In “Foreign Teacher Lands in Rural America,” the life of Charmaine Teodoro, a woman from the Philippines, in rural America is explored. She is a math teacher in a small town in Colorado, and was recruited online by the principal of a high school, who also acts as the district’s superintendent, due to staffing shortages. Her sense of loneliness and family while teaching in the United States is also highlighted in the video, as well as her ways of adapting to a rural lifestyle.
Social capital is a concept that can be noticed from Teodoro’s lifestyle in the United States. Nurturing relationships between those in a community is what forms social capital, which serves a positive role when it comes to maneuvering through societies. Bridging, which is the development of relationships between people in a community and those outside of it, and bonding, which is the strengthening of relationships between those already in a community, are two forms of social capital. For Teodoro,
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Specifically, the status of rural America within these concepts is noted by Teodoro at the beginning of the video. She points out the different amenities in the town, seemingly making a point of their close proximity and small size as she points out “the only café in town.” “I was surprised,” Teodoro says, “because I didn’t expect America—because in the Philippines [when] we think of America, we just think of New York or California—[to have] rural areas too.” Teodoro is pointing out that New York and California, states in the United States that are often stereotyped to have bustling, unique urban areas as what defines them, are assumed to be the essence of the country. By experiencing life in rural Colorado, a smaller town, she is making a point of rural life. Her expectations of the United States and the area she works in are opposites, and are examples of the concepts of gesellschaft and