By Kate Griesmann
Staff Writer
During the time that Alethia Wheatle taught at McDougle Elementary, she learned a great deal about literacy. Wheatle, who was a Visiting International Faculty (VIF) teacher, taught at McDougle for three years before returning to her home country of Jamaica.Â
Upon her return, Wheatle contacted McDougle and commented on how much she learned about teaching reading and comprehension skills while working in Chapel Hill.
“I want to bring back this knowledge to my teachers and my school,†she said.
Around that time, the school was cleaning out book resource rooms and disposing of old reading assessment kits. Instead of throwing away the items, the school decided to put them to good use: They boxed them up and sent them to Wheatle’s third-grade class in Jamaica.Â
Several McDougle classes have been writing in pen pal exchanges to students at Wheatle’s school, and the two schools plan to conduct a Skype call when the shipment of over 300 books arrives.Â
This kind of connection between schools highlights one of the main goals of the VIF program, which is the largest cultural exchange program for teachers in the United States.