On Halloween night, Study Abroad instructors Anne Belden and Lindsey Ayotte decided to crash the Graham Norton television show — without tickets — in hope of getting in. They not only talked their way into the audience, but they both delivered “Red Chair” stories to Norton and celebrities Billy Crystal, Pharrell Williams, Hugh Bonneville and Emily Mortimor.
A red chair story is when an audience member sits in a red armchair and tells an embarrassing story. Host Norton can pull a lever and flip the storyteller and chair backwards, or, if he likes the story, let the person walk. Both Belden and Ayotte told their stories, and both got to walk.
“Being part of the red chair segment and then watching my colleague Lindsey not only tell her hilarious most embarrassing story but make the cut for global distribution was definitely a highlight of my semester teaching abroad,” Belden said.
Belden, a journalism instructor from Santa Rosa Junior College is one of four Northern California instructors living and teaching in London this fall as part of the American Institute for Foreign Study (AIFS) program. Just like their students, study abroad instructors also face challenges adapting to life abroad, make new life memories, and at the end, bring back lessons learned from living and teaching in London.
“I loved the opportunity to get creative with my classes, using London as our backdrop,” Belden said. “However, my favorite moments, like the red chair experience, were not always in the classroom.”
Outside the classroom, the instructors faced challenges, including dealing with family issues back home, missing children and pets and of course, dealing with the students’ drama.
For Communication Studies Instructor Lindsey Ayotte from Skyline College, one of her biggest challenges was being away from her family for 90-plus days. “I’ve missed my husband and daughter so much,” she said.
Belden explained the students missing class and assignments have been one of her biggest challenges. Traveling through Europe is cheap and easy from London, so students take off on Thursday afternoons or Fridays and don’t focus on homework over weekends. Also, nearly every student was sick for a week or two with a virus that spread through the dorms and classrooms in late September and October. “It’s challenging when it comes to academics, which seems to be their last place priority,” she said, “but then, they learn so much from living and traveling abroad, and a lot of their personal growth takes place outside the classroom.”As a result, Belden has been receiving a lot of late assignments with the semester coming to an end.
Gregory Beyrer, a history instructor from the Los Rios Community College District, taught United States and European history classes in London. “Part of the study abroad ethos is the idea that ‘London is our classroom.’ I’m glad I made that part of my instructional planning, as I took my students on several field trips in each of my classes and encouraged them to make connections between what we’re studying and where we’re learning,” he said.
“This was easy in London, where there are so many interesting things to see and do.”
Beyrer said. His greatest challenges were personal ones. “My family joined me, and my wife is working as a counselor for students back in California. Since she meets with them synchronously, her working hours are in our evenings. That means Monday through Thursday we haven’t been able to eat dinner at all, let alone be spontaneous and go out to restaurants that we heard about during the day.”
Diablo Valley College English Instructor Christian Morgan offered Shakespeare, children’s literature and critical thinking classes to study abroad students in London. “An incredible moment was taking my students to the Shakespeare’s Globe Theater to see the ‘Comedy of Errors,’” he said.
Student Kate Owen Dildine thought seeing the play in the historic Globe was awesome and gave insight into Shakespeare’s history. “Seeing the characters act out the play that we were studying really helped us visualize the humor and understand the character dynamics,” she said.
What will the study abroad instructors take home from the United Kingdom? “I’ll take home an appreciation for the default keyboard layout that we have in America,” Beyrer said. “For some reason it took me a long time to remember where the ‘@’ key is on the keyboards in our classrooms and the faculty office.”
For Belden, she will take home a love of — and a few cans of — paprika-flavored Pringles, a flavor not available in the United States. “And a deep love for the city of London.”
Ayotte will also return to the states with an abiding love for London. “It will always have a piece of my heart,” she said.
