The Education First Excellence Award in Language Teaching recognizes outstanding language teachers from around the world. EF Education First is a global education company with the mission of “opening the world through education”. EF focuses on language, academic, cultural exchange, and educational travel programs. Founded in 1965, EF has more than 600 schools and offices in 50 countries.

The theme for the EF Excellence Award in Language Teaching is “Promoting Cross-Cultural Understanding Through Language Learning.” All full-time language teachers are eligible to apply for the award, regardless of the language or the level that they teach. The application asks teachers to describe learning activities or experiences that they have designed to promote cross-cultural understanding among their students. These learning activities could be in-class activities, after-school projects, school clubs, or immersive learning experiences (e.g., pen pals, study travel, and exchange students). Selections will be based on the quality and creativity of teachers’ language learning activities and the extent to which these activities promote cross-cultural understanding.

Benefits

• Winners will be invited to a Global Summit in New York City, where they can meet each other, share best practices, and learn from prominent language education experts. EF will fully fund the winners’ transportation and summit costs.

Eligibility

• All full-time language teachers are eligible to apply for the award, regardless of the language or the level that they teach;
• Teachers should be in service at the time of application and must be teaching a language;
• Winners must be able to attend the EF Excellence Award in Language Teaching Global Summit in August 2019;
• Since the Global Summit will be conducted in English, winners should have a functional level of English;
• The selection committee’s decisions are final;
• All EF part-time and full-time employees, including EF teachers, are not eligible for this award.

Application Procedure

All interested teachers can fill out an online application. The theme for the EF Excellence Award in Language Teaching is “Promoting Cross-Cultural Understanding Through Language Learning.” The application will ask teachers to describe learning activities or experiences that they have designed to promote cross-cultural understanding among their students. These learning activities could be in-class activities, after-school projects, school clubs, or immersive learning experiences (e.g., pen pals, study travel, and exchange students).