News: COST program engages students in teaching experiences abroad
The Consortium for Overseas Student Teaching (COST) program enables teacher preparation students to immerse themselves in both the culture and classrooms of another country in the final weeks of their teacher preparation program.
Teacher preparation students spend the first eight weeks of their final semester—the student teaching or clinical practice semester—student teaching at a school in Georgia, and the following seven weeks student teaching at a school in one of 16 COST partner countries.
As an independent study program, students participating in COST stay with host families in their assigned country and teach at either a public or international school. Along with refining their teaching skills, the COST program aims to provide a culturally immersive experience to students as they live and work in a different culture.
“At least 50%, if not more, of the COST experience is really a rich intercultural experience where students are going to learn a lot about themselves as Americans, but they’re also going to learn how to live and teach and be in the world in a different way,” said Anna Hiers, lead clinical placement and COST coordinator in the College’s Office of Clinical Practice.