Global Learning Community,
Surely you have all been following the political and social unrest in Honduras reported recently in the news. As volunteers' safety is a primary concern for us in Global Learning, we in the organization have been monitoring the situation unfolding in Honduras carefully. Local partners have been reporting from within the country, and members of the GL leadership team outside of Honduras have been following news reports and travel warnings daily.
Though our Honduran program site near La Ceiba is relatively calm, last week it became very clear that the situation overall is too risky and uncertain for us to hold the new program in Honduras this year. Foreign volunteers selected for the 2009 team in Honduras have been invited to participate in our other programs in Central America which start this month. We will save spots for selected Honduran local volunteers on the upcoming program in their country, which hopefully will take place in 2010. The program has been postponed rather than canceled.
It is certainly disappointing to report that our new program will not be happening this year in Honduras. Of course, the political instability certainly has larger consequences for the people of Honduras who are bravely moving through what is a challenging and tumultuous time. I hope you will join me in wishing Honduran citizens, and in particular our local volunteers, a speedy, peaceful, and just resolution.
It is important to note that the political and social unrest in Honduras is isolated. It has not directly affected our program sites in Costa Rica and Nicaragua. We do not have any reason to believe that the internal conflicts within Honduras will spill over into neighboring countries.
Our long-running programs in Costa Rica and Nicaragua are stronger than ever. I am confident we will have another successful year in our current program sites, and will look forward to a new program running in Honduras when the context has stabilized.
Thank you for your support and understanding. As always, please write with any questions, concerns, and/or suggestions.
All the best,
Jana
Jana Kiser
Global Learning Executive Director
Monday, July 6, 2009
Thursday, June 25, 2009
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
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
Thursday, January 1, 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
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
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
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.
Friday, November 14, 2008
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.)
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.)
Friday, September 26, 2008
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
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
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
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