OXNARD : Professor Is Chosen to Teach in England

The stunning image of the white cliffs of Dover burned into Linda Crowl’s memory as she crossed the English Channel early in the 1970s.

The Oxnard College business professor had only a short time to visit southern England then. But now she will have a year to explore the area as she begins the 12-month Fulbright Teachers Exchange Program in August.

“I’m a little nervous and apprehensive,” she said. “It’s something new, and going for a year is quite a commitment. I’m leaving everyone I know and everything I own. So I’m a little scared, but I’m looking forward to it.”

A chance to swap places with a foreign teacher came when a program application crossed her desk a week after the deadline last fall, she said. But she called anyway and found that the application period had been extended two weeks.

So Crowl rushed to get her materials in the mail and, six months later, was told that she was one of 200 educators across the country accepted from more than 2,000 applicants.

“I was very surprised,” said Crowl, who traveled Europe following her college graduation.

“This was the first time I had applied,” she said. “I really hadn’t given it much hope.”

Crowl, who has taught business at Oxnard College for 14 years, will leave for Brighton College of Technology on Aug. 7. It is a vocational institution about 60 miles south of London.

She will trade jobs and houses with David Frayne, an English professor of business, who will stay in Crowl’s Oxnard home with his family during the 1994-95 school year.

Crowl and her 14-year-old son, Casey, will live in Frayne’s home in Brighton. She will teach business courses, travel and tourism, accounting and finance to English vocational students.

“I’m going to bring to them information about the United States,” she said. “There are a lot of misconceptions, especially about California.”

Casey has never been overseas. But he is preparing for what he knows will be an enriching experience.

“I think it’s going to be awesome,” said Casey, who would be a 10th-grader at Oxnard High School this fall. “I’m really stoked about the whole thing because it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and so few kids get the chance.”