PREPARING TEACHERS TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN GLOBAL EDUCATION

Our nation is in critical need of a globally competent citizenry. Educ ational leaders have increasingly called upon second language teachers to accept partial responsibility for preparing today's students for t omorrow's complex, interdependent world. Given the inseparable nature of language and culture and the complexities of intercultural communic ation, language teachers are uniquely placed to teach their students c ultural understanding and intercultural skills. Unfortunately, many te achers lack a comprehension of the essence of culture and of the cultu re-learning process, both of which are fundamental to teaching culture in a progressive, skill-building fashion. Through no fault of their o wn, they may not have the tools necessary to teach for global understa nding. This article describes an experimental course. This course test ed the hypothesis that teachers, given an in-depth understanding of cu lture and culture-learning theory, and given the experiences necessary to discern the process both affectively and cognitively, could succes sfully develop the meaningful, skill-building, cultural curricula nece ssary for increased global skills and understanding.