Fulbright Teaching Excellence and Achievement Program

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What is Fulbright Teaching Excellence and Achievement Program?

The Fulbright TEA Program brings international secondary-level teachers of English, English as a foreign language, math, science, foreign languages, and social studies, including special education teachers in those subjects, to the United States for a six-week program in spring or fall to take academic seminars for professional development at a host university and to observe and share their expertise with teachers and students at the host university and at local secondary schools.  The program supports three to four teachers per year.

The program scholarship covers:

  • All Transportation Costs: International airfare and domestic travel (including in-country visa-related travels if the candidate resides outside Ulaanbaatar)
  • Living and Meals Accommodations: Participants are placed in university housing and are provided with a meals and incidental expenses allowance
  • Health Insurance: Participants are provided accident and illness coverage for the duration of their program in the United States
  • Visa Costs: Visa fees are waived for all U.S. Government-sponsored scholarship participants
  • Travel Allowance: Participants are provided a small allowance for luggage and other travel-related expenses

The program consists of academic training and a teaching practicum:

Academic Training: The Fulbright TEA Program consists of general academic seminars focusing on new teaching methodologies, student-centered learning, content-based instruction, lesson planning, and instructional technology training for teachers.

Teaching Practicum: The program also includes a practicum of at least 40 hours with a U.S. partner teacher in a secondary school near the host university to engage participants in the U.S. classroom environment.  Cultural enrichment, mentoring, and support are provided to participants throughout the program.  The program provides participants with practical resources they can use in their teaching, as well as skills to train trainers.

After returning home, teachers who successfully complete the program will be eligible for small grant awards for essential teaching materials, follow-on training for other teachers, collaborative projects between participating American schools and their home schools, and other activities that build on the exchange experience.

As part of the U.S. State Department’s initiative to promote girls’ education around the world, The program designates one cohort to examine gender in education themes in depth.  Applicants interested in this topic are given an opportunity to self-designate in their application materials.  The gender in education cohort is likely to take place in the spring cohort.  Note that not everyone who requests to participate in this cohort is selected, as the number of slots is limited; however, some gender and girls’ education sessions and materials are included in every cohort.

To be eligible, applicants must:

  • Be a Mongolian citizen, currently residing in Mongolia
  • Be a current secondary-level, full-time teacher of English, English as a foreign language, math, science, foreign language, or social studies, including special education teachers in those subjects, at institutions serving primarily a local population*
  • Have at least a bachelor’s or equivalent degree
  • Have completed at least three years of full-time teaching by the start of the program (five years or more is preferred)
  • Demonstrate a commitment to continue teaching after completion of the program
  • Demonstrate leadership qualities in their schools or districts
  • Have sufficient oral and written English language skills to take part in specialized seminars and give presentations at U.S. schools.  English language test scores are not mandatory at the time of application.  However, if selected, candidates will be asked to take the TOEFL IBT. The minimum target score is TOEFL IBT 45 or TOEFL ITP/PBT 450.  Please note that teachers who have lower English skills (TOEFL IBT 38-44 or TOEFL ITP/PBT 425-449) but are otherwise strongly qualified may be provided additional English language training prior to the start of the program.

*Secondary-level teachers include both middle and high school teachers serving students between 12 and 18 years of age.  Teachers responsible for teaching additional grade levels must teach middle or high school students more than 50% of their work time to be eligible. The most competitive applicants will have shown evidence of leadership in their schools.

Please note that this is an upper-level university or graduate level academic program for practicing teachers. Educational administrators (such as representatives or officials of the Ministry of Education) and school administrators who do not teach at least fifty percent of their time, full-time teacher trainers, university faculty, private English Language tutors, and teachers from schools primarily serving expatriates are not eligible.

Preference will be given to candidates who:

  • Are current teachers/co-teachers of the English Access Microscholarship Program, English Language Fellow Program, and Fulbright English Teaching Assistant Program
  • Are alumni of the English Teaching Mentors Program or OPEN Program
  • Are working in historically underserved communities
  • Have not previously received a Fulbright teacher grant or traveled to the United States on a U.S. government-sponsored exchange program
  • Have limited prior experience in the United States

Mongolians holding U.S. green cards are not eligible to apply.

The Public Affairs Section of U.S. Embassy Ulaanbaatar is now accepting applications for the 2024 Fulbright Teaching Excellence and Achievement Program.  The application deadline is Monday, February 13, 2023, 8:00 a.m. ULAT.

In order to apply for the 2024 program, the applicant will follow the steps below:

  1. Register on the IREX online application portal: fulbright.irex.org
  2. Complete and submit the online application.

A complete online application will include the following:

  1. Institutional Support and Reference Form
  2. Lesson Plan
  3. Leave Approval Form
  4. Scanned copies of diploma/s (include all language versions, i.e., Mongolian Cyrillic, Mongolian Script, English, etc.)

Submit the completed application and any supplemental documents via the online portal by the deadline.

Things to note on your application:

  • Answer all questions truthfully.  The essay must be your own work reflecting original thought.  Any use of other people’s work or ideas must be properly cited and acknowledged.  False information or plagiarism will be grounds for immediate rejection.
  • Submit only the requested documents.
  • All documents submitted must be in English or have an official translation attached.
  • Attachments in the following formats are accepted: .PDF and image files (e.g. .JPEG, .PNG, etc.)

The embassy will announce the results in March 2023 and will notify all applicants via email.

Inquiries about the program will not be answered by phone.  Please direct all questions to exchange@usembassy.mn.

All U.S. Government scholarship programs are merit based.  Although we take into account any special circumstances of candidates, the final decision is made based on the candidate’s overall strength as represented by the application and interview.  We also consider a candidate’s ability to be a cultural ambassador and their ability and motivation to give back to the community.

Following are the main steps for selection for the Fulbright TEA program:

Technical Screening: This is the initial review to verify the completeness of the applications. During technical screening, we check to ensure that:

 

  • Applications and required supplemental documents are complete
  • Applicants meet all eligibility requirements.

Any application that does not meet these baseline criteria will be removed from further consideration.

Application Review: After technical screening, all complete and eligible applications are reviewed by a committee of qualified personnel designated by the U.S. Embassy.

Short List: Based on the recommendations of the application review committee, a short list of highly qualified candidates is created. Candidates included in the short list are invited for an interview.

Interview: A panel consisting of U.S. Embassy officials and other qualified professionals interview all short-listed candidates and selects finalists to be nominated for the global competition.

Nomination: Finalists are then nominated by the U.S. Embassy to the Fulbright TEA Program Office in Washington, D.C. to compete with nominations from embassies from around the world.

Final Selection: If selected by Washington, the candidate is confirmed for participation in the program.

November-February: Program announced, applications submitted

February-March: Technical screening, application review and interview

August: Finalists selected, decisions announced

January: Spring cohort departs to the United States

August: Fall cohort departs to the United States

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