ABOUT FULBRIGHT

Fulbright Program: U.S. Applicant Podcast

Transcript For: Interview with Jon Adler

John Adler, Manager of the Fulbright U.S. Student Program for Europe and Eurasia, addresses the Fulbright English Teaching Assistantships available for in the 2009-2010 competition.

Jon Adler

Tony: Welcome to the Fulbright U.S. Student Podcast. This is the second year we’re doing podcasts and it’ll be an exciting time. With me, my co-host this year, is Schuyler Allen.

Schuyler: Yes, I am pleased to be able to join my colleague Tony Claudino in these podcasts, and hopefully will be able to put forward some useful information to you as you look to apply this year.

Tony: So, one of our first guests this year is going to be Jon Adler. Jon is the Program Manager for the U.S. Student Program for Europe, basically. Right, Jon?

Jon: And Eurasia, and Central Asia.

Schuyler: and Central Asia. You’ve got to add those two in.

Tony: As you can see Jon has a big title. Lot of responsibility.

Jon: Exactly.

Tony: Great. Well, welcome to the show.

Jon: Thank you.

Tony: I think because you do have a lot of different regions to go over, I thought this podcast we would just focus on the English Teaching Assistant Program, don’t you think, Schuyler?

Schuyler: Yes, we’ll focus on the English Teaching Assistantships, as they’re one of the most popular components of the U.S. Student Program. And we’ll also talk a little bit about some of the areas where we’d like to receive a few more applications for this year that we didn’t receive last year.

Jon: Sure, put them on the spot.

Schuyler: Put them on the spot. And on that note, I’ll turn the floor over to Jon Adler.

Tony: Jon, tell us. English teaching programs.

Jon: Yes.

Tony: Give us an overview.

Jon: OK, well, basically, we offer teaching assistantships in a bunch of countries in Western and Eastern Europe. This year we’re going to have two new ones, which is pretty exciting for us.

Tony: Which countries?

Jon: It’s going to be Portugal and Norway…

Tony: Great.

Jon: …for this year. For Portugal, there are going to be two teaching assistantships offered this year. The purpose of the TAs there is going to be to strengthen English language instruction and knowledge of the U.S. in schools. Preference is going to be given to be given to applicants with educational backgrounds in the humanities. Knowledge of Portuguese would be an advantage for those. And for Norway, we’re particularly excited about that one because those are actually going to be the first TA grants offered in Scandinavia. Yea, pretty exciting.

Schuyler: Would you need to know Norwegian to… would it be helpful to have hospitality level of Norwegian, let’s say, to apply to those TA grants

Jon: It would be helpful; it won’t be required. The purpose of that one is going to be roughly the same as the Portuguese one—strengthen English language instruction and knowledge about the U.S., but this is primarily in Norwegian highschools.

Schuyler: And how many grants are being offered to Norway?

Jon: It’s going to be two, for the TAs there. So, two for Portugal and two for Norway.

Schuyler: Got it.

Jon: And other TA notes I’ll just add for the 2009-2010… for Russia the number of TAs offered this year is actually doubling from 10 to 20. So that’s exciting, there’ll be more opportunities for those. And for Spain this year… in previous years our TAs offered there were always offered in the region of Madrid, and this year we’re actually going to have five TA positions offered in Cantabria, in Northern Spain. So, we’re also excited about that one.

Schuyler: Excellent.

Tony: So five more go to the Cantabria region?

Jon: Yes. So, it’s going to be… for this year there are going to be 38 in the region of Madrid. Those are going to be secondary schools and primary schools. In Cantabria they’re going to be five on top of that so…

Schuyler: Wow, so that’s a sizeable number of ETA grants for Spain alone.

Jon: Yup. So that’s 43 total.

Schuyler: Yes, that’s correct math.

Tony: And they’re not going to apply specifically to that region, they’re just going to apply for the English Teaching Assistantship program to Spain? And then, however they get selected they’ll be either in Madrid area, or Cantabria.

Schuyler: Or, can you express a preference for which region?

Jon: You can definitely express a preference, especially with… Yes, I mean they’re either going to be in the region of Madrid or Cantabria so you can definitely note that in your application, in your proposal or personal statement, or wherever you see fit.

Schuyler: Excellent.

Tony: Great. How about more of the English Teaching Assistants in Eastern Europe, like… Czech Republic has English Teaching Assistants, Slovakia… those numbers are the same?

Jon: None of those numbers have changed; they’re all consistent with last year.

Schuyler: Where would you like to see more ETAs apply to, if you could? If you had a wish list?

Jon: We would, as far as the countries in Western or Eastern Europe, probably Poland, Bulgaria, and I’d say Russia just because the number is going to be doubling this year. But Poland, Bulgaria and Russia would probably be where we’d like to see some more applications.

Schuyler: So chances are if I applied for one … well, maybe not me personally… but if I were a student now, and I was thinking of applying for an ETA, my chances of getting one in Bulgaria would be pretty good?

Jon: Yes, I mean, judging by last year’s statistics, four people applied and two people were awarded TA grants.

Schuyler: That’s a 50% chance; that’s pretty good!

Jon: Presumably, that will get more difficult this year, but …

Tony: You’ve opened up the flood gate.

Jon: I have no doubt that I have.

Schuyler: But, thanks for those stats. That’s really helpful.

Tony: Any language requirement for any of the countries? Like, for Russia, do the ETAs need to know a little bit of Russian?

Jon: They should have it for Russia to be competitive, because I mean, we do get a lot of applications for that. In general, any country where there are TA positions, language skills in their prospective host country can only help their application.

Tony: Once you decide what country to apply to and do an English Teaching Assistantship, would it be recommended to take a class, brush up on the language skills?

Jon: Absolutely.

Schuyler: Would it be useful to say why you want to apply to a certain country more than another?

Jon: Yes, it’s always good in a proposal to at least give some reasoning behind why you chose that country over… I mean, obviously, we’re offering TA grants to a lot of different countries, so… Even when we review applications and decide who gets awarded these grants, the panels always like to see people with concrete…

Schuyler: reasons?

Jon: reasoning behind why they want to go to, let’s say, the Czech Republic over Russia.

Schuyler: Right. Being that English is the lingua franca of the 21^st century now anyway, so…

Jon: Exactly.

Tony: What made some of the strong applications last year for the English Teaching Assistantships for certain countries? Was it, some people created mini projects on the side, or was it the actual reason for going in that country. What made a strong ap, or at least, some bullet points on what you remember from doing the National Screening Committees that you did as a recommendation?

Schuyler: A general, overall perspective, not specifics.

Jon: Once again, every country’s different. But, language skills are always a big thing, as we’ve discussed. Some countries having an independent research project is more important than other one, other countries. That’s something, I mean I’d advise if there’s a specific country you’re interested in, I’d definitely advise going to us.fulbrightonline.org and looking for the country summaries for individual countries, because some countries have different requirements and different preferences.

Schuyler: And certainly our website is the most dynamic and up to date place to get information on the Fulbright program, probably over our brochure that we issue each year.

Jon: Absolutely.

Schuyler: So, are there some other questions or points that you wanted to add, Tony?

Tony: How about community? Is it big, community involvement?

Schuyler: Community service?

Tony: For an English teaching Assistant?

Jon: Yes, that would definitely be, I mean, especially in your proposals, if you want to work with the community, that would definitely be a positive in your application. For all Fulbrighters, whether you’re applying for a full grant or a TA grant, if you wanted to work with the community and immerse yourself in whatever culture you’re in, that’s certainly something we’re looking for in the Fulbright program.

Tony: And fields of study? They’ve all been in different backgrounds? The English Teaching Assistants that have won the award have been…

Schuyler: pre-med students as much as students in the arts?

Jon: Some countries will state a preference, some countries specifically want people with background in teaching, or with future career aspirations where they want to teach in primary or secondary schools, but, once again, it varies by country, so it’s hard to generalize about the whole program.

Tony: The Italy Teaching Assistantship wants somebody to speak Italian, or know a good level of Italian, right?

Jon: Well, yes, it can only help your cause.

Schuyler: So, are there any other regions… we’ve talked about the ETA program overall, and some of the things to look for, in terms of at least your region. Are there other areas, amongst your programs that you’d like to see more applications, more applications let’s say to a particular country, or anything like that, that maybe prospective candidates should be thinking about if they’re not thinking about doing an ETA grant then maybe chances are that maybe if they apply to this country they might be really seriously considered because we didn’t get too many last year?

Jon: I mean absolutely, there are, generally, the countries that people are least familiar with get the least number of applications so would probably be the easiest to be awarded a grant to. Probably the ones that comes to mind are-

Schuyler: Besides Germany, of course… [laughing]

Jon: Germany we get plenty of applications so that’s not an issue.

Tony: And there are plenty of awards so it’s a nice combo.

Jon: Exactly. For Germany, I mean, they offer 80 full grants and 140 Teaching Assistantships.

Schuyler: Good to know. Good stats.

Jon: Yes, thank you. But the countries where we really struggle every year to get applications are countries like Albania, Moldova, Latvia tends to be low, Estonia tends to be low. All these places would be great experiences, just most people aren’t familiar with them and they don’t apply.

Schuyler: Anybody, also too, if they’re doing EU studies, these are great countries to go to in terms of if you’re interested in EU accession, to join up, these are countries that are hot on the list. It’s great to do projects there.

Jon: Absolutely. The countries people are least familiar with, I can’t stress it enough, if you really want to be awarded a Fulbright grant, and you’re comfortable doing your studies outside of the U.K. or Germany or Austria or Spain, I’d highly recommend them.

Tony: Great, thank you very much, and we’ll see you soon.

Jon: Anytime.

Schuyler: Thank you.