Daily Pioneer News

UWP senior education major Katie Gelhar is dwarfed by a group of eager elementary students. Gelhar and nine other UWP students learned much about the culture and the people of Jamaica during a two-week teaching visit in three elementary schools there.

PLATTEVILLE - Many college students take advantage of study opportunities in other countries, but when 10 University of Wisconsin-Platteville students traveled to Jamaica earlier this year, they weren't the ones doing the studying. They were the teachers.

UWP Director of College International Exchange Programs Wally Iselin took a group of education students to the town of Mandeville, Jamaica, during the first half of January to help children in that poverty-stricken area learn to read.

The group of 10 students included seniors Deanna Foley, Katie Gelhar and Betsy Turk; junior Maggie Thrams; sophomores Linda Pustina, Morgan Hultgren, Lindsey Cooper and Holly Nelson and freshmen Nicole Schleicher and Amy Clifton.

The UWP education students got to work in three different elementary schools, but quickly learned that the third and fourth grade Jamaican students were further behind than what they anticipated.

"You had to go back to basics. You were starting over from scratch," Foley said.

Many of the Jamaican children had been largely ignored by their teachers and didn't learn much while being shuffled up the grades. The UWP students tried to give the Jamaican children more attention than they'd received from their teachers, and the kids responded well.

And despite not having many material possessions-the school's playground area was bare-the Jamaican children demonstrated great resourcefulness.

"They stuck a piece of bamboo in a tree and that was their teeter totter," Foley said.

The experience taught the UWP students to appreciate the things they have here in the United States. The Jamaican school had no telephone lines, making Internet use next to impossible. The school had few computers, and other resources were similarly scarce.

"Here we are with tons of paper and pencils," Cooper said. "There, they have nothing."

Despite the challenges attempting to teach in adverse conditions, the UWP students found it a rewarding experience. They themselves learned about not only the Jamaican children and their schools, but also the country's culture.

"They're very family-oriented," Foley said. "The older kids walk the younger ones to school. At lunch break, they come to see how the younger sibling is doing."

The Jamaican people they met welcomed U.S. citizens and were anxious to learn about the United States.

A group of UWP students and educators traveled to Jamaica earlier this month to assist third and fourth grade students there learn to read. Among the group were: (row 1, left to right) Director of College International Exchange Programs Wally Iselin, Katie Gelhar, Betsy Turk; (row 2) Holly Nelson, Linda Pustina, Lindsey Cooper, Morgan Hultgren, Maggie Thrams, Amy Clifton, UWP School of Education professor Gwendolyn Coe; (row 3) Nicole Schleicher and Deanna Foley. Members of Iselin’s family, including his wife Kathy (row three, far right) also made the trip.

"Every single person over there accepted us," Cooper said.

Of course, there were several things about Jamaican culture that surprised the UWP students.

"I was shocked to find out they teach religion in schools," Gelhar said.

And unlike the United States education system, all Jamaican schools nationwide adhere to a standardized curriculum.

"It doesn't promote creativity among the teachers," Gelhar said.

The overall experience in Jamaica was so rewarding for Gelhar that she eventually wants to teach there full-time. Six UWP students are planning to student teach in Jamaica in March, and Iselin plans on taking another group of UWP education students to Jamaica during Winterim 2005.

And as much as the Jamaican students learned this time around, in the end it might have been their American counterparts that learned the most.

"If a student is struggling, don't leave them behind," Foley said.