Participate in International Education Week by sharing these exciting opportunities for cross-cultural exchange with your students! 

In April of 2003, The Youth Exchange & Study (YES) Program was launched in response to the events of September 11^th, 2001, in order to build bridges of understanding between the people of the United States and countries of the Arab and Muslim world.  Funded by the State Department’s Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs (ECA), the YES program provides high school students from countries with significant Muslim populations the opportunity to live in the United States with a host family and attend school for an academic year. The YES program is administered through grants to non-profit partners including iEARN! 

iEARN partners in the US, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Mali, Senegal, Cameroon, Sierra Leone, Suriname, Libieria and the Arab Communities of Israel all participate in the YES Program, working to recruit, select, and prepare students for the program before they arrive and keep them connected to one another while they are here. Through the interactive iEARN project forums, YES scholars are able to express and record their feelings, experiences and observations during their exchange year, interacting with students around the globe online and connecting with their fellow alumni upon returning home. 

If your school would like to host a YES student, please complete a Host School Interest Form available here: http://yesprograms.org/host-school

Additionally, The YES Abroad program is a cultural exchange for high school students between the ages of 15 and 18.5 to live for a semester or academic year in countries with significant Muslim populations to foster greater understanding and cultural awareness. YES Abroad scholars in 2012-2013 will be placed in Bosnia & Herzegovina, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Morocco, Oman, Thailand and Turkey. Applications are being accepted until January 11, 2011 and can be accessed here: http://www.yesprograms.org/yesabroad