Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, July 5, 1990 TAG: 9007050019
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: The New York Times
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
A closer look suggested otherwise: Their duffel bags bulged with English textbooks and Shakespeare anthologies, and their destination was Budapest.
For the first time, Eastern European governments are opening their classrooms to large numbers of American English instructors, including these 121 Peace Corps volunteers, who left in mid-June for Poland and Hungary.
They were the first delegation to Eastern Europe in the Peace Corps' 30-year history.
These volunteers are not alone in their mission. More than 600 English language instructors, mostly recent college graduates, are planning to teach in Czechoslovakia, Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania and East Germany in the fall.
"The demand is exploding," said Donna Culpepper, the U.S. Information Agency's branch chief for academic exchanges in Europe. "The Eastern European countries would like four or five times the numbers of teachers we can send."
Most students are traveling as part of privately financed projects, like those sponsored by the American Federation of Teachers' Education for Democracy International program, and the Charter 77 Foundation, a Czechoslovakian human rights group that is sending 80 college students and recent graduates to teach conversational English in Czechoslovakia this summer.
Opportunities for uncertified and inexperienced people without a plan of action are likely be limited.
"Without some sort of plan you are likely to be forgotten or ignored," said Helena Fierlinger, a program coordinator for Charter 77.
Programs like that of the Peace Corps are giving volunteers intensive language and cultural instruction abroad before they begin working in elementary and secondary schools and teacher-training colleges.
Most teachers will live with families and receive $75 a month, commensurate with local living standards; room and board are paid by the government.
"Despite the pay cut, it seemed like a good idea," said Phyllis Stafford, 73, of Indian Harbor Beach, Fla., a widow who taught high school English for 14 years and is the oldest Peace Corps volunteer in Hungary.
Peace Corps officials say Eastern Europe's political leaders have pleaded for English instructors.
"Among the emerging democracies, there's a uniform thirst for English language instruction," said Paul D. Coverdell, director of the Peace Corps.
"As these countries reach out and engage in the world, they need the English language to close the decades spent without commerce or communications with the West."
by CNB