When they return to the Bethel Park School District in late August to ready their classrooms, they are likely to be unpacking drums, kente cloth, and adinkra stamps. After a four-week Fulbright-Hays Group Project Abroad, Cheryl Wagner, Franklin Elementary First Grade Teacher; Lisa Machado, Neil Armstrong Middle School Gifted Teacher; and Charles Youngs, Bethel Park High School English Teacher, have lots of West African culture to share with their students and colleagues back home.

They traveled to Ghana in July with nine other teachers from Pennsylvania, led by Dr. Joseph Adjaye, Director of Africana Studies at the University of Pittsburgh. The group studied at the University of Ghana in Accra, but also traveled to educational centers in Ho, Kumasi, and Cape Coast in the month-long visit.

"The trip focused our attention on politics, industry, and nature, while the people of Ghana were most warm and welcoming," said Youngs. "Exploring the vibrant Ghanaian culture was a rich, multi-layered experience. So much of what we learned will impact our teaching."

The entire group of scholars attended 15 lectures led by leading authorities on topics ranging from geography, to music, to educational systems, to literature, to cultural values. Visits to schools--preschool through senior high--were a key part of the educational exchange.

The Fulbright-Hays Program, administered by the U.S. Department of Education, provides advanced overseas study and research opportunities for teachers. Group Projects Abroad programs, such as the Ghana trip, allow teachers to obtain valuable overseas experience while developing new, internationally-focused curricula for use in their U.S. classrooms.

"It was exciting to be an American in Ghana as our President made his first visit to the country during our stay. U.S. flags and 'Akwaaba Obama' billboards were plentiful in the capital city of Accra, which was also our home base for the program," explained Wagner.

However, when Air Force One touched down in Accra, the Fulbright group was 100 miles northwest of the capital, learning about the natural wonders of the rain forest in the Volta Region. It was there Machado recalled feeding mona monkeys on a trek into a protected area of rain forest known as the Tafi Atome Monkey Sanctuary.

"Our local guide called to the monkeys by making a chirping-kissing sound. Then we held bananas up to the trees and coaxed a family of monkeys to come through the tree branches. One by one, the monkeys would approach the offered bananas, peeling and devouring the fruit while we held it till only the peel was left."

Also, at Kakum National Park near Cape Coast, the group took a thrilling walk through a virgin rain forest canopy via a series of rope bridges that spanned the forest at heights greater than 100 feet. "Teaching about the necessity to preserve these strongholds of nature will become more meaningful to my students, being only one degree of separation from their teacher's experience," Wagner said. "When a teacher has been some place like this, it encourages her students to go there themselves someday."

Shopping and culture mixed seamlessly throughout the journey as the group met artisans and craftspeople at every turn. In Africa it is commonplace for artists to welcome visitors in their studios while they are working, giving glimpses of their traditional processes. The group spent time admiring, learning about, and purchasing samples of textiles, clothing, drums, carvings to bring back to their classrooms.

Always selling

Machado noted that one doesn't have to go to shops to find shopping. "They all had something to sell. It might be a mango or a bag of peanuts; it might be a cellular phone card, but they had something to sell."

Visits to textile makers and wood carvers included cultural lessons on African values, Wagner recalled, "At an adinkra workshop we each tried our hand at stamping a piece of cloth with the black ink made from the resin of tree bark."

All three Bethel Park teachers agree maxims and their symbolic representations and the values they represent will be part of their teaching on West Africa. "Lessons on respect and getting along with one another are key from first grade on up," noted s. Wagner.

"We had a lot of fun with our 'day names,' too," said Wagner. In Ghanaian society, a person receives a name based on the day he or she was born. Wagner is known as Esi. "It was a great source of connection to give your day name upon introduction. If a Ghanaian had a son or daughter with the same name, you were instantly adopted with an, 'Oh, my child, you are my daughter!'"

Youngs, who teaches an honors English class for 12th grade, plans to use what he has learned in his lessons on the Nigerian novel Things Fall Apart. "Understanding the history and complexity of family and society structures in West Africa deepens one's appreciation for the literature from this region," said Youngs. "By using art and artifacts that impart the ethos of the culture, I plan to help my students comprehend the characters, plots, and themes. They can also discover story forms in contemporary American culture that parallel African ones."

School visits were part of the itinerary. The group toured all levels from pre-school to senior high school at various state and private schools. "There were probably more similarities than differences," noted Youngs. Funding for schools is scarce. Students were school uniforms and standardized exams seem to be weighed heavily. "No matter what school we visited, we had little trouble understanding each other's concerns. Still, it is evident the Ghanaian culture values education, perhaps because they take little for granted," Youngs said. "At one school we witnessed the students, who board there, attend classes even when the teachers are unable to make it to school due to heavy rains. Much emphasis is given to their studies and exams."

The group's visit to Cape Coast coincided with Panafest, an annual celebration of peoples from throughout Africa and the Diaspora. The group was the audience to special dance and drum performances as well as a witness to the ceremonial pageantry of the traditional kings or chiefs that had assembled for the event. The chiefs dressed in regal kente and adinkra cloth togas and had attendants with large umbrella canopies to shield the chiefs from the sun.

"Panafest was a great capstone to our visit, putting all we had learned about West African history in perspective, as we saw modern government officials interacting with traditional, chiefs in the ceremony," Youngs said.

"My stay in Ghana will give me a more global approach to my students and enrich my presentation of first grade material," said Wagner.