Teaching international teachers
Photos by Evan Krape, Zoe Pawliczek and Kaitlyn Diehl and courtesy of Nigel Caplan April 10, 2026
Educators from 18 countries participate in a training program hosted by the English Language Institute
In Senegal, some teachers have as many as 88 students. In Madagascar, students have limited access to the internet and libraries. So how do teachers incorporate 21st century skills into their classrooms?
A group of 21 teachers from 18 countries found the answer as they learned new techniques during a two-week training program hosted by the 91原创's English Language Institute (ELI).
The program was part of an initiative sponsored by the U.S. Department of State鈥檚 (ECA), which was administered by their partner, , a nonprofit organization. The ECA designs educational, professional and cultural exchange programs as a way to build relationships with professionals in other countries.
鈥淲orking with these participants allows us to showcase the best that the United States has to offer whether that鈥檚 education, diplomacy or multilingual and multicultural opportunities,鈥 said Cheryl Ernst, ELI director. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a badge of honor for our program and the campus because of the recognition that the delivery brings to 91原创.鈥
Challenges teaching abroad
Hailing from Senegal, Costa Rica, Nigeria, Mongolia, Albania, Turkmenistan, Madagascar, Russia, Belarus, Egypt, Kenya, North Macedonia, Taiwan, Algeria, Uzbekistan, Japan, Brazil and Nepal, the teachers brought a wide range of backgrounds and challenges to the program.
鈥淥ur classrooms are overcrowded with over 45 students per class, and we can only afford one teacher per class 鈥 meaning there is no assistant to support them,鈥 said Nermeen Adly, an EFL teacher at Abu Qurkas Official Language School in Egypt. 鈥淭his places a heavy burden on the teacher, who must manage all the students alone, including those with behavioral or learning difficulties.鈥
Like many of the teachers, Mamy Ratovoson, an adult EFL teacher and teacher trainer at the English Teaching Program in Madagascar, finds a lack of technological resources as her biggest challenge.
鈥淪tudents have limited access to materials such as libraries, and internet availability is also restricted,鈥 she said.聽
Integrating 21st century skills
The program focused on how to integrate 21st century skills 鈥 the 4C鈥檚: communication, collaboration, creativity and critical thinking 鈥 into the classroom.聽
鈥淭he 4C鈥檚 cover the scope of what it means to learn a globalized language; not just how a language is learned, but how it is used,鈥 said Nigel Caplan, ELI professor and program coordinator. 鈥淗opefully what we鈥檙e doing through this program and the 21st century framework is promoting connections and challenging some of the disconnections in a world full of misinformation and disinformation.鈥
The teachers built their skills through field trips and experiential learning and collaboration on projects, such as a unit on sustainability where they upcycled trash to create a handbag or skirt out of plastic. They also learned ways to incorporate drama or musical projects into their teaching.
Ratovoson found these exercises particularly useful.
鈥淚 was already familiar with the 4C鈥檚, but I had not fully explored my creativity,鈥 she said. 鈥淚 will start incorporating drama or reader鈥檚 theater in the future. The workshops were very innovative as the presenters made the ideas feel practical and easy to apply.鈥
Given the range of resources available to the teachers in their home countries, Phil Rice, an assistant professor at the ELI who taught and led the program alongside Lindsei Pereira da Silva, an assistant professor at the ELI, made the skillsets scalable and primarily focused on how to engage and motivate students with limited technology or materials.聽
At the end of the program each group did a poster presentation. Rice and Pereira da Silva were inspired by the teachers鈥 passion and commitment to their students despite their challenges back home.聽
鈥淭heir dedication was really motivating,鈥 said Rice. 鈥淚 was impressed by how much Cheikh Amadou Tidiane Niang, the teacher from Senegal, is doing with limited resources and a class size of 88 students. He was very cheerful and motivated. One of the Nepali teachers, Bishnu Karki, travels 50 kilometers on a motorbike every day.鈥
Shining a spotlight on Delaware education
The teachers had the opportunity to see how Delaware educators implement 21st century skills in real time through tours to local schools like and 91原创鈥檚 . They also attended the Delaware Charter Network annual conference, CharterCon, toured Legislative Hall in Dover, and met with Maria Rodriguez, the Multilingual Learner Education Associate at the Delaware Department of Education, who shared how Delaware supports the one in six multilingual students across school districts and charter schools.
Ratovoson was very inspired by the school visits. She found that 鈥渢he rapport between teachers and students, the availability of resources and effective classroom management work in synergy to create a highly-positive learning environment.鈥
Adly was most impressed by The College School and hopes to start applying what she saw to classrooms in Egypt.聽
鈥淭hey take a holistic approach, caring for students socially, emotionally and mentally. The way teachers and the principal handle misbehavior 鈥 embracing the idea that we are not perfect but we want to be excellent and viewing mistakes as part of the learning process 鈥 is very different from what we see in Egypt.鈥
Global impact
Adly also plans to share the new teaching methodologies with her colleagues through professional development workshops.
鈥淲hile the Egyptian curriculum emphasizes 21st-century skills, the ministry does not offer professional development to help teachers understand their importance or how to implement them,鈥 she said. 鈥淣ow, I possess that knowledge and have learned practical ways to apply it in my classroom, even with limited resources.鈥
Most of the teachers had never been to the U.S. before, even though some of them teach classes on American culture and history, in addition to English. The program gives them a deeper understanding than what they see from media, movies and textbooks.聽
鈥淭here is no substitute for visiting a country and simply engaging and interacting and realizing that the world out there is not what you thought it was,鈥 Caplan said.
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