By Michelle Price, Cronkite News Service. May 4, 2009

As they prepare to compete in the 21st century global marketplace, Arizona students may soon find themselves using tools such as Google Earth to take virtual field trips or learning Chinese from Sesame Street characters on the computer.

About 100 teachers and administrators from schools statewide gathered at the Thunderbird School of Global Management on Friday for the first Global Teacher’s Summit, a day of seminars about the digital and cultural skills students will need. The state Department of Education organized the event.

“The future belongs to the highly educated, and particularly the highly educated who are prepare to participate in the world economy,” said Tom Horne, the state Superintendent of Public Instruction.

The summit stems from Horne’s goal of increasing international education, including creating schools specializing in foreign languages and international business and expanding foreign language programs to kindergartners.

“We have to graduate students who are fluent in three languages so that they can participate in the international market,” Horne said. “Many students graduate without taking any foreign language.”

Though English may be the international language of business, Angel Cabrera, Thunderbird’s president, told the audience that students speaking only one language will miss out.

“If you’re negotiating a business deal in China, the Chinese person across the table speaks their language and yours,” he said. “You only speak yours. They have the advantage.”
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