Placements

The IES program provides you with excellent options for both internationally oriented and local placements. These are organized in collaboration with partners at Laurier, like the Office of Community and Workplace Partnerships, and also depend on partnerships outside Laurier, including schools and community-based organizations.  

SECOND-YEAR PLACEMENT 

As part of INED201, Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy, you will engage in a local placement in a school or non-profit organization. INED201 is focussed on educational approaches that support diverse languages, cultures, and lived experiences. Your placement will give you a chance for experiential learning around these themes, including experiences in classrooms and other educational settings. You will spend 2 hours per week in the placement for the duration of the semester. 

TEFL PROGRAM PLACEMENT 

If you opt to complete the Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) certificate as part of your degree, you will conduct a placement with multilingual language learners in the fall semester of your third year. You will be supporting children, youth or adult learners. In some cases, your learners will be developing English proficiency. In other cases, you will support English language learners who are in local schools and need help with subject knowledge such as math, science, history, or geography. This placement is coordinated by Conestoga College, as part of the TEFL program requirements. 

SENIOR-LEVEL PLACEMENT 

Between third and fourth year, you are required to complete an intensive, internationally focussed placement with one of our partner schools or organizations. Many IES students are able to complete their placement abroad if they choose, but we also have enriching placements in internationally engaged settings right here in the Waterloo Region. As the COVID-19 pandemic has taught us, the privilege to travel internationally often depends on factors out of our control. As such, the opportunity to conduct a placement abroad is not guaranteed. 

The senior-level placement is closely integrated with academic learning. In winter semester of your third year, you will take GS391, Global Experience Pre-Placement (0.25 credit), along with other IES and Arts Global Experience students. This course includes reading and reflection on service learning and practice teaching in international and intercultural spaces, aimed at cultivating a thoughtful and reflexive orientation to your own perspective, roles, and experiences in your upcoming placement.  

During your placement, you will take two courses online, GS392: Global Experience Placement (0.5 credit), and INED302: Issues and Practice in International Education Studies (0.5 credit). You will conduct research, reading, and reflection related to the location of your placement, the school or organization you are working with, your roles, and your experiences.  

Finally, at the start of fall semester, you will take GS394: Global Experience Post-Placement (0.25 credit). Here, you will reconvene with your IES and Arts Global Experience peers to share your experiences and develop ways of narrating what you learned to different audiences, including future employers.