Leadership Training 2009

This month GL program coordinators and support people (assistant coordinators) are gathering in Liberia, Costa Rica for Global Learning’s sixth annual leadership training. The leaders present are preparing to guide the 2009 School Enrichment Programs in Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Honduras. Over the course of several weeks new and experienced coordinators and support people are focusing on topics ranging from GL’s pedagogy to accounting systems to conflict resolution techniques.

What follows is a first hand account about how the training is going from ­Ashley Engel, a new GL Support Person who will work in Nicaragua this year.

We´re here! I have been in San Roque, Costa Rica (near Liberia) for a week and a half. As soon as I arrived, I have felt so welcomed by everyone. I live with nine other people in a house that a GL supporter is allowing us to use. We have volunteers from diverse parts of the United States, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica. Working with such a diverse group is a wonderful experience. Because we differ in nationality, socioeconomic status, personality, religion, ethnicity, cultures, and gender, we all contribute to the group in different ways. Although we are such a diverse team, we all work well with one another as we work to achieve the goals of GL. I love learning about different cultures and experiencing new things while I am in San Roque. I feel as though I am a part of something bigger while working for Global Learning. I am spending my time doing something worthwhile and meaningful and am getting really excited to work in the schools.

A typical training day runs from about 8am to 9:30pm. Our team starts each day eating breakfast together. After cleaning up, we have a training session that lasts about two and a half hours in the morning. Then, we have lunch and enjoy some free time. In the afternoon, we have another training meeting for a few hours, and afterwards, members cook dinner. We have personal time to rejuvenate after dinner and then have another meeting at night.

In the bilingual training sessions and meetings, we are always learning. We have been studying the pedagogies of GL through numerous activities. The coordinators are instructing us on GL´s teaching tools to effectively teach in classrooms. In small groups, we practice these techniques in Spanish to prepare. In addition, we create visuals for the leaders and also other visuals to prepare for the arrival of the volunteers. As a support person, I am able to see the inner workings of the organization. The meetings are full of group activities where we learn about each other, ourselves, teaching, and the organization. The activities are about team­building, collaboration, and forming relationships between the leaders. Although training is about learning and working, the house is always full of laughter, and we are always having fun even through work.

In the house, I feel comfortable around everyone and am constantly laughing. I love learning cooking techniques, feeling like a part of a community, being a support person in an international organization, and learning teaching strategies. I really feel connected to each member on the team. In our free time, we can go to the internet café, which is only two blocks from the house, play cards, go to the town center, and even play soccer in the street. We also go on field trips to bond and to take a break from working to feel rejuvenated. As a group, we already went to the beach. We will be going to a waterfall soon. I feel so lucky to be here and am so excited for the program. I cannot wait for the new volunteers to arrive! See you soon in Nicaragua!
­Ashley Engel
GL volunteer, Nicaragua Support Person 2009

January Recruiting Update

Hola a todos! Happy Holidays to you all! Thank all of you for your hard work with recruiting in 2008! We are now moving on to recruiting in 2009! The following message is related to U.S.-based recruiting. An update about how to help in Latin America is coming soon.

During this month of January, most all colleges campuses in the U.S. are enjoying winter vacation. Let’s take advantage of this time to prepare for recruiting in the spring semester. Now that professors, and hopefully you all, are not as busy, let’s make a goal to contact professors and set up at least 10 class visits for the month of February (or whenever it is that classes resume on your campus). Once things are set up, the only thing we’ll have left to do in February is send a quick reminder to Professors and go do the 3-minute class presentations. (Please globallearningapplications@yahoo.com if you would like me to resend you the emails with the template email to professors, 3-minute class presentation notes, etc.)

This month, we can also use our beloved Facebook as a tool to spread the word about GL. On behalf of the entire recruiting team, I invite you all to donate your “status” to GL, every Monday of the month of January. We can make a big impact if we all change our status to say “Want to volunteer in Latin America? www.globallearninginternational.com” .

Now is also an opportune time for us to send informational emails to friends and family members who may be interested or know others interested in volunteering. Let’s also send follow-up emails to contacts made from our fall recruitment, reminding them of the deadline for applications and encouraging them to check out Global Learning’s new website: www.Globallearninginternational.org. I’m sending a follow up email that has volunteer information with GL’s new website address. It’s the same email that was sent last semester (with the header “Unique Volunteer Opportunity in Latin America”), only with our new website.

Thank you all again for your efforts and for giving back to our organization that has given so much to us.
Un abrazo fuerte,
Jessie

GL Website Launch!

Global Learning has a new website! Please visit www.globallearninginternational.org for the lastest Global Learning news, to keep up-to-date on GL programming, subscribe to the GL e-newsletter, donate online, and more! Thank you for staying involved.

November Recruiting Efforts

Hello!

I hope this post finds everyone in the best of spirits. Here’s an update on our recruiting efforts...

Things are going great! Thanks to Nessa and Jana we have updated versions of the recruitment information ready to go out to potential volunteers and to help guide you all through the recruitment process.

The next steps are for us to get things moving on our college campuses, actively recruiting for the Nicaragua and Costa Rica programs. Next summer we will also work in Mexico and Honduras, but at this time we are not recruiting for new volunteers to work in our programs in these sites. A more specialized selection process targeted at professional educators and experienced GL volunteers will happen later in the year for these programs.

Here’s our focus for November:

-Volunteers across the U.S. will plan for and hold informational meetings to be held on our campuses (finding a space, putting up flyers, getting the word out, holding the meeting).

-Volunteers in the U.S. will email program info and the 09 application to our friends, family, campus clubs, electronic bulletins, and list serves.

-We will contact professors in order to make 3-minute presentations about GL in our classes and at least five classes that are not ours.

I sent three emails to past US volunteers that contain documents to help guide you through the recruiting process. One has all you need for in-class recruiting through 3 minute presentations about GL. The second email has documents to help you with recruiting meetings on your campus. And, the last one is to forward to list serves, electronic bulletins, email lists, and contacts you gather from in-class presentations and recruiting meetings. If you have not received these documents and would like to, please send an email to globallearningapplications@yahoo.com.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions. Thanks in advance for helping spread the word!! Just think of what an experience you would’ve missed if someone hadn’t recruited you…

Thank you,
Jessie

(Esto ha sido un resumen del reclutamiento en los Estados Unidos y un plan de que vamos a hacer para el mes de noviembre.)

Funding for Exciting Research Project

Dear Socios,

Many of you know about the Stevens funding that came through in the spring and the exciting GL research/travel project that it will support. However, in order to ensure that everyone is up to date, here is the news…

In April, thanks in large part to good wishes, prayers, support and positive vibes sent by many of you, I was awarded a Mary Elvira Stevens Traveling Fellowship, an award available to alumnae from Wellesley College. I am going to use the fellowship for a new Global Learning research project starting in January 2009.

With Stevens funding, I will travel to Peru, Argentina, Mexico, Uganda, Kenya, and Thailand in order to learn with educators using empowering pedagogy that is similar to what we are using in Global Learning programs. I will visit three types of educational settings: progressive schools, outdoor education organizations, and refugee camps.

In each location, I will gather and share best practice teaching techniques that help students think, learn, believe in themselves, and be active world citizens. I feel very thankful for the opportunity to collaborate with our global colleagues engaging in best practices and look forward to returning to GL with valuable ideas from around the world to strengthen and improve our teacher training and educational programs.

Upon return, my intention is to work with GL volunteers to write a user-friendly handbook to help improve education in underserved communities. Targeted at educators and parents, it will be a manual of tangible student-centered techniques field-tested in the developing world that anyone could use to improve children’s learning and life preparation, even with minimal material resources. Hence, this exciting project will not only inform and strengthen GL programs, but also will enable us to share student-centered best practices with a much larger audience.

I will be traveling for approximately one year, with a few visits to our California office and current GL sites in Latin America worked into the itinerary. These visits will enable me to touch in and contribute, but I will need assistance with many of my duties as GL’s executive director in 2009. I am very grateful to the many Global Learning volunteers who have stepped up to make room for me to work on this new project. Regional coordinators and volunteers in Mexico, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and in the United States will add to their already heavy workloads next year to keep the GL wheels turning. We will have many experienced volunteers return in 2009 to guide the leadership training and school enrichment programs. I would like to offer special thanks to Nessa Mahmoudi, Jessie Anderson, and Roberto Vargas Sanchez who have committed themselves to taking over most of my administrative duties while I am traveling.

The solid, self-sustaining nature of GL’s current stage of development is a testament to the hard work and commitment that hundreds of volunteers have contributed. Thank you! I am grateful to work within our unique and passionate community and look forward to moving adelante with all of you in 2009.

With gratitude,
Jana

Publicidad (Radio y TV): Costa Rica

Septiembre 24, 2008
Liberia, Guanacaste
…MÁS INFORMACIÓN VIENE!
Saludos a todos Súper voluntarios de Global Learning.

La información que enviamos aquí es acerca de algunos de los puntos que habíamos tratado la reunión anterior, sobre las posibilidades de anunciar nuestro programa en la radio y en la televisión local.

Las noticias son positivas! Conversamos con personas de Radio Pampa y ellos nos ceden un espacio en su transmisión para hablar acerca del programa, la tarea es seleccionar una o dos personas para que asistan a la radio la próxima semana, cualquier día, solo debemos confirmar en la mañana al teléfono 26 66 49 63 que asistiremos en la tarde.

Sugerencia: las personas que vayan pueden conversar con ellos para obtener un espacio semanal para hablar de las nuevas actividades del grupo.

Con respecto a Canal 36 también tenemos un espacio al igual que la Radio debemos confirmar que asistiremos al teléfono 26 66 36 36 o con Doña Ingrid 83 10 82 47 (Nacira está perfeccionando los detalles con Doña Ingrid) y se debe elegir dos personas para ir a la entrevista.

Creo que las noticias son buenas porque hay disposición por parte de los medios de comunicación así que debemos aprovechar la oportunidad.

Pedimos disculpas por no poder estar en la reunión, pero tuvimos pequeños inconvenientes. Chao, éxitos y bendiciones.
Atte.
Nacira Valdelomar
Maylin Boniche

GL Honduras Proposal

Dear Socios,

I am writing to share some exciting news with you about a possible new Global Learning program in Honduras. As many of you know, some of us in the organization have been in communication with Honduran contacts about the promising new program for the last six months and GL Costa Rican Coordinator Roberto Vargas Sanchez and I have just returned from an on-site exploratory visit. I am happy to report that this new location potentially provides an incredible opportunity for growth for us as an organization, particularly with regard to teacher training, parent outreach, and depth of connection with individual students.

If plans go ahead, GL volunteers would be working in communities located in and around a Cuero y Salado Wildlife Refuge, about an hour outside of the town of La Ceiba, on the north coast of Honduras. Once owned by the Standard Fruit Company, it is an unusual program site set in a very remote area rich in natural beauty and community spirit, but challenged by acute educational need, material shortages, and socio-economic hardship.

This message is to inform you about some of the details of the possible new program (including challenges and opportunities) and to request your opinion and collaboration. The decision about whether or not to expand to Honduras will be made by October 15. Please read on to learn how you can express your voice. A crucial piece of the decision making process will be whether we have enough experienced volunteer staff to guide our existing programs along with a new one in 2009. Many of you have expressed tremendous excitement over possibilities of Global Learning expansion. Now is your opportunity reinvest in our organization and help us move forward.

A New Type of GL Program Serving Children, Parents, and Teachers

During the recent site visit, Roberto and I were inspired by the potential that exists for a new kind of GL program in Honduras. Because we would be working with a much smaller number of students (less than 200, as opposed to the 800-1000 students in other GL programs), there would be time and resources to create a three-pronged holistic program that serves children, their parents, and their teachers.

As in other GL programs, children would be reached through our school enrichment model with local and foreign volunteers serving as role models as they teach innovative, student-centered curricula in classrooms. There are four universities in the town of La Ceiba, and university students have vacation time that would fall during a July GL program. Hence, finding local volunteers is probably only a matter of recruiting and our strong contacts at the universities are confident that in-class visits and open house meetings would be successful there. Foreign volunteers would come from the broader international community, including hopefully experienced volunteers from our other Central American program sites in Nicaragua and Costa Rica.

Seeing parents as first teachers, the new program would provide home visits and school-based classes for parents in order to help them better support their children’s cognitive development, decision-making abilities, and academic preparation at home. Of course, this parent education would be designed with the context in mind. Based on GL’s current student-centered education training, some aspects of Nurturing Parenting (I trained with them last year), and the research on educational innovation that we’ll be doing this year with the help of the Steven’s Traveling Fellowship, the parent training in the new GL program would be tailored to parents with limited formal education, few material resources, and a strong desire to help prepare their children for life.

Teacher workshops would be the third piece of the Honduran GL program. Last week in Honduras, Roberto and I visited one room schools in which traditional frontal instruction (including very authoritative delivery and corporal punishment) is the norm, but we were touched by teachers doing the best they can with limited training and severe supply deficiencies in very challenging circumstances. They want to learn more and improve as educators. Hence, the Honduran GL program would be a prime spot to expand and develop one of the newer areas of GL programming: teacher workshops.

A Wilderness Context

In addition to the opportunities that exist in the Honduran site with respect to school enrichment, parent education, and teacher training, the context itself would provide Global Learning volunteers the opportunity to stretch and grow because the program would be held in the Cuero y Salado Wildlife Refuge. The challenge and beauty of the natural environment in the refuge would surely encourage team bonding, help open minds, and facilitate the crossing of socially constructed cultural, racial, national, and gender boundaries.

Despite its relatively short geographic distance to the city of La Ceiba (only about 20 miles), Cuero y Salado Wildlife Refuge feels remote because it is not accessible by car (only by boat or small train). The refuge forms a triangle encompassed by the Cuero and Salado rivers and the Caribbean coast, comprises a little over 82 square miles, and was designated a protected area in 1986 because of its endangered manatee population, as well as the complex series of saltwater and freshwater wetlands it contains. If this site is selected to host a GL program, volunteers would divide their time in different parts of the refuge in order to work with various communities within and around the park.

For most of the program, volunteers would live communally in a house borrowed from the Fundación Cuero y Salado (FUSCA) in the center of the refuge that provides ample space for volunteers’ living and working needs (great meeting spaces!), but does not have electricity. Volunteers would travel to and from school by small boat, a tiny train, or on the “burra” (a cart that is human-powered and pushed along railroad tracks left by the fruit company). While living in the house, the team would teach in the communities of Salado, Ceiba Mocha, and La Union. For at least one week of the program, the volunteer team would camp in tents borrowed from FUSCA in a more remote part of the refuge (only accessible by boat) in order to reach students in the community of Cuero.

Alliances with Honduran NGOs

If Global Learning chooses to expand to Honduras, there will be ample opportunity to collaborate with other nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in the La Ceiba area. In particular, GL would form an alliance with two environmental organizations doing good work in the Cuero y Salado Wildlife Refuge: Fundación Cuero y Salado (FUSCA) and USAID/MIRA (Proyecto Manejo Integrado de Recursos Ambientales). As mentioned, FUSCA would donate housing if this new program goes forward and leaders of both organizations would help to organize volunteer transportation, assist in recruiting local volunteers, contribute locally relevant content to GL’s environmental education lessons, and provide logistical support.

Challenges

Of course, all Global Learning programs have challenges. As our organizational philosophy reminds us, these challenges are also opportunities. This new possible program in Honduras is no exception. Here are a few of the challenges that Roberto and I noted while on-site:

1. Lack of electricity. Certainly, this challenge provides an incredible opportunity for teamwork, flexibility, and simplicity on a program. But, it is hard to store food for a volunteer team without refrigeration. This will create some hurdles related to food. It looks like we would be able to transport nonperishable food in by boat, pay some entrepreneurial local women to supplement what volunteers can cook for themselves, and perhaps rent space in a refrigerator outside of the volunteer house. But, our food costs may be higher than normal in this rural new program.
2. Limited transportation options. Because of the remote context, transportation to the work site is fairly limited and relatively expensive. The opportunities embedded in this challenge include chances to be very creative, flexible, and athletic. (Volunteers could build muscles pushing the burra!) The good news is that we could probably borrow a truck from MIRA to get to the boat launch and/or train departure point and FUSCA is willing to help us arrange the most economically feasible transportation options available once inside the refuge.
3. Smaller volunteer team. On this site, it may make sense to have a slightly smaller than normal volunteer team (i.e. in the range of 10 to 14 people instead of 18 to 22). This challenge holds many opportunities related to team unity, logistical ease, training possibilities, and initiative. However, with fewer volunteers and the financial aspects of the first two challenges presented above, there will be greater pressure on individual members to fundraise and look for in-kind donations. This being said, housing, communication, and fieldtrip costs will probably be lower than in other GL programs. A small, but hardworking team could certainly raise the money needed to fund this new program.
4. A remote wilderness setting. As stated previously, this new program would be held in a wildlife refuge. Bugs, animals, tropical heat, and other natural challenges will surely be part of volunteers’ daily routine. Of course, this challenge holds an incredible amount of opportunity with regard to personal growth, team unity, boundary crossing, learning, and humor. Nonetheless, it will be very important to select volunteers ready for the challenge. Flexibility, always an important characteristic for GL volunteers, will be paramount on this team. It will also be important to have at least a few volunteers on the team who have wilderness first responder medical training.

The Next Steps

Firstly, we need your ideas, doubts, questions, and suggestions. Please contribute them on the GL Blog (www.glinternational.blogspot.com) or email me at aprendizaje_global@yahoo.com. The decision of whether or not to expand to Honduras will be made by October 15. Coordinators from all existing sites and the GL Board of Directors will vote, assisted by input from all volunteers. Please make your voice heard.

Secondly, if the general consensus is in favor of the new project in Honduras, we need enough experienced volunteers to commit to returning in 2009 to ensure that we can run our existing programs and staff a new one. We need coordinators and support people in Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Mexico. And, of course, an experienced crew in Honduras too. Are you willing to reinvest in GL and help guide one of the upcoming teams? Can you commit by October 15? With your help, we will have an exciting season of creativity and teamwork, starting with an “innovation week” in early June, leadership training at the end of June for all program guides (coordinators and SPs), and then the programs will run in July/beginning of August. (There is a chance that the Honduras program could run in August, but our other programs will run from approximately July 3 through August 2.) If you want to be involved, please email me at aprendizaje_global@yahoo.com or call 707-365-3287. (If you are outside of the U.S. and want to talk on the phone, please just let me know and I will call you.)

Thank you for your insight and cooperation. I am looking forward to hearing from you.
With respect, gratitude, and cariño,
Jana