Day 1 - the USBT program started

Today was the first day of the program. We all met at 8am to go the US State Department. 
We started with introductions and we are a very diverse group. The advisers represent the EducationUSA in many countries: China, Colombia, Ecuador, Georgia, Hungary, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Morocco, Nepal, New Zeland, Peru, Poland, Russia, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tajikistan, Thailand, and Turkey. 


During the first part of the day we had an overview of the USBT program, learned about the relationship between the US State Department and EducationUSA, also talked about the ECA/A/S/A's mission, the EducationUSA network, standards, training and professional development programs. Then, we had a presentation addressing Strategic Planning in which we talked about Public Diplomacy and how a Strategic Plan is structured. We were able to see examples of Strategic Plans from India, Brazil and Hungary. 


After this first half of the day, we went to a wonderful lunch, enjoyed a terrific view of the city, and had a pleasant walk to the Einsten's Memorial monument.

After lunch we returned to our program, and learned about the importance of the Educational Advising to Posts. We have also had staff from Fulbright discussing ways of using American Fulbrighters; from Alumni sharing ways of working with alumni and resources available; from Information Resource Centers and talked about American Corners; a person from the Office of English Language Programs sharing the programs available for teachers; another staff form Youth programs; and from IIP Publications.


I learned a lot during this first day, and started writing down all the ideas I had. In addition to all this great training we are receiving, we are meeting a lot of people who have been wonderful.Tomorrow we'll be together again for the second day of the program. It's just the beginning :)