About us
Helaine and Immaculee are colleagues, teaching Spanish and French respectively, at Portsmouth High School. Helaine applied to the Fulbright DAT, while Immaculee applied for a sabbatical, both with the goal of promoting intercultural education and global awareness. Helaine has been able to add her information to this website while in Colombia, Immaculee’s additions with be uploaded by August of 2023.
Contact me at lamaestraglobal@gmail.com
Hello! My name is Helaine Wemple and I am a Spanish and Service Learning teacher at Portsmouth High School, Portsmouth, New Hampshire, USA. I was recently granted a Fulbright Distinguished Award in Teaching, by which I will be carrying out an inquiry project in Cali, Colombia between January 26th-June 26th, 2023.
I have been a Spanish teacher for 18 years and have created partnerships with schools in Puerto Rico and Costa Rica. And now, I would like to have partner schools in Colombia also. I am passionate about global education and awareness, as well as teaching diversity and inclusion. Although I have organized many international student trips, I am always struggling with the reality that not every student can travel. So, I often wonder, as teachers, “If we can’t bring students to see the world, how can I bring the world to our students?”
The overarching goal of my project is to create ways for students to delve deeper into cultural diversity by means of personal connections. My hope is that the materials I create with this project will become a resource for teachers and students to become global citizens, break down barriers, abolish stereotypes, and become more open-minded and inclusive to all people, both far and near.
iniwemugeni@sau52.org
Hello! My name is Immaculee Niwemugeni. I am from Rwanda and I have been a French teacher at Portsmouth High School (Portsmouth, NH) for 19 years. I also created and teach a newer course called African Cultures.
I was recently granted a half year sabbatical, January – June 2023, to travel to 5 countries on the African continent (Egypt, Ghana, Cameroon, Uganda and Zimbabwe) to learn about these countries and the regions they represent. I will visit museums, cultural centers, etc. and use my learnings to add to my African Cultures course, as well as enhance the French and Social Studies curriculum at Portsmouth High School (PHS). I also hope to build a partnership with local schools in each country, interview faculty and students for knowledge exchange, with the ultimate goal of using their stories in my curriculum and forging a lasting partnership for virtual exchanges with students and teachers.
Students at PHS inspired this sabbatical idea because they often approach me with questions about my culture and my experiences in Africa. My goal is to encourage PHS students’ curiosity about the world by finding creative ways to teach from a global perspective. This sabbatical is an opportunity to bring cultures from different countries to the classroom, making connections that textbooks and internet searches cannot.