The group enjoys a meal in Jordan.

We arrived in Jordan yesterday. After days of debating what to pack, wondering whether I too would need to follow Muslim dress codes, I get to answer these questions first-hand, directly from the Jordanians. This is my first time in the Middle East, first time in a Muslim country. Like our students, I had all the pre-departure questions and worries only to realize that there is nothing to worry about; the Jordanians would answer these and many other questions with a smile and enthusiasm. (By the way, I didn’t really need so many long sleeve shirts. Foreigners can dress as they normally would.)

The aim of our trip is to experience and understand the power of our programs on the ground. For one week, we are living as SIT Study Abroad students. We’re participating in Arabic lessons, attending excursions, visiting with homestay families and eating ful, humus, and khubz arabi (Arabic bread).

After being here for one day, one thing has become evident: it is our local staff who make our programs what they are. SIT Study Abroad Jordan staff are professional, enthusiastic, and passionate. They are loyal, not only to their students and Jordanian culture but also to the SIT Study Abroad methodology. They believe wholeheartedly in the power of one-on-one cultural exchange. They believe in providing students with the highest quality, most authentic Jordanian experience possible. Whether it’s standard Arabic grammar, local Arabic dialect, cultural norms or daily Jordanian life, the staff are commitment to providing the students a true connection to Jordan, its people, its language and its culture.

The staff here is extremely professional and qualified. Yasir Hamed, the Academic Director, has developed Arabic language courses throughout the US and the Middle East. Each of the language instructors has an average of 5 years experience teaching Arabic to non-native speakers. For a course entitled “Intensive Arabic language”, this is a critical asset. Most language instructors have at least their Master’s degree and one instructor even wrote the language book the students are using.

It’s impressive hearing how well the students actually speak Arabic. Not that I understand what they are saying, but I’m aware that they are able to carry on conversations and speak continuously for several minutes. After being here for three weeks and only a few semesters of Arabic from their home universities, it seems pretty impressive.

To see more images of my trip, visit this Flickr set.

Students volunteer at a school in Chile.

By Bea Fantini

Not long ago, the former chair and vice chair of the 9/11 Commission wrote a compelling article about the need to send more students abroad. That article spoke directly to what World Learning is all about. Back in 1932 our Founder already realized the importance of exposing American youth to other people, places and cultures, thus the establishment of this fantastic place. Since then, thousands of High School and College students have participated in either Summer Abroad or semester Study Abroad programs.

SIT is only one of the many institutions that send students to study abroad. Of course there are many commonalities in all programs: the duration, the themes, content, the places and so forth. These programs put participants in direct contact with other people, other languages, and other cultures and in the end participants come away with a newfound intercultural competence.In brief, these experiences transform their lives. What is unique, however is the way participants are prepared and guided through this provocative journey.

We send more students to a lot of less visited destinations, teach more less commonly taught languages –in the field-than anyone else, it is the preparation we give our students in language and cross cultural orientation that make us stand out.The language and cross cultural preparation of our participants have always been at the core of all programs. Even though programs might focus on development, public health, environment, social justice, peace and conflict studies, etc., taken care of the student’s processes of acculturation and language acquisition is the underlying principle of our educational philosophy.These areas transcend everything our students do in the field.

In 1984, the President’s Youth Exchange Initiative was launched. The Initiative funded World Learning in order to survey the field and then develop and improve cross-cultural orientation materials to better prepare high school participants going abroad. The effort was directed at enhancing the benefits of this international, intercultural educational experience. Hundreds of different orientation models were reviewed in terms of both content and process.In the end, a series of guides for individuals going overseas were developed and published. The entire process went from pre-departure orientation to re-entry orientation and evaluation. This initiative and the program activities were some of the most valuable and rewarding professional activities that the organization had even implemented.

I have spent my entire life on one “study abroad” experience or another. I was born in Italy, raised in Bolivia, spent several years in a Peruvian high school but completed my undergraduate education in Venezuela. Even after I moved to the United States, I continued to have cross-cultural experiences –pursuing graduate studies in Missouri, living in New York, marrying in Pennsylvania and raising my family and making my career in Vermont.

All of these were significant inter- and intra-cultural experiences, similar to those had by many study abroad participants. Like many others, I often found commonalities among and between countries and cultures; but I was always most interested in those areas in which differences could be found. That is where some of the greatest challenges – and most profound learning – takes place. I discovered this in my early years, as I moved from one Latin American country to another.

In my own professional life at World Learning, I have tried to help people understand that personal interaction with someone from another culture can be more powerful and more profound than traditional, academic textbook-based approaches to learning. And in my personal life, too, since my husband and I both firmly believe in the fundamental value of international education, we have raised our two children with an understanding of the importance of cross-cultural experiences. Both have participated and lead Experiment programs, and each has studied and worked in multi0ple countries.

I have been fortunate to have made my career at World Learning, n institution that has been concerned with fostering intercultural understanding for 75 years! Through its programs, thousands of American students over the years have increased their understanding of the world and it has helped form many leaders in many fields around the world. I hope that it will continue to do so –for another 75 years.

By Reagan Jackson, former group leader for the Experiment in International Living

For the last three summers, I have been a group leader taking kids to Hokkaido Japan through the Experiment in International Living (EIL). Taking a mixed group of kids aged 14-18 abroad for 4-6weeks is hard. Many of these kids have never been out of their home states, let alone across an ocean to a place that is truly, radically different. Some of them end up hating each other, some of them ended up falling in love – you just never know what is going to happen. It is exhausting, complicated and there is never enough time to sleep. But in all honesty it is the best job I’ve ever had.

I love it. Each trip with EIL is arranged differently, but the way mine has worked is that we spend a few days doing an orientation in Tokyo, then we fly north to Sapporo for 10-12 days of language training and city life, then off to our host community, a small town outside of Sapporo where we stay with host families for about 2 weeks. After a big Sayonara and Thank You party, we catch a ferry down to Kyoto for temple gazing and good shopping, then back on the bullet train to Tokyo where we wrap it all up.

Every year for that short amount of time, and subsequently for years to come it seems (as I still hear from them) I get to connect with these amazing, brave young people. We share this crazy adventure filled with inside jokes, embarrassment, joy, fear, homesickness, and a million firsts: first time seeing the ocean, first time getting poison ivy, first time climbing the steps of the water temple (Kiyomizudera), first time wearing a kimono, first time seeing Sapporo lit up at night from the top of Mt. Moiwa

And I had my first as well: first time being a medical interpreter in Japanese, first time organizing the EIL Hokkaido Olympics, first time changing someone’s world view by introducing them to a culture I got to know intimately during my two years teaching. Though the learning is theoretically supposed to be what the kids do, these trips have taught me so much about myself, who I am and what my strengths and weaknesses are, and also what I can do.

I have been blessed with the affinity for and aptitude to teach kids how to become global citizens. I teach them how to have what my friend Tatsuya calls “heart communication”, which means creating a personal connection with someone beyond language and cultural barriers. I teach them and in turn they teach me how to not be so anal about linear time, how to break dance, how to play a practical joke, how to beat Dance Dance Revolution. They teach me how to love every day and see everything through new eyes.

Every year at the end of our stay, the fabulous in-country program director (someone I have come to consider a dear friend) makes special book marks for me and all the kids. Inside each is a unique kanji. It’s kind of like a one work fortune. For the past two years my kanji (and we draw them at random) has been Michi, or the road. Ishikawa-san always takes this as a sign that my path will lead me once more to Hokkaido. This last summer however, I drew a new kanji….Courage. More than anything I think of this word as a daily affirmation for my current path.

I have been afraid for so long…a smart, practical fear of not being able to do the things I really want to do. This fear has led me to settle, which is not to say I haven’t been happy with the decisions I’ve made, but rather that I might have had other opportunities had I been a little braver in my hopes. So this year I want to be courageous. I want to try something new. I applied and was accepted to lead for another year, but I declined. I want to take this summer and spend it writing and painting and spending time in my Seattle community. I want to do yoga and meditate and spend time on creating a new vision of what I want my life to look like. I know I will lead again, but if working with these kids has taught me anything, it’s that sometimes you have to take a risk. You have to try something new and if you’re lucky, you might just love it.

God knows I will miss my kids. I will miss the scavenger hunt, eating that Hokkaido vanilla soft cream at 9am, getting lost in Kyoto, watching the break dancers in Tanuki Kogen, playing ridiculous games in the park by Hokkaido University and cake tabehodai (all you can eat cake). I will miss vegetable dueling in Shibuya, soaking in the hot springs, meeting new host communities, learning taiko drumming, and singing karaoke. But I am happy. I have a wealth of friendships both with my ex-experimenters and with the families and organizers of my homestay communities. I have beautiful memories and I will make more this summer, just not in Japan.

“What are we doing here?” a film co-created by SIT Study Abroad Alum, Daniel Klein, recently premiered at the Atlanta Film Festival. This controversial look at the international aid industry in Africa was also featured on CNN’s Inside Africa. Watch SIT alum, Daniel, interviewed on CNN .

Summer is officially here and nearly 100 Experiment in International Living group leaders began their summer adventures on our campus in Brattleboro, VT. They were here for training before departing on one of the 2008 Experiment programs. They will lead over 1000 Experimenters to France, Botswana, Turkey, Thailand, China, Ecuador and 20 other countries for several weeks of bridging cultures, making new friends and experiencing the world. Workshop participants were educated about the ins and outs of leading 15-20 high school students to another country including how to create orientation programs and ice breakers for students, some of whom have never traveled abroad. Please watch the video clips to hear from leaders on how the Experiment has impacted their life and the life of the participants they travel with.

Alewa Cooper is a grade school teacher from New York. This is her 5th year leading an Experiment group to Brazil.

Deborah Friedman is an alum of the SIT Graduate Institute and works in international education in New York. She has led Experiment groups to New Zealand in the past and is leading a group to Belize this summer.

]]> http://worldlearningnow.wordpress.com/2008/07/08/eil-group-leaders-descend-on-campus/feed/ Michaela Hackner http://worldlearningnow.wordpress.com/2008/07/07/alumni-of-sit-and-eil-programs-meet-monthly-in-the-san-francisco-bay-area/ http://worldlearningnow.wordpress.com/2008/07/07/alumni-of-sit-and-eil-programs-meet-monthly-in-the-san-francisco-bay-area/#comments Mon, 07 Jul 2008 20:41:44 +0000 glickmanr http://worldlearningnow.wordpress.com/?p=123

The Bay Area World Learning Alumni Council

The Bay Area World Learning Alumni Council (BAWLAC) brings SIT and Experiment alumni together in the San Francisco Bay Area at informal gatherings once a month.  What is outstanding about these gatherings is not only that they are a lot of fun, but also that each of the alums share a common experience and common interest.  Every BAWLAC member, whether they have spent a summer or semester abroad or completed a graduate program at the SIT campus in Brattleboro, brings a positive and proactive world view to the group as well as  stories of their unique experience and how that experience has shaped their lives and their goals for the future.

Needless to say, an event hosted by BAWLAC is an opportunity to network and also to unwind.  BAWLAC provides the kind of comfortable atmosphere that can only exist among a group of people who, at least one point in their education chose to question their role in society ask how they can improve the world today.

Craig Madsen is the coordinator of the San Francisco  Bay area alumni group and is an alum of SIT Study Abroad.  If you would like to get involved with any of our regional alumni networks around the country, please click here.

Chantal in Nicaragua with SIT

Well, it’s finally over. I have no idea how it went so fast. It seems like just yesterday I was cursing the hundredth snowfall of the winter and the frozen tundra of Brattleboro while working feverishly on five different group projects at once. It seems like just the day before that I was sitting on the hill outside Boyce Lawn, gazing out at the beautiful Connecticut River Valley draped in sunlight, listening to our beginning of the year convocation ceremony. I guess time really does fly when you’re having fun.

I came into this year of graduate education with few expectations. Life taught me a long time ago that expectations often bring disappointment, so I tried very hard not to have any prior to arriving at SIT. In retrospect, that was a good starting place mentally, as I had a completely open mind upon starting classes and was ready for just about anything. Over the course of the year, I found myself continually impressed with the quality of my education and how the topics of my courses meshed so well with subjects that I have long been passionate about. This unique blend of passion and intellectual stimulation drove me to really engage with my classes (my readings, my professors, my colleagues) in a way that I never did during my undergraduate years.

Now don’t misunderstand me: the year wasn’t all sunshine and roses. There were very difficult moments, moments that sometimes turned into hours and days. There were big disappointments, angering interactions, and really tough issues to deal with throughout the year. But the beauty of SIT’s environment was that circumstances did not allow for me to be down for too long. Whether it was an upcoming conference like the Net Impact conference in Nashville, a guest speaker like acclaimed author Cris Beam, a student-led event like Race for a Reason or People, Plants, and Possibilities, there was no time to stand still and wallow in negative emotions. That was definitely part of what made the year magical and well-balanced, and what propelled me forward each day so that I could keep learning.

What I learned at the SIT Graduate Institute was more than just sound corporate social responsibility practices, financial management, and project design. What I learned was that I can achieve personal goals, small or large. What I learned is that intercultural communication is one of the most important skills a global citizen can have today. What I learned is that doing what is right is almost never synonymous with doing what is easy. What I learned is that true friends can carry you when you feel too heavy to carry yourself. What I learned is that even the most open-minded places have deep, dark closed-off pockets of people. What I learned is that the power of one is definitely enough to make a difference. What I learned is that I never knew how much there was to learn.

No year in my life has ever been so jam-packed, so stress-ridden, or so completely rewarding as this past year at SIT. I had no idea what it would turn out to be when it started, but somewhere in my mind I hoped for something about half as interesting. And now that it’s over, I feel as though there is a large empty space in my heart and my head. That space was reserved for SIT over the last year, for philosophical discussions with friends, for mind-bending conversations with professors, and for absorbing the constant beauty of my experience in Brattleboro. I struggle daily to fill that space just a little so that I don’t miss everything so much, but I fear the struggle is in vain… In my dream of dreams, my next full-time job will rival the complete experience I had at SIT. Is that even possible, I wonder? Only time will tell.

To all of the staff at World Learning who support the Graduate Institute, I offer one student’s gratitude for all your hard work, patience, and kindness. To all the senior administrators at World Learning, I say thank you for taking steps this year to safeguard the future of this school, for stewarding the whole organization to the best of your great abilities, and for being open to the student body. To all the professors of the Graduate Institute, thanks for touching our lives so deeply and leading us toward knowledge in your inimitable way. To all the students of PIM67 and MAT39, thank you for your passion, your commitment to our school, your contributions to our collective learning, and keeping me on my toes.

It was an extraordinary year.

Chantal Sheehan is currently enrolled in the Master of Science in Management concentration of the Program in Intercultural Service, Leadership, and Management. Chantal has just finished working with the Communications and Marketing Department of World Learning as a work-study student and roving reporter during the 07/08 academic year. To contact Chantal, email chantal.sheehan@mail.sit.edu

Phymean Noun, former participant in SIT’s Southeast Asia Fellows program, was selected as a “CNN Hero.” Phymean is a Cambodian activist who saw needs among women and children in her country and formed an organization, People Improvement, to address those needs. A video about Phymean’s work was aired on Larry King Live and several CNN stations recently and is now featured online. Watch SIT alum, Phymean, featured on CNN.

Co-founded by SIT Study Abroad alum, Robin Pendoley (Bolivia 1999), Thinking Beyond Borders (TBB) recently hired SIT graduate student and EIL alum/ group leader, Nina Rubin, to help lead their inaugural gap year program.

With a similar philosophy to World Learning’s, TBB is a 35-week program to educate youth about the economic, political, and cultural realities of our world while empowering them with the tools to create proactive social change.  The gap year students participating in the program travel the world, living with homestay families and working with locally-based NGOs in 5 separate countries.  The curriculum challenges participants to examine their assumptions about the world, its challenges, and themselves.

Nina comes to TBB in the midst of completing a Masters of Arts in International Education from the SIT Graduate Institute. With her course work completed, the coming year will serve not only as a powerful application of both theoretical and practical learning, but also as the practicum component of her education. Nina has extensive experience as an international educator having led multiple trips for the Experiment in International Living in Australia, the Navajo Nation, and currently in Belize. She also spent a summer in French Polynesia as a Trip Leader for the International Camper Exchange Program of Becket-Chimney Corners Camp, located in Becket, MA.

These experiences give her a deep understanding of the logistics of student travel, the power of well-facilitated experiential learning, and the importance of cultural sensitivity. Nina has also served as an Outdoor Educator with Outward Bound. In this position she helped students build skills in healthy risk-taking, communication, and personal development, all while leading five-day wilderness backpacking courses.

Clearly, Nina’s teaching background is both impressive and incredibly well suited to the varied and specific demands of a TBB program. However, she also brings skills and interests from her educational and professional careers that further enhance her ability to enrich the experience of TBB students. Completing her undergraduate career at Wesleyan University, Nina earned a BA with High Honors in Music, focusing specifically on ethnomusicology. During this period, she spent a year in Zimbabwe, researching mbira with Shona musicians, first with the Pitzer College in Zimbabwe program, then as an independent traveler.

As a professional, she has written and edited both for Fodor’s Travel Publications and as a freelance writer. She even has experience in film production and post-production.  Without a doubt, Nina’s passion for following her curiosity as a learner, capacity for expressing herself in various media, and detail-oriented approach to presentation and communication make her indispensible as a member of the 2008-09 TBB Teaching Team.

The Summer Peacebuilding Program of the Conflict Transformation Across Cultures program (CONTACT) is highlighted below in an article published in the Brattleboro Reformer newspaper.  This Summer Peacebuilding Program is one part of a three-section Joint Masters program at the SIT Graduate Institute.  Following the Summer Peacebuilding Program, some participants choose to continue with the CONTACT Graduate Certificate, and a shortened version of the MA.

Crucible for positive change
By BOB AUDETTE, Reformer Staff

Monday, June 16

BRATTLEBORO — A relatively peaceful life, clean air, water and food, a place to live and a job are things most of us living in the United States take for granted. For the people attending the Conflict Transformation Across Cultures program at the School for International Training, visiting Vermont is a chance to put aside their hectic lives and see some of that for themselves.

This year, 62 people from 24 countries are participating in the three-week course, said Paula Green, the Contact program director. The program, now in its 12th year, brings together people from different cultures, religions, ethnicities and countries to learn how to turn conflict into something positive.

“How to build a global community that supports everyone’s rights and needs,” said Green.

Putting aside preconceptions about others is the first step, she said. “We all carry religious, ethnic and cultural intolerances.”

For many of the attendees, meeting people once perceived as enemies is a revelation, said Green, and one step in working to overcome their own prejudices and stereotypical images of “the other.”

Throwing people together “in this crucible,” said Green, “you can’t not be changed by it.”
The people who attend the program are professionals in their own countries seeking to learn new techniques that they can then bring home and pass on to their neighbors.

The attendees range in age from 25 to 65, said Marianna Syrotiak, the program manager, and are government and social workers, doctors, lawyers and priests.

Together they learn about nonviolent solutions to regional and global problems.

“They’re not only learning from the faculty,” said Syrotiak, “they’re also learning from each other.”

Meeting people from other cultures unites them in the knowledge that they aren’t the only ones who have suffered from political and economic oppression, she said.

The students also build a network of like-minded people seeking to make positive change in the world.

Spending time on SIT’s campus is a way for the attendees to step back from the clamor of their lives in their own countries, a time to slow down and learn how to make a difference when they return.

“This is a place where you can express yourself, voice your opinions, cross-fertilize ideas and network in a very peaceful way,” said Lounis Tamrabet, who works in the Algerian Ministry of Education.

One of the highlights of their visit to Vermont was experiencing the Strolling of the Heifers parade in downtown Brattleboro.

“It seemed too good to be true,” said Virender Malik, a colonel in the Indian Army. When he heard about the festival, he expected it to be a riot of people and noise, such as he is used to in India.

Instead it was small and friendly.

The same was true about Newfane, which the students visited Thursday night, where people had a sense of pride and togetherness and were humble.

“Things we dream about in India,” he said.

Brattleboro and Newfane were pleasant surprises for Pamela Ogega, a teacher from Kenya, who had before only visited New York City.

“I envisioned a big noisy place with lots of traffic,” she said.

Instead, she was floored by the peace and quiet of Vermont, its clean rivers and friendly people.

Most of all, she said, “I can’t believe there’s so much green.”

She was also impressed with the way nature is respected and cared for in Vermont.

“I wish we could do that.”

Three years ago, a group of attendees visited Newfane to get a real taste of what life in small-town Vermont is like, said Green, a visit that has been repeated ever since.

“It’s such a lovely community and very gracious,” she said. “The participants felt very comfortable there.”

Newfane residents opened their doors and hearts to the attendees, she said, and visiting Newfane and Brattleboro is a rural experience removed from the glitz and temptations of big cities.

“It’s good for them to have this sort of American experience,” said Green.

It’s hard to imagine the issues these people deal with on a day-to-day basis, said Chris Petrak, of Newfane.

“The opportunity to share with people from 24 different countries and many different cultures, to extend hospitality, hear some of their stories and share some of ours is a very fulfilling and rewarding evening.”

It’s good for people from another country to see how ordinary people live and listen to how their opinions might differ from what they see in the news or on television, he added.

Visiting Vermont has been like a dream, said Tamrabet.

“We want to ask time to stop.”

In January 2009, this group of students will meet once again, this time in Rwanda to learn how that country and its people have put aside their differences to forge a new path.

“It’s time to say enough is enough,” said Tamrabet. “People understand that peace is the solution.”

Bob Audette can be reached at raudette@reformer.com or 802-254-2311, ext. 273.