Lauren Giunta, an ESL and Spanish Language Teacher at Williamsburg Prep in Brooklyn, created an entire elective class around iEARN’s Compañeros de Clase Globales (CCG) program. While the exchange itself lasted nine weeks, Lauren designed a full-year “Virtual Foreign Exchange” course for her 11th and 12th-grade students. “I created an elective called Virtual Foreign Exchange. It’s a new course in New York City,” she said.
Lauren tailored the curriculum to support students working toward the New York State Seal of Biliteracy, using cultural iceberg activities and research projects to help students explore identity, language, and heritage. Projects ranged from Puerto Rican identity and gentrification to European beauty standards in Dominican culture. Students conducted original research, used native-language sources, and developed rigorous academic papers based on their interests and cultural background.
The CCG program provided the foundation. “It created a foundation and a zone of partnership … a zone of taking risks,” Lauren said. “It created a class community of cultural rigor, cultural competency, and engagement with the work.”
She also emphasized the value of the professional development she received through iEARN -USA, including the summer training in Guatemala. “Public school teachers really don’t get these types of opportunities. Most of us are lifelong learners who really enjoy learning, traveling, and language.”
Lauren’s students not only completed academic projects but also explored personal and cultural identity. “It allowed them to explore, in an academic and social-emotional way, what it means for them, how they’re different and what they have in common with each other,” she said.
The impact extended beyond the classroom. Lauren received enthusiastic feedback from both parents and school administrators who were impressed by the depth and creativity of the student work. One standout project came from a senior who explored the historical and cultural connections between churches in Puebla, Mexico, and New York. She interviewed her grandmother, who grew up in a small town in Puebla, as part of her research. “She just did something that I don’t even know if a journalist has really ever written,” Lauren noted. The project helped the student connect her family history to her community in New York in a powerful, original way.
iEARN-USA’s Compañeros de Clase Globales virtual program is funded by the Stevens Initiative, which is housed at the Aspen Institute and is supported by the Bezos Family Foundation. To learn more about iEARN-USA and how to join this or other virtual exchange programs, visit https://projects.us.iearn.org/.
