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Students in ESL 7770: Critical Praxis in TESOL joined students from the Licenciatura en Lengua Inglesa program at Universidad Nacional de Concepción (UNC) in Paraguay for a live virtual exchange, discussing international English teaching and language policy. 

Michelle Benegas, associate professor of TESOL in Â鶹ÊÓƵAPK's School of Education and Leadership, and Isabel Cazuriaga, UNC’s academic coordinator, co-led the session. Universidad Nacional de Concepción vice dean welcomed both groups of students and spoke about UNC’s commitment to internationalizing education.

Students met in small binational groups to discuss English teaching as an international career and how language policy shapes access to English. Instructors from both universities shared pathways for educators interested in working abroad, from Minnesota to South America and back.

The Oct. 12th live exchange also prompted reflection on  Indigenous languages and histories in both countries. In Minnesota, that date marked  Indigenous Peoples' Day, which honors the Dakota and Ojibwe nations whose homelands include the land Â鶹ÊÓƵAPK sits on and whose languages live on in place names like Minnesota itself, from the Dakota Mní Sóta.

Â鶹ÊÓƵAPK students also learned about Guaraní, one of Paraguay's two official languages – alongside Spanish – that is widely spoken across the country.

The conversation was a reminder that English teaching always takes place alongside other languages and educators in both countries work in communities shaped by Indigenous languages and histories of colonization.

For Â鶹ÊÓƵAPK students, many of whom are already teaching in the classroom, the exchange offered an opportunity to see their field through the eyes of colleagues teaching English in a multilingual country and build connections across borders.