Univ. of Wisconsin hosts “immersion” program into Somali culture for future teachers

Recently they held a meeting to discuss the Paris terrorist attack.

From the Leader-Telegram:

Just hours after a terrorist group’s attack on a satirical newspaper in Paris last month, nine future teachers sat with a group of Somali community elders in Minneapolis discussing the relationship between Islam and terrorism.

The immersion program was designed for new teachers because of the growth in the Somali population in Minnesota and Wisconsin:

“This immersion experience offers unparalleled opportunities for pre-service teachers to broaden their worldviews and develop culturally relevant competencies that they will need to be effective and ethical teachers in today’s public school system,” said Dr. Aram deKoven, an associate professor of education studies who helps organize and lead the Somali Domestic Intercultural Immersion experience.

[….]

The Somali immersion experience is a comprehensive educational program that combines more than 24 hours of classroom-based instruction, a weeklong, full-day field placement in specially selected schools that serve primary Somali youth, and daily excursions in and around the Somali community in the Twin Cities.

[….]

In the weeks leading up to the school immersion, students hear lectures on Somali history, traditions, customs, migrations and conflicts.

There is more, read it all.

I wonder if the prospective new teachers are also instructed in how to teach American culture, values and traditions to the Somali students?

Photo:  About those meatpackers—see this 2013 post:  ‘Meatpackers change the face of small town America.’

It has long been my contention that the refugee contractors and the US State Department act as employment services for ‘Big Meat.’

Here are the nine major federal contractors: