GREENSBORO, United States — Guilford County Schools (GCS) celebrated its new international teachers last Monday. School officials said this is the largest group of new teachers in district history.

"I just want to be able to do well by, you know, my students, the county, and just represent my country. That's my goal so I just want to be able to do that and do it well," international teacher from Jamaica, Kimani Roach, who will teach math to high school students, said.

There are 42 international teachers in total, and 32 of them are from Jamaica. Monday, WFMY News 2 learned that the curriculum taught in Jamaica is very similar to what is taught in schools here in the States.

"Their degrees actually align really well to the degrees here and so a lot of those credits transfer. And we do vet our teachers through a couple of different steps, and part of that process aligns really nicely with the degrees that they earn in Jamaica," academic development team leader with Global Teaching Partners, Ashley McRae said.

Global Teaching Partners is the company teaming these international teachers with schools here in North Carolina, and specifically Guilford County. With schools across the country facing staffing shortages, this programme does bring some relief.

"Obviously it does help with staffing just in the regard that our teachers help to fill some vacancies in some districts, but I think one of the things we truly want to highlight is part of the cultural exchange," McRae said.

These teachers from across the world are getting ready to teach subjects like science, Spanish, and physical education — but they'll also get the chance to share a piece of their home through this cultural exchange.

"I would pass on the language. I would let them know a little about my culture as it relates to the language aspect, the dance, the food, the dress, also as it relates to the music as well," international teacher from Jamaica, Rosheika Smith, who will teach language arts to third graders, said. "The reason why I chose to come to Greensboro and North Carolina is because I wanted to grow professionally, as well as personal growth. Also, I wanted to learn new cultures as well as to share my culture."

Both Rosheika and her twin sister Tasheika have travelled from Jamaica and will both teach at GCS.

Although credits and curriculums are similar in Jamaica and the United States there are some differences in areas such as technology, something Roach said will be a big help, "I would say there is way more technology here and so we have a lot of resources here to work with. We do too in Jamaica but we have more technology here, and I'm just looking forward to learning my way around the technology, using... that stuff and really using it to help my students."

Printed from WFMY News 2, North Carolina