The U.S. Embassy Libya is pleased to announce the availability of Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant (FLTA) program for young educators to teach Arabic and study in the United States in academic year 2024-2025.
The FLTA program is a nine-month, non-degree experience for early career teachers. FLTA participants teach Arabic at colleges and universities in the United States while simultaneously taking courses in American culture. Teachers of English language, American Studies, and American/English literature – as well as professionals in related fields – are encouraged to apply.
Successful applicants must:
- Be teachers (with no more than seven years work experience) or in training to become teachers
- Have the equivalent of a U.S. bachelor’s degree by June 1, 2023
- Demonstrate fluency in English
- Demonstrate proficiency in speaking, writing, and teaching Modern Standard Arabic
Fulbright FLTA participants will assist in up to twenty hours of language classes a week and are required to enroll in at least two courses per semester, one of which must be in U.S. Studies. Coursework is offered on either an audit or credit basis. Fulbright FLTA participants will also be expected to facilitate in-person or virtual cultural events, language clubs, and language tables.
Eligibility and Ineligibility Factors: Applicants are typically teachers of English or in training to become teachers of English, and at minimum must possess the equivalent of a U.S. Bachelor’s degree by June 1, 2024, to allow time to submit an official transcript prior to the start of the Fulbright FLTA Program. Fluency in English is mandatory, demonstrated by a score of no less than 550 (paper based TOEFL); 213 (computer based TOEFL – CBT); 79-80 (internet-based TOEFL – IBT) or 6.0 (overall score International English Language Testing System – IELTS).
Applicants must demonstrate maturity, dependability, integrity, flexibility, and professionalism. FLTA applicants should be energetic, early career educators capable of succeeding in the dual role of teaching assistant and student. They must be open to living with their U.S. student peers in undergraduate or graduate level campus housing and also engaging with faculty and staff with maturity and professionalism.
Applicants must reside in their home countries throughout the nomination and selection process and must intend to return to their home countries immediately following the nine-month FLTA program. ECA will not support any extension requests for FLTAs. Participants must fulfill the two-year home residency requirement required by exchange participants’ J-1 visas, in which they pledge to demonstrate their commitment to enhancing mutual understanding by returning to their home countries and sharing the skills and knowledge that they have gained as program participants.
Applicants with active applications for permanent residency or the diversity visa lottery, as well as those who have a history of attempting to immigrate to the United States, will not be considered for the program or required J-1 visa. Past diversity visa lottery applications are considered a demonstration of intent to immigrate and will result in candidates being deemed ineligible.
The Fulbright FLTA program does not support dependents or family members. Candidates may not have any dependents accompany them for any time during the program. Family and friends may visit program participants during holiday periods only.
To apply, submit the online application on this link: https://apply.iie.org/FLTA2024 no later than May 15, 2023. Be sure to upload all required documents. Incomplete and late applications will NOT be reviewed. Please note that only shortlisted applicants will be contacted. Candidates whose applications include plagiarism – even just a few words – will be immediately disqualified.
Plagiarism Agreement:
Carefully review the Plagiarism Agreement and indicate your acceptance of the terms by selecting ‘Yes ’or ‘No’.
Plagiarism in any part of your application will result in your disqualification from participating in the Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant Program.
Plagiarism will be understood to include any of the following:
Presenting wording, statistics or concepts as your own which should be attributed to someone else or to publications (online or offline). This includes, but is not limited to:
- Copying the exact wording of a written source
- Presenting material with alterations in wording
- Paraphrasing the content of a source without citation
It is expected that your responses to all questions in the following application will be your own work and writing, with clear citation of secondary sources if describing academic work and the writing of others (including one’s own previously published work). Any sources used in the construction of your responses must be clearly cited.
Fulbright policies have identified that the following persons are ineligible for grants during, and for a period ending one year following, the termination of such employment, association, or service:
a. Employees of U.S. missions abroad who work for the U.S. Department of State or the U.S. Agency for International Development. This provision includes all employees, paid or unpaid (including part-time or temporary employees, consultants, externs, fellows and contract employees). This provision does not apply to interns;
b. Board members or staff of a Fulbright Commission;
c. Officers of an organization, in the United States or abroad, including members of boards of trustees or similar governing bodies, and individuals otherwise associated with the organization, wherein the organization and the individuals are responsible for nominating or selecting individuals for participation in any exchange program of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs;
d. Immediate families (spouses and dependent children) of individuals described in paragraphs a-c. This provision does not disqualify self-supporting children who live apart from their parents.
Please note that ECA interprets the above policy (FFSB 525.1.c) to include all employees or contractors (paid and unpaid) of cooperating agencies responsible for nomination and selection of any ECA-sponsored exchange program. Accordingly, current employees of IIE, AMIDEAST, etc., or those who have not passed one year since the end of employment in said organizations, are deemed ineligible for participation in the FLTA program.
For more information on the FLTA program, please send an email to LibyaUSAexchanges@state.gov or visit the following website: http://foreign.fulbrightonline.org/about/fulbright-flta.
Check the embassy’s online resources here for more information on the Fulbright and other exchange programs.