Marketing Webinar Series Part 8:

International Education Week & Community Presentations

• Introductions
• What is International Education Week (IEW)?
• AFS-USA & IEW
• IEW resources
• Opportunities for engagement
• Extending promotionbeyond the classroom
• Giving community presentations

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In this webinar, we'll cover:

What is IEW?

IEW is an opportunity to celebrate the benefits of international education and exchange worldwide.

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• Takes place during one week each November
• Joint initiative of the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Department of Education
• Goal is to promote programs that prepare Americans for a global environment and attract future leaders from abroad to study, learn, and exchange experiences.

• Emphasize the importance of IEW to students

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• Provide physical (t-shirt and promotional items) and digital resources for students to celebrate and share their culture with their community, as well as educate them about AFS/SP programs

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• Host contests to increase engagement, including a presentation and social media contest

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• Offer opportunities for students to reflect on their IEW experience

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• Share IEW celebrations with the AFS community through a variety of platforms

How does AFS-USA celebrate IEW?

Are students required to give an IEW presentation?

• Which students are required to give IEW presentations?
• Hosted sponsored programs students (FLEX, YES, CBYX) are required by their sponsoring organization to give presentations and will receive communication with those details.
• Hosted core program students are highly encouraged to give presentations in their community by AFS-USA.

IEW Resources

• Help and Learning resources for Volunteers, Alumni, and Host Families
• Press Release Template
• Outreach Letter
• Student resources (digital and physical) for Core Students and SP (Sponsored Program) Students
• Teacher Handout
• PPT Presentation Template
• SP PPT Presentation Template

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Communications will be sent by AFS-USA to volunteers, host families, and recent alumni before and during IEW

IEW Resources

• Make sure students know how to promote AFS and answer AFS or SP related questions
• Where to direct people to (website, social media, etc.)
• Basic info about study abroad for their peers
• Sample presentations:
• Khoula from the Philippines
• Angelina from Germany
• Hashir from Pakistan

IEW Presentations

IEW Presentations

IEW Presentations

IEW Presentations

IEW Presentations

IEW Presentations

Opportunities for Engagement

Engagement

• Presentation and social media contest
• Check out our IEW 2022 Highlight on Instagram!
• Encouraging students to reflect on their IEW experience - have those conversations with students and get them more involved!

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How can volunteers and families promote IEW before, during, and after?

• Utilize digital and print resources
• Spread the word on social media and through other channels, such as local news and community newsletters
• Talking to friends, family, and colleagues about IEW and encouraging them to learn more -- through the lens of an individual student can help people make that personal connection!

Opportunities for Engagement

Put up a poster or flyer about IEW in local libraries or community gathering spaces!

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Additional social media and logo graphics will be made available here: iew.state.gov and on the AFS Help and Learning Site.

Engaging Host Families During IEW

• Volunteers can facilitate conversations about how host families can get involved

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• What can families learn about their student’s culture? Are they helping their student put together their presentation, food, other activities?

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• Bring host families and students together through intercultural exchange:
• Have a practice presentation party night with your area team’s students/families
• Allow experienced families to share ideas/provide feedback from previous years
• What else can we do to engage them?

Engaging Volunteers During IEW

IEW is a great opportunity to engage all volunteers in your team!

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• Host an IEW event and hold a local contest to see who can give the most presentations during the week! (or something like this)

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• Give experienced volunteers an opportunity to help students who may need additional support preparing for IEW

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• Make sure your team is aware of the resources volunteers, host families, and students can use

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Extending IEW beyond the classroom

IEW isn’t just about students presenting in class - it’s an opportunity for the whole community to expand their intercultural knowledge!

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• Encourage students to give presentations outside of school (community centers, local groups, clubs or teams)

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• Students can throw an intercultural party/country-themed gathering for their friends or teammates!

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• Tabling somewhere like a local coffee shop or sporting event using IEW info about their country to promote hosting with AFS-USA

How have students in your area extended IEW beyond the classroom?

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Join the menti to share responses:

Go to Menti.com and join using code

14 60 96 4 to share your thoughts!

Extending IEW beyond the classroom

Promoting intercultural connection in your community shouldn’t stop with IEW!

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• Resources and templates for presenting in your community

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• Some places you can present within your community: local clubs or meetups, language groups, other nonprofit or youth organizations, libraries, or just for your own friends/network!

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• Experienced host families and volunteers - where have you given community presentations in the past?

Giving community presentations

Submitting & utilizing IEW content

Submit your photos or videos here

Need photos to promote IEW, but don’t have any handy? Browse our photos on Flickr and use the search term “IEW” to download anything you need! If you send us your photos, we can add them to your Area Team's personal album on Flickr as well!

Resources for your team

Content Collection:

• Google Drive, Photos, and/or Forms
• Jotform
• Dropbox
• Team marketing inbox/email
• Linkinbio on social media

Content Creation:

• Flickr (photos)
• Canva (designing, photo editing, & design templates)
• Help & Learning (AFS materials, design assets, trainings, etc.)
• iMovie or Premiere Pro (video editing on the computer)
• Splice (video editing on your phone)

Communication/Organization:

• Calendar for comms. (Canva and Google both work well for this!)
• Tabling & social media schedule
• afsusa.org/marketing-materials (passcode = afsvolunteer)

Help and Learning for Volunteers and Host Families

Need help with marketing and creative tasks?

Utilize our request form for marketing-related projects

Join our AFS-USA Marketing Volunteers group on Workplace

Thank you!

Question: How can students extend IEW beyond the classroom?

We visited our local BPW where Farhan from Bangladesh did an incredible presentation!

Interview with school newspaper

I haven't done this but I think bring in a service project that week with a refuge/immigrant program might be cool.

muscial performance in the community-open market, senior center, churches

I am new, but I have an idea. I was thinking of partnering with a debating club in another country and having the session televised

We’ve had students do their IEW presentations during our team Zoom meetings, usually one presentation per meeting at the beginning. It is a nice reminder of why we do what we do as volunteers .

Set up a table in school’s cafeteria during lunchtime for students to come engage

Question: How can students extend IEW beyond the classroom?

In LA we have had students from the war countries - Ukraine, Russia, Gaza and West Bank, Yemen. I was thinking of doing something to get their perspectives but perhaps too politically dangerous?

Conversation: Students are encouraged to share their stories but we recommended focusing on their individual experiences and culture

Not sure whether this is appropriate -- wear an AFS t-shirt that states: ask me about AFS

Conversation: The new IEW shirts have “ask me about the #AFSEffect” on the back!

Interviews with school newspaper are always a big hit! The actual newspaper in town might also agree to do a feature spotlight too.

During IEW at my university, I will be using the “AFS self-care with a global twist” as a discussion stimulus with international students from all over the world.

Visiting younger students or even a preschool or kindergarten can be so funny! The younger ones adore it and it’s less pressure for the students.