Missouri State, Springfield district welcome 49 Saudi Arabian teachers plus families

Missouri State University's English Language Institute will soon welcome its third, and largest, cohort of Saudi Arabian teachers.

The 49 professional educators selected by the Saudi Ministry of Education will spend a year studying in Springfield. In all, they will bring 132 family members including at least 60 children expected to enroll in Springfield Public Schools.

"There is a third group coming. They are just now arriving," said Jeremy Borland, the director of English Language Learners and migrant education in the Springfield school district. "It's our biggest group yet."

The institute at Missouri State is one of more than a dozen colleges in the U.S. selected to host a Saudi teacher training program called "Building Leadership for Change through School Immersion."

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Known as the Khebrat — an Arabic word that means "experiences" — the program was created to improve teaching and learning in the Middle Eastern country. The first cohort of 28 teachers, and their families, arrived in February 2018 and they were followed by a second cohort of 14, which is wrapping up this summer.

"It's gone really well. We've had really successful community interactions," said Rachel Love, a teacher training specialist at Missouri State. "It's funded at least three years into the future."

A majority of the participants so far have taught English but that is changing. The cohort that is wrapping up this summer and half of the cohort currently arriving have a range of teaching backgrounds including history, math, science and special education.

Love said the goal of the program is a "mindset change." She said Saudi teachers have long used a centralized curriculum and have been tasked with coming up with ways to personalize teaching to better meet the needs of students.

"They've talked about how they came to the U.S. so they can develop an individualized approach," Love said. 

The university organized a group of volunteers to help the families get situated and find housing. The Springfield district has created a streamlined enrollment process tailored to the visiting families.

Borland said Saudi families live all over the Springfield area and attend different schools. He said many students have at least limited English skills and the district offers English Language Learner services available to help those who cannot yet communicate and learn effectively in English.

"Our experience has been great having the students come in from Saudi Arabia and be open to learning more about the U.S.," he said.

He said Springfield students also benefit from the visitors. "We get exposure to a unique culture and a group of people different from us."

Shortly after arrival, the Saudi teachers will start English language classes located at the institute on Jefferson Avenue in downtown Springfield. They also study pedagogy, or the theory and practice of teaching.

The visiting teachers will then spend weeks immersed in Springfield area classrooms — including Missouri State and Greenwood Laboratory School — where they will observe and gain knowledge about how public schools in the U.S. operate.

Following that, each teacher is required to complete a final project that shows how they can implement ideas they learned when they return to Saudi Arabia. The current cohort, of 14 teachers, presented their ideas at a reception Thursday at Missouri State's Meyer Alumni Center.

"It's been very interesting what the teachers pick up on," Love said.

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Love said in the inaugural cohort, a final project focused on creating school libraries and small classroom libraries in the younger grades, neither of which are common in Saudi Arabia.

Other projects included adopting specific programs used in the U.S., revamping school cafeterias, improving the training available to teachers throughout a school year, and adding school resource officers to discuss safety topics.

Mohammed Alhumaidi, a teacher from the Saudi city of Jeddah, was part of the second cohort and presented his final project, on 21st-century learning skills, Thursday. He has taught math for seven years.

"We would like to get some idea of the school system in the United Staets, how they are teaching here and what skills they are using in the classroom," said Alhumaidi, 36.

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Immersed in Springfield's Carver Middle School classrooms, he saw how teachers also taught job skills such as critical thinking, collaboration, communication and problem-solving. 

"They are taught here in the U.S. from kindergarten," he said.

His final project examined ways to interweave those skills into core academic subjects such as math.

Alhumaidi traveled to the U.S. with his wife and their two children, who enrolled at Portland Elementary. 

"I was nervous because I wasn't sure where I was going to live, how much it was going to cost, and if my children are going to like school," he said. "When you see the culture here it is different than the movies. It's a beautiful small city."

He traveled to Chicago, New York City and parts of California and tried different types of food. He said he'll miss Springfield.

"The people here, they help you," he said. "They welcome you and they share information. I want to say 'God bless them.'"