Chhaya Kumar, an English teacher with the Kendriya Vidyalaya in New Delhi, went to the US on a Teacher Exchange fellowship in 2006, teaching at Naperville Central High School, Naperville, IL for a semester. Afterward, she shared what she learned in the US about best practices in teaching English with her colleagues at Kendriya Vidyalaya. In 2008 she went to Moscow to teach at the Embassy of India School where she set out to share her expertise in English language with students and fellow Russian teachers. She plans to teach in Delhi when she returns to India in 2011.

Chhaya (holding the microphone) with students during Teachers Day celebrations at the Embassy of India School

Chhaya at Teachers Day lunch hosted by the teachers for the students

Padma Gurumurthy, recipient of a Fulbright Distinguished Award in Teaching, studied dyslexia in children during her Fulbright tenure at Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN in 2009. The highlights of her stay, apart from her research project, included making presentations about Indian education to US students, making a presentation to teachers at the University School of Nashville and attending the International Dyslexia Association conference in Orlando, FL. Mini M. Joseph, the other recipient of the Distinguished Award in Teaching, also affiliated with Vanderbilt University, aimed at designing an innovative curriculum to teach English as a foreign language. Auditing courses on English language teaching, writing about her Fulbright experiences, interacting with participants from different countries and studying the interdisciplinary aspect of teaching and learning English language through films, music, song and dance made her stay in US enjoyable and satisfying. She went for home stays with American families in Pennsylvania and in Oklahoma, cooking Thanksgiving dinner and decorating the house with them!

Presentation on dyslexia by Padma Gurumurthy

Padma and Mini (3rd and 5th from right in front row) with Fulbright Distinguished Award in Teaching participants from other countries

During the Fulbright certificate presentation ceremony with other participants