Free Travel Opportunity to Korea for HS Geography Teachers

From Utah Geographic Alliance / National Geographic EdNet site:

Free Travel Opportunity to Korea for HS Geography Teachers
Posted October 01, 2009

The Dokdo Research Institute in South Korea, along with several other organizations, has invited me to visit Korea with a delegation of high school geography teachers, expenses paid. The dates of the visit are November 22 - 27, 2009. Collaborating organizations are the Northeast Asian History Foundation (host institution of the Dokdo Research Institute), Korean Geographical Society, and the Korean-American Association for Geospatial and Environmental Sciences. Actual departure and return dates are yet to be confirmed. As of today, outbound travel will be on November 20 or 21 due to the International Dateline and return is planned for November 28. If you are selected to participate, then you will be notified of the travel window. The Dokdo Research Institute will reimburse participants for economy round trip air fare from the airport nearest their place of residence, as well as program travel within South Korea, accommodations in South Korea, and meals. Discretionary expenditures by participants will not be reimbursed, such as souvenirs, social drinks, pay for TV, hotel room service, etc. Each participant will be required to prepare a paper (minimum 5 pages, maximum 8 pages) on a topic related to the teaching of geography. Topics will be assigned once the participant list is finalized. There is a choice of topics, but I will need to arrange the focus on a small number of essential topics. I will be preparing a paper as well. As with all funded projects, participants are expected to make a full time commitment to the project during the period of the conference. There will be opportunities for further collaboration with our hosts in the future through other exchanges. As President of NCGE, I urge members of the National Council for Geographic Education who teach in high school (grades 9  12) and APHG teachers to apply. I will provide you with background information on the Korean educational system and geography teaching in particular prior to our departure. To begin the application process, please send me one email message that includes the following: a. Assurance that the project dates are available for your participation. The project is during Thanksgiving week, but the arrangement of substitute teachers that week is reduced to Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday in many schools, which is an advantage. The project does not pay for substitute teachers. Check with family and school since it is not an ordinary week in the U.S. I would rather not go through a full application process to discover that the dates are not right for you. b. Include in the email your: First, middle and last name; Do you have a U.S. Passport that is current and will not expire in the next six months? The passport number and place of issue, The grade level(s) you teach, The specific geography course(s) you teach, The name of your school, School telephone number, School address, Your home street address (not a P.O Box number) Your telephone number, since I plan to hold a short telephone interview with each applicant selected for the short list. I will need your email application information by October 9, 2009. I will begin the applicant review process on October 10. Please send your email to: stoltman@wmich.edu If email difficulties occur, please telephone me at 269-342-1707. Any general questions are preferred by email. Thank you, Joseph Stoltman, NCGE President 2009