Friday, Oct. 18, 2002 

 

NETHERLANDS PROFESSORS VISIT MOUNT WACHUSETT COMMUNITY COLLEGE

 

(Gardner)—The International Education and Multicultural Awareness Committees hosted a reception for two visiting Netherlands professors, Wed., Oct 16. Harry Aardema and Diana DeHeer told a group of faculty and staff about their work experience in the Netherlands and details of what they are learning about higher education as part of their foreign exchange experience in the U.S.

DeHeer teaches Dutch as a Second Language at ID College. The college has 12,000 students enrolled on 7 campuses. New immigrants to the Netherlands are required to learn the language and the government subsidizes the cost of the language and cultural instruction. She has been observing ESL courses with MWCC faculty member Madhu Sharma. “It’s nice to see here how other teachers teach,” said DeHeer.

Aardema teaches world religions and also audio-visual experience. His students work with the deaf to learn to communicate visually. He teaches at ROC-AE12. About 10,000 students attend this college on four campuses. He is working with Debbie Orre.

Both DeHeer and Aardema presented Mount Wachusett Community College with several gifts including a sculpture, t-shirt for a future MWCC exchange student and information about their respective colleges. Asquino thanked them for the gifts and praised them for their efforts. “Global studies lead to global understanding,” he said.

DeHeer and Aardema will be in the U.S. for two weeks. Two MWCC faculty members are expected to participate in the exchange this May.