Two women swap cultures with the Fulbright program

A university professor and an Irish teaching assistant will swap culture tips and help each other gain a better understanding of society as part of the Fulbright Scholarship Program with the International Institute of Education.

Leslie Duram, chair of the Geography department, will travel to Ireland with her family in August while Alana Ní Mhíocháin, a foreign language teaching assistant from Ireland who has been teaching Duram and her family Irish, will return to her native country.

Duram said the one-year Fulbright scholarship grant would support her sabbatical research in Ireland, where she is to conduct research on organic and local food, and teach at National University of Ireland in Galway.

According to the Council for International Exchange for Scholars, the Fulbright program sends 800 U.S. faculty and professionals abroad each year, where they lecture and conduct research in a wide variety of academic and professional fields.

Last time she took her sabbatical, Duram said she stayed in the United States and wrote her first book about organic farming. She said her children were much younger then and could not easily travel abroad.

“This time we thought they’re old enough, they’re great travelers,” Duram said. “We can go, and we should experience this now while they’ll still remember it.”

Duram said learning the new language is mostly just for fun because most people in Ireland speak fluent English. Duram said it has been helpful learning a new language as a family with Ní Mhíocháin. She said her family practices together at home.

“It’s a lot of fun,” said Maggie Duram, Leslie Duram’s 7-year-old daughter.

Leslie Duram said having Ní Mhíocháin come to their home and teach the culture and language has helped with her children. She said her 12-year-old son Kyle was leery about staying in Ireland for a year, but having someone from Ireland come and talk has helped a lot.

“It makes it seem real and normal,” Leslie Duram said.

 Duram said her husband would take a year’s leave from his job with USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service. He said he is lucky enough to have a supervisor that has guaranteed him a job when he returns.

In addition to the culture shift, Kyle Duram will have another new experience in Ireland.  He is going to start high school at the age of 12.

“When I’m there I’ll have to go to high school because high school starts in seventh grade for them,” Kyle said.

Ní Mhíocháin said she has been teaching Irish classes at SIUC along with the lessons she is giving the Duram family. She said her goal through the Fulbright program is to teach U.S. citizens about Ireland through language classes and Irish dance lessons. She said another part of the Fulbright program is for her to go back to Ireland with a better understanding of the United States.

At first, she said she was confused why she was being sent to Carbondale and not a bigger city such as Chicago.  She said she was very nervous, but had a great experience and has gained wonderful insight to American culture.

“I haven’t met a single person who hasn’t been hugely welcoming and really curious about where I’m from,” Ní Mhíocháin said.