The Congressional Office for International Leadership (COIL) brought a delegation of 18 Romanian educators to the United States to learn more about English as a Second Language (ESL) pedagogy and best practices.
The delegation, consisting largely of K-12 educators, come from areas of Romania that border with Ukraine. The government anticipates an influx of women and children unable to speak Romanian. The Romanian educators are in the United States is to assess ESL best practices and to adapt them for Romanian language instruction.
After training and networking in Washington, DC, the delegation divided into three groups to travel to Ohio and experience local expertise and culture. The International Visitors Council of Columbus welcomed its part of the delegation on August 12 and asked the Office of International Affairs to host a visit to the Ohio State campus on August 16.
While on campus, the group met with faculty and ESL practitioners in the College of Education and Human Ecology. Vice Provost for International Affairs and Global Strategies Gil Latz, hosted lunch with the group. In the afternoon, the Center for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies met with the delegation and described its methods and strategies for K-12 outreach.
Under the aegis of the Open World Leadership Program, COIL is an independent government agency of the United States Congress that works to identify and support leaders from Eurasia in a variety of educational programming in the United States.