{"id":9188,"date":"2023-03-13T09:11:34","date_gmt":"2023-03-13T14:11:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin-new\/?post_type=campus_story&p=9188"},"modified":"2023-03-13T09:11:34","modified_gmt":"2023-03-13T14:11:34","slug":"uw-eau-claire-fulbrights-gaining-experience-confidence-teaching-in-other-parts-of-the-world","status":"publish","type":"campus_story","link":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/story\/uw-eau-claire-fulbrights-gaining-experience-confidence-teaching-in-other-parts-of-the-world\/","title":{"rendered":"UW-Eau Claire Fulbrights gaining experience, confidence teaching in other parts of the world"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Photo<\/a>
Blugold Greta Wiederhold says working as a teaching assistant in Germany through the Fulbright U.S. Student Program is a dream come true. She credits UW-Eau Claire faculty and staff for providing the knowledge, support and experiences she needed to be accepted into the highly competitive program. (Submitted photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The saying \u201cif you can dream it, you can do it\u201d is ringing true for Greta Wiederhold, a recent University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire graduate now working as a teaching assistant in Germany through the Fulbright U.S. Student Program.<\/p>\n

Wiederhold was on campus for a high school visit when a German professor told her about the Fulbright Program and that an impressive number of Blugolds are accepted into the highly competitive program. She knew immediately that she wanted to be one of them.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis conversation with\u00a0Dr. Josh Brown<\/a>\u00a0inspired me,\u201d Wiederhold says. \u201cSo, before I even graduated high school, it was my dream to do the Fulbright in Germany. I’m so grateful to have had lots of support at UWEC to help me achieve this goal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wiederhold graduated in May 2022 with a\u00a0German<\/a>\u00a0education major, a teaching of English to speakers of other languages (TESOL<\/a>) minor, an interdisciplinary linguistics certificate and a resume full of outside-the-classroom experiences that made her stand out among the many accomplished Fulbright applicants.<\/p>\n

She was thrilled to learn shortly before she graduated that her dream was coming true \u2014 Wiederhold was one of three Blugolds awarded 2022-23\u00a0Fulbright<\/a>\u00a0Program awards.<\/p>\n

Since September 2022, she has been teaching in Fulda, Germany, a small city in the center of the country. As an English teaching assistant at Berufsschule, a vocational school, she assists in English classes, helping students use English in their professions or in their studies.<\/p>\n

The experience has been everything Wiederhold hoped for and more.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince I studied to become a teacher, I feel very comfortable in the school setting here,\u201d says Wiederhold, whose Fulbright will continue through June. \u201cMy co-workers allow me to design and teach lessons and really value the new ideas I bring to the classroom.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kaitlyn Zenner, who graduated in May with majors in\u00a0Spanish<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0psychology<\/a>\u00a0and a minor in\u00a0neuroscience<\/a>, also is teaching abroad through the Fulbright Program. She\u2019s an English teaching assistant in a primary school in Logro\u00f1o, Spain, where she prepares and teaches lessons in grammar, phonics and U.S. culture.<\/p>\n

Zenner is enjoying all aspects of her Fulbright experience, from helping students write English storybooks to exploring Spain.<\/p>\n

While she, too, has had many \u201cwonderful experiences\u201d as a Fulbright, it\u2019s the kindness of the people she\u2019s met in Germany that means the most, Wiederhold says.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone is so kind and appreciative,\u201d Wiederhold says. \u201cMy co-workers are supportive, and the students are a joy to work with. Whenever I travel to new cities, I meet Germans who are excited to show me their country.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wiederhold is \u201cindependent and ambitious,\u201d two qualities that make her a great fit for the Fulbright Program, Brown says.<\/p>\n

\u201cGreta excels because she already has taken her knowledge of German and teaching and applied them to challenging situations like study abroad and student teaching,\u201d Brown says. \u201cShe excelled so much here at UWEC that I knew she would be invaluable in the classroom; I\u2019m completely swept up by her ability to teach others.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wiederhold\u2019s strong German language skills allow her to easily immerse herself in the local community, something that\u2019s making her time as a Fulbright even more meaningful.<\/p>\n

\u201cOutside of the English classes, I never use English here, so I couldn’t imagine being placed in a small city like this without a good understanding of the language,\u201d Wiederhold says.<\/p>\n

Her time in Germany is helping Wiederhold feel more prepared for and excited about her future teaching career.<\/p>\n

\u201cI work with seven teachers, and I get to see their various teaching styles firsthand,\u201d Wiederhold says. \u201cI’ve also been visiting and presenting at other schools in Germany as part of the MeetUS program with Fulbright and the U.S. Embassy. So, I get to meet students and teachers from all over and see what other schools are like.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of this has expanded my perspectives on education. I can’t wait to put it all together in my own classroom.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zenner\u2019s Fulbright also is shaping how she sees her future. She says living and teaching abroad has \u201cdriven my curiosity\u201d in how language learning and literacy affects students\u2019 ability to operate in and out of the classroom. When her Fulbright grant ends in June, she hopes to work in a job that involves both psychology and education.<\/p>\n

The Fulbright Program is an opportunity for Blugolds to embrace new cultural experiences while also finding meaningful ways to apply and challenge what they\u2019ve learned at UW-Eau Claire in an international setting, Brown says.<\/p>\n

UW-Eau Claire\u2019s commitment to providing learning opportunities out of the classroom gives Blugolds an edge when applying for the competitive Fulbright Program, Brown says.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur undergraduates have great opportunities at high-impact practices like study abroad and collaborative research that prepare them well for the challenges of Fulbright,\u201d Brown says. \u201cThose experiences make their applications so much stronger.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zenner agrees, saying the experiences she had as a student prepared her well to \u201cthrive in a new culture\u201d as a language teaching assistant in Spain.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile each opportunity offered its own unique experiences, they all helped foster flexibility, critical thinking skills and a desire to challenge myself,\u201d Zenner says.<\/p>\n

Blugolds also have an edge when applying for Fulbrights because the Center for International Education staff does an excellent job of helping students create quality applications, an effort that is \u201cunparalleled elsewhere,\u201d Brown says.<\/p>\n

As a result, UW-Eau Claire has been on Fulbright\u2019s top producer list six times in 10 years, including on its recently released 2022-23\u00a0list<\/a>\u00a0of master\u2019s level schools that produce significant numbers of Fulbrights.<\/p>\n

\n

Written by Judy Berthiaume<\/p>\n

Link to original story: https:\/\/www.uwec.edu\/news\/news\/fulbrights-gaining-experience-confidence-teaching-in-other-parts-of-the-world-5610\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The saying \u201cif you can dream it, you can do it\u201d is ringing true for Greta Wiederhold, a recent University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire graduate now working as a teaching assistant in Germany through the Fulbright U.S. Student Program. Wiederhold was on campus for a high school visit when a German professor told her about the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":9190,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","institution":[96],"story_category":[],"class_list":["post-9188","campus_story","type-campus_story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","institution-uw-eau-claire"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/campus_story\/9188","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/campus_story"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/campus_story"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9188"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9190"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"institution","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/institution?post=9188"},{"taxonomy":"story_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/story_category?post=9188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}