English Language Fellow Brings Experience to Salvadoran Teachers
January 17, 2008

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Erin Lowry hopes to help Salvadoran teachers improve their ability to teach English.  She arrived in El Salvador in August of 2006 and since then has been working to develop the curriculum used to train English teachers throughout El Salvador.  She recently started working with English teachers to develop evaluation standards to better measure student progress. 

Ms. Lowry works both with teachers at the Ministry of Education and at Centro Cultural Salvadoreño Americano.  One of her primary projects this year has been to help the Centro Cultural develop a curriculum for teachers to follow.  This provides the teachers with more of a background as to why they are teaching certain concepts rather than just following a text book.  She is also working to develop more valid evaluation methods so students are not just passed on to the next level, but rather are able to demonstrate concrete learning. 

Ms. Lowry will finish her term as an English Language Fellow in July of this year.  Until then, she will be working with Peace Corps Volunteers to identify additional teachers from rural areas, who typically have a difficult time accessing quality training programs. 

Ms. Lowry’s job also involves working with the International Law Enforcement Academy to teach English conversation skills to law enforcement officials.  Ms. Lowry has a Masters in Education from the University of Cincinnati, with an emphasis on Teaching English as a Second Language, and has worked as an AmeriCorps Volunteer and as a university professor in Colombia. 

English Language Fellows assist U.S. Embassies throughout the world in their goals of facilitating democratic institution building and encouraging participation in the global economy.
 
English Language Fellows have a unique opportunity to contribute to intercultural understanding in ways that reach far beyond improving the English teaching capacity of institutions.  In addition to their official teaching responsibilities and teacher development activities, Fellows create opportunities for English language conversation and cross-cultural dialogue.  For more information on the English Language Fellow Program, see their website at http://elf.georgetown.edu.