits highly qualified educators from around the globe and matches them with select primary and secondary school positions.
VIF teachers instruct students in a variety of subjects, including foreign languages, math, science, special education, English as a Second Language, and elementary education. According to Glascock, VIF has grown from 12 teachers in 1989 to more than 1,800 teachers from more than 40 countries, making it the largest and most comprehensive program of its kind. Some the of the countries represented in the program include Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, France, Germany, Ireland, Jamaica, Malta, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Panama, Peru, South Africa, Spain, the United Kingdom, and Venezuela.
In New Jersey alone, there are 138 foreign teachers who taught in state schools. “We want kids to be exposed to different cultures at an early age,” said Glascock last Tuesday. “The kind of experience these teachers bring to the classrooms gives students a view of the world that reaches far beyond their own backyard.”