AFS Effect+ for the Classroom

Empowering Teachers to Develop Global Citizenship among High School Students

AFS Effect+ for the Classroom will equip teachers to introduce students to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and develop lifelong intercultural skills to make progress toward these goals.

AFS is proud to partner with The Cyril Taylor Charitable Foundation that provided generous grant funding for AFS Effect+ for the Classroom. Named after the late Sir Cyril Taylor, founder and chairman of American Institute For Foreign Study, the foundation is dedicated to supporting intercultural and international education initiatives.

AFS created AFS Effect+ for the Classroom to prepare teachers to empower their students to become active global citizens who have these abilities and ignite positive social impact in their local communities. Global skills, such as: understanding different perspectives, critical thinking, empathy, and collaborative solution-finding—are increasingly recognized as essential parts of education, this requires teachers, too, to have these competencies.

Introducing high school students to intercultural skills and global issues improves their communication and collaboration skills, and helps them better understand how they can have a role as active global citizens. This program is comprised of three parts:

  1. a toolkit with interactive education and changemaking activities for secondary level teachers to integrate Global Citizenship Education into their teaching practices;
  2. a blended learning teacher training program, including the AFS Global Competence Certificate, to prepare educators to bring Effect+ workshops to their classrooms, and
  3. the Sir Cyril Taylor Young Leaders Awards that will recognize the top social impact projects created by the students and teachers that participate in this program.

AFS Effect+ for the Classroom is based on the successful AFS Effect+ Program that has already introduced close to 10,000 young people to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and empowered them to help advance these goals in their communities.

Interested teachers can apply for the the AFS Effect+ for the Classroom program via this form by Sunday, 24 October 2021. All educators will be notified of their acceptance by 1st November 2021 via email. For more information, please contact Omar Tabbicca, at AFS Intercultural Exchange Programs, Ghana.