College of the Holy Cross | Graduate Studies

FULBRIGHT TEACHING ASSISTANTSHIPS

Eligibility:		American citizens educated in the United States holding a B.A. or equivalent before the grant starts. Appropriate language proficiency and good health.
Duration:		One year, non-renewable.
Award:		Variable depending on the country, but usually covers travel, insurance, tuition and a living allowance to teach English to high-school students. Consult the web page for details of each country and for award statistics.
Holy Cross procedure:		Preliminary application filed in Graduate Studies Office; interview in September by Committee on Graduate Studies and Fellowships. Alumni from up to 3 years ago can apply through Holy Cross.
Essay(s):		Two-page statement of proposed activity and supplemental project; one-page curriculum vitae
Then what:		Applications are submitted from Holy Cross as a group to the Institute for International Education, where they are screened. Finalists are notified in late winter that their names have been sent to the potential host country. About half the finalists receive awards, and are notified by the host country, usually by late spring.

    Introductory information
    Fulbright application procedures
    Fulbright essays

INTRODUCTORY INFORMATION

Three types of grants are available under the auspices of the Fulbright Commission: research
grants, grants in the performing arts, and teaching assistantships. These grants are administered by the Institute for International Education (IIE). Further information can be obtained from their web site: http://us.fulbrightonline.org/.

For a full list of English Teaching Assistantships (ETAs) for the 2008-09 competion, please refer to the updated list maintained by IIE: http://us.fulbrightonline.org/thinking_teaching.html. Typically, candidates for ETAs propose generalized side-projects or express their desire to pursue some interest specific to the whole country. Applicants should bear in mind that ETA placements can be in remote areas and that IIE notifies award winners of their locations rather late. Therefore, these side-projects cannot be place-specific.

Holy Cross students have been particularly successful in recent years in winning Teaching Assistantships to Korea, Germany and France. Factors determining success include (of course) a well prepared application and a good reason for undertaking the proposed activity, but other factors beyond your control may determine whether your application is successful. These include the number of opportunities available in the country to which you have applied and the number of other applicants for those opportunities. Thus you should consult the web site for statistics of recent competitions.

The French awards are not, strictly speaking, Fulbright awards, since they are awarded not by the Fulbright Commission but by the French Ministry of Education. The IIE administers the process of applying, but students can also apply directly through the Ministry of Education. In general students who have applied through IIE (and have thus had the benefit of input from a Campus Committee evaluation) are given preference in placement. A similar opportunity is available through the Austrian Education Ministry, where students apply directly to Austria, and its Fulbright Commission makes the awards. Prof. Jutta Arend in the German Department coordinates these applications, whose deadline is later than the Fulbright deadline. Holy Cross students have won numerous awards of both types.

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FULBRIGHT APPLICATION PROCEDURES

Choosing Your Place and Your Project. The key to a good Fulbright application is in the validity of your project. That means you must have a very good reason for going where you propose to go.
Everything else being equal, the IIE prefers to support students who have not spent more than 6 months in the country where they hope to study. You might think that this would rule out a return to a study-abroad situation, but in fact, everything else is rarely equal. In fact, you are often better equipped to teach high school students effectively if you have spent more time in a country. It is important, however, to demonstrate that you want to grow in new directions, not simply revisit the site of a pleasant prior experience. Furthermore, certain countries prefer students with prior experience, for example Japan. If in doubt, ask the Graduate Study Advisor to check.
If you have had experience in the study-abroad program that you would like to extend, a reasonable, but not essential, strategy would be to use the same language in a different country, for example French in Belgium or Luxembourg. If you propose to build on a project begun as your independent study during your year abroad, you would then have two excellent supporting credentials.

Affiliation. It is not necessary to establish an affiliation prior to applying for a teaching assistantship as it is for the research Fulbright grants. Nevertheless any way that you can indicate knowledge of and interest in the proposed host country and its culture is all to the good.

Languages. It is usually expected that you know the language of the country to which you are applying. The level of competence required may vary from country to country. A foreign language report is part of the application and must be filled out by a teacher of the language, who has interviewed you. Frequently preference is given to students who have as a career goal becoming a foreign language teacher in the United States and to students who have majored in the language of the country. However, for Hungary, the description says simply that "knowledge of Hungarian is an advantage;" for Turkey, there is no specific mention of mastery of Turkish, and "candidates should have a B.A. in English or American language or literature;" for Romania and Korea no language skills are required, and undergraduate degrees in humanitites and social sciences are preferred.

Preliminary Application. The Fulbright Commission requires that Holy Cross interview all applicants and supply a committee evaluation of all applications. A preliminary application is necessary for the interview. See the special instructions for the preliminary application.
Note: the Committee does not choose nominees for the Fulbright. We can send in any number of applications, and we will support all applications as much as we possibly can.

Letters of Recommendation. Three references are required. They should be from professors in your major field, and preferably from professors at Holy Cross. Make sure you supply those who are writing for you with up-to-date information about your project, because they must comment not only on the work you may have done for them in the past but on the academic validity of your project, on its feasibility in terms of resources available abroad, and on your ability to carry out the project. If you are applying after a year of study abroad, you may ask for a reference from one of the professors you had during your junior year, but make sure that your referee knows what kind of information is asked for on the form, and make sure their mailed response (no e-mail or fax) can arrive at Holy Cross on time.

If a faculty member has already supplied one of the two letters for your preliminary application (to the Commitee on Graduate Studies and Fellowships), he or she may be able to use the same letter for your final application, but remember that you might really need a different letter if in your preliminary application you were applying for more than one fellowship. Again, make sure your referee is informed about your specific project and ask him or her to comment on it.

Letters may be written on letterhead instead of on the form, but in that case the writer should print your name, your field of study and your country of destination on the top of each page of the letter. The writer should also sign both the letter and the form. No letter can be faxed or e-mailed.

All Fulbright letters must be sent to the Graduate Studies Advisor at Holy Cross, who will send them along with your application (and all the other applications from Holy Cross students) to New York.

Transcripts. The Preliminary Application Form submitted in September has a transcript release form. If you have signed that, you need not order a transcript for the final application. The Graduate Studies Advisor will obtain them directly from the Registrar. Do make sure that your transcript is complete, especially if you have been away for a semester or have taken courses during the summer. Remember, the Registrar cannot post grades for a course until it has been approved by a department chairperson, and it is up to you to obtain that course approval.

Mailing. All materials for the Fulbright application must be submitted through the office of the Graduate Studies Advisor.

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FULBRIGHT ESSAYS

The first essay is the STATEMENT OF PROPOSED STUDY or project essay (page 6 of Fulbright application): "Describe your study or research plans and your reasons for wishing to undertake them in the country of your choice. Outline a plan that realistically can be completed in one academic year abroad. ... Applicants for teaching awards are not expected to formulate detailed research projects." For Teaching Assistantships "candidates should indicate both their reasons for wishing to serve as teaching assistants and the supplementary study they would undertake in their free time."
Your essay might stress the following points:

1) Your interest in the culture and your knowledge of it, especially your facility with the language. If you have spent your junior year abroad in the country, or traveled extensively there, stress that experience. (It probably counts for you and not against you if you have already studied in the country.) If you have not had experience of the country, emphasize instead how important it is that you should improve your knowledge of its language and culture. (If you are applying to teach in France or Germany, you must have a command of the language already, but you do not have to have lived there.)

2) Stress any aspect of your academic background or extracurricular experience that makes you especially qualified for teaching in general and for teaching language in particular: advanced academic projects, tutoring English as a second language here or overseas, summer camp work, Big Brother/ Sister programs, etc. Stress the benefits you will derive from teaching. If you intend to be a language teacher, stress that career goal (prospective language teachers are given preference in the German and French competitions). If you are at all familiar with the educational system of the country stress that as well. If you have taken courses in English or especially American literature or history, or if you have traveled widely in North or South
America, mention this background. In sum, convince the reviewers (and yourself) that you are an interesting American who has much to offer the young people you will serve as a native English speaker. If you are interested in a career other than teaching such as international relations, diplomacy, or business, explain how the Fulbright grant will further that goal.

3) Discuss briefly a specific program of reading or study or other activity that you would pursue in addition to your teaching assignment (either by independent study or by formal study at a university if your teaching assignment is near one). The description of your study program is not as crucial as it is in an application for a research grant, but it is your chance to present yourself as a creative person with deep cultural interests in the host country. For Korea, Romania, Hungary, or Turkey, stress that you want to learn the language.

4) In order to make your essay as lively as possible think of all the good ways you might use your extra time while you are teaching in that country, all the most exciting ways of making the most of being there.

The second essay is the CURRICULUM VITAE or personal essay (Fulbright application p.7). “This statement should be a narrative giving a picture of yourself as an individual. It should deal with your personal history, family background, influences on your intellectual development, the educational and cultural opportunities (or lack of them) to which you have been exposed,
and the ways in which these experiences have affected you. Also include your special interests and abilities, career plans, and life goals, etc. It should not be a recording of facts already listed on the application or an elaboration of your statement of proposed study.”

This essay gives you the chance to present yourself as intellectually alive and culturally aware, a tactful person of goodwill who will make an excellent ambassador in the Fulbright year. Explain how your proposed program of studies or teaching assignment relates to your personal intellectual growth at the close of your undergraduate years. Stress any special intellectual interests, avocations, artistic or musical abilities that you could develop or contribute during your Fulbright year. Coordinate this personal essay with the project statement, so that they complement and do not repeat each other. Finally, your essay must display a graceful and concise command of your native language, so plan to revise, revise and revise. Both Fulbright essays are only a page long, single-spaced. (A 500 word limit for the personal essay is strictly enforced. The project essay can go over a page, but that should probably be avoided.)

For more suggestions on writing proposals please refer to "Proposal Writing: the Art of Persuasion."

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