UMSL education graduate student Loren Moseley received a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship in Argentina. (Photo by August Jennewein)

The idea of teaching those who will be teaching others is just one of many things that excites Loren Moseley about her recent honor.

Moseley, a secondary education graduate student at the University of Missouri–St. Louis, received a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship. She will spend eight months working at the Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. She will leave in March and teach English to student teachers at the university. In addition, she will work at a local underprivileged youth center in Argentina.

“I hope to bring to them a greater understanding about life in the U.S., teach them more about the English language, especially in terms of grammar and syntax,” said Moseley, of St. Louis. “I hope throughout this opportunity, my students and I are able to bridge a gap between our cultures, discuss similarities and differences in our educational system and address the challenges that second language learners encounter.”

Moseley, who moved to St. Louis six years ago from Columbia, Mo., teaches Spanish at Gateway STEM High School in the St. Louis Public School District and is tutoring liaison at the Youth Learning Center in St. Louis.

She said she’s traveled outside of the United States before but this will be a completely different experience and one she’s very excited about.

“I hope to better understand how it feels to be a second-language learner because that’s what I will be when I get to Argentina,” she said. “I have a minor in spanish and I’m conversational, but I would like to be fluent. This opportunity gives me a chance to gain useful strategies that can be used in my classroom to make Spanish language acquisition for my students more authentic.”

In addition to teaching the language, Moseley hopes that she can share the culture of the United States with her students in Argentina throughout her Fulbright experience.

“I will be bringing artifacts such as magazines, music, postcards, clothing and other things from the U.S. to share with my students and to help them gain a better understand of American culture,” she said. “I believe it’s easier to understand a language when you understand the culture.”

Click here or below to hear Moseley discuss her Fulbright in a video by Myra Lopez.