Last year, Cheng, a junior, changed her major from biochemistry and molecular biology to German and education. To get a better feel for her new major, Cheng will be one of three MSU students traveling to Germany this summer to participate in a German teacher exchange program through MSU’s Center for Language Teaching Advancement.

Through the program, German educators teach at East Lansing schools for three weeks. MSU undergraduate students then spend three weeks in Nürtingen, Germany, teaching students there.

Because Germany’s education system works differently, the German students in the exchange have the equivalent of a master’s degree, but still are going through professional development.

Angelika Kraemer, the outreach coordinator for the Center for Language Teaching Advancement began the program several years ago by working with a group of teachers in her German hometown. The program since has expanded to a larger district.

“One of the subjects they teach is English,” Kraemer said. “These teachers are very interested in practicing their English in an environment that’s good for them.”

Zsuzsanna Mahon, a fifth-grade teacher at Murphy Elementary School in Haslett, Mich., has participated in the program for the past two years. She initially volunteered to host the German teachers because she thought her students would benefit from the perspective an international teacher would bring.

“I think it’s interesting for the students to have different cultural experience,” Mahon said. “It brings depth to the curriculum.”

MSU students who participate in the program stay with a host family and teach at a school, completely immersing them in German, Kraemer said.

“For MSU students, it’s a really great opportunity to not only go abroad and learn about language and culture, but be in the classroom and see what it means to be a teacher in Germany and how that is different or similar from teaching in the U.S.,” Kraemer said.

German and Spanish junior Diane Bell participated in the exchange program last year, teaching first through seventh graders. Bell said besides her German improving from being around native speakers, she also became attuned to the difference between American and German classrooms and school systems.

“It was one of the best experiences I’ve had over there by far,” Bell said.