Sarah Yabroff of the Goethe-Institut sends along the following information about the Transatlantic Outreach Program:
The goal of "TOP" is to encourage cross-cultural dialogue and to provide Social Studies educators with global understanding from an international perspective using Modern Germany as the basis for comparison and contrast, in order to internationalize Social Studies curriculum as well as to provide international exposure to Social Studies educators in the United States and Canada. In order to achieve these goals, the Three Pillars of TOP work in concert:
- Teaching Materials. TOP currently produces four textbooks for the elementary, middle, and secondary levels. These textbooks are authored by American Social Studies professionals and edited by TOP staff. In addition, TOP produces wall maps, videos, and a series of online games.
- Workshops. TOP sponsors hundreds of in-service training workshops every year by providing its educational materials free-of-charge to workshop leaders.
- Study Tours. TOP sends Social Studies educators to Germany every summer on all-expense-paid study tours, exposing them the government and education systems, large and small businesses, and various examples of culture. Upon completion of the study tour, educators return to the United States to write a unit of learning as well as conduct two in-service training workshops.
For more information, please visit the TOP web site: http://www.goethe.de/ins/us/lp/prj/top/.
