Topic: Building Community with International Students through Classroom Contracts

Overview

Mary Elizabeth (Beth) Fincke graduated from Kenyon College with a Bachelor’s degree in German Area Studies. She taught Outdoor Environmental Education in Michigan, and later moved to Philadelphia where she studied modern standard Arabic and did fulltime community service as a City Year Corps member. Read more here.

Stephanie is a Senior Lecturer and has been teaching at CELOP for more than 10 years. She began teaching English in the 90s in Senegal, West Africa after earning her BA from the University of Montana in French with a Teaching Certificate in TESOL. Read more here.

This talk will focus on how co-authoring a class contract with our students can create a safe and inclusive learning environment that encourages appreciation for diversity. Our presenters will show examples and give tips on how to do this effectively. They will also mention a range of different ways they have created community in our classrooms.