Arizona State University, Phoenix, AZ (Tempe Campus)

During my FDAI program, my professional and personal horizons were broadened and enriched due to daily contact with U.S. educators, instructors, advisors, pupils and colleagues from 11 countries from around the world. I experienced everyday school life on-site, I was amazed by the politeness and warmth of co-teachers and high school students, I learned new teaching techniques, easily applicable in my country, I got so many ideas to implement in my school in order to solve everyday practical issues. On top of that, my inquiry project was the ultimate result of the whole educational experience! Thanks to the passionate and deeply experienced professors I cooperated with, I made a modern research about an effective teaching method, tackling students’ low performance in Language Arts. Furthermore, Fulbright Teacher Exchange program helped me combine different elements from my previous and ongoing professional development in order to bring a change to my school’s community.

At a personal level, I created valuable friendships where deep appreciation, respect and support were the basic elements. Through my friendship family I came closer to the US culture and everyday life. By interacting with my fellows I appreciated deeper, I understood the customs of different cultures better and -what a surprise!- admiration was cultivated on each side. In my opinion, one of the biggest benefits was the down-breaking of stereotypes about people from different continents of the world.

In the end, I am so thrilled that the cooperation with US educators, institutions and fellows from other countries, as well, will be continued for setting up new projects. Definitely, these were the MOST interesting 4 months of my life from every aspect!

_{^{Photo by Ilianna Anagnostakou}}