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The goal of this institute is to help teachers and others gain a global focus for their teaching and community work and to guide their students and communities towards an understanding of common environmental challenges among the world’s peoples. This institute is for people who are committed to providing others with an understanding of the interdependence of the people and eco-systems around the globe. For the past ten years, this project has been carried out with San Francisco Bay Area classroom teachers and community activists as they learned about both the local and global implications of current environmental challenges. Part of the institute is a journey to another country to engage in an international teacher exchange. During collaborations teaching practices and common life themes are explored and lasting personal and professional relationships are developed. Students in the home classroom can become thoroughly integrated in the journey of their teacher and the process and experiences are also shared with the families and the greater school community. We believe that young people who build first hand connections, with people in different countries will grow up developing a critical awareness of their interconnectedness to other people and places around the world. “This trip has impacted my entire being. I am questioning my every action. From what I eat, to the waste I produce, my use of water and what I throw away.” (Mitzila) Requirements and Schedule
The Institute spans a 31/2 month period and includes a ten day visit to a “developing” country. Institute participants meet approximately one evening each week and a selected Saturday as the international journey approaches. This enables participants to explore local and global environmental and social issues that will also be infused into classrooms or community work. Selected readings and film viewings are required (both in and out of session time) in order to build knowledge and understanding of issues relevant to both local communities & the host country. Preparation and International Work During the international portion, participants engage in an exchange based on interactive teaching strategies, community building within classrooms, the integration of children’s literature to motivate discussion about important environmental, social justice and human rights issues, the authoring and creation of books and the development of a collaborative thematic unit based on an environmental issue of concern to the community in which they are visiting.
All participants are prepared in international workshop methodologies. The institute prepares educators to develop guidelines for working together and also to work through translation, if necessary. A great deal of thought and work goes into the preparation for an International Teacher Exchange. In the weeks prior to departure, classroom teachers plan lessons and have discussions with their students about the country that they will be visiting. This is done through the use of videos and relevant children’s literature followed by conversations about what is seen, heard and learned and how it relates to the lives and experiences of the students. Students become totally engaged and highly motivated learners as the international exchange becomes an important aspect of classroom learning. The students learn about the people and places their teachers will visit and students prepare a book for their teacher to gift to the teachers they meet. The book is written by each classroom of students, as a form of introduction and to tell something about student interests and lives in California. Many lessons in writing, social studies, environmental science and art are developed and taught as part of the process of creating a class book.  Sharing creative and interactive ways of encouraging a critical and socially contextualized literacy development, is one important goal of this project. A strong focus is placed on writing original texts and the creation of books.
Through the exploration of environmental, social and global themes, teachers learn that critical discussions with their students and communities generate ideas that then become the texts from which young people can learn to read and to write. Participant Reflections
“I experienced first hand what it was like to not understand a language and this work really helped me to understand better the life of my immigrant families and be a more compassionate teacher and advocate.” (Jeremiah) “Collaboration among teachers is just essential for growth and when you collaborate with teachers in a different country with a different perspective, with different experience, it really just sheds so much light upon your own life and your own practice." ( Alestra). Application Process
Educators interested in the goals and design of the Institute should contact CCEGL to request an application. Selected applicants will participate in an interview with CCEGL Director and members of the board. The cost of each Institute; the five month and the Summer Institute is $1,500. Air fare is not included. In country expenses are minimal. Institute participants may earn four, six or ten optional units of credit from Cal State Eastbay. Professional Units Institute participants may earn four, six or ten optional units of credit from Cal State Eastbay. Per unit Registration forms are provided and participants pay directly to Cal State for the units.(approximately $78) Below you will find highlights of prior International Collaborations: Summer 2011 and Summer 2010 Institute participants worked with teachers and community activists in a community of the Sierra de Juarez, (Gueletao) about an hour and 1/2 from the city of Oaxaca, Mexico. Many indigenous communities are working towards creating autonomous schools and we shared teaching strategies, literature selections and life experiences. Conversations were very lively. Winter 2009-2010This exchange was carried out in the indigenous Nahuatl community of Izalco. The school community is in the process of reclaiming indigenous language and traditions. Together we explored culturally relevant approaches to teaching and learning. (click here to see 'El Salvador Journey' page)Chalatenango, El Salvador
For several years, CCEGL educators have had a strong, ongoing relationship of support and admiration for the movements of Liberation Theology and social change in El Salvador. In an effort to continue to nurture this relationship, we embraced the opportunity to work with educators in the mountain provinces of Chalatenango and Sonsonate. Many teachers in the small communities of Guarjila and Arcatao learned to teach in refugee camps, as young men and women during the civil war period. They are known as "popular educators." Living and working in these communities of survivors and creators of a new society has been a deep experience for all of our teachers, many of them who are teaching the children of Salvadorean immigrants in their own classrooms in the Bay Area.   
PENNAT (Guatemala) (Proyecto Educacional Ninos, Ninas y Adolocentes Trabajadores) (Educational Project for Working Girls, Boys and Adolescents) PENNAT embraces an innovative approach to education inspired by the ideas of Brazilian educator Paulo Freire. The teachers in the project have spent many hours creating teaching materials that can respond to the basic needs of the children's lives. Most of the schools are found across the country, in a corner or small room in the market places where the children work. The school goes to the child and begins with each child individually according to his level of prior learning. The teachers are enthusiastic learners. Our teachers co-facilitated a collaborative teaching workshop where cultures and teaching strategies were shared. A research project was carried out in the local marketplace in which dialogues were conducted with vendors and other workers. Findings were used to create a new context for developing student literacy, focusing on a topic important to the lives of the learners. The experience established an ongoing relationship between San Francisco and Guatemalan classrooms. The following year a group of Mayan educators joined teachers in San Francisco for a Three Week Intensive learning experience. During a pre-workshop journey across Guatemala, teachers were able to visit the Mayan highland community of Chichicastenango and the Caribbean Coastal Garifuna, Mayan and Ladino community of Livingston and discover the multicultural, multilingual aspects of the country. The following year an educational exchange was planned and carried out in Livingston. Pinar del Rio Province, Cuba
Institute teachers worked in the tobacco -growing region of Cuba, in a small village with one elementary school. The “intercambio” was rich with music, dance, literature and creativity. In a country that can boast of a 99% literacy rate teachers had much to learn from their colleagues, many who had been teenagers when they began teaching during the early years of the revolution. The teacher's belief in the power of education and their unifying philosophy based on the writings of Jose Marti inspires their continuing commitment. “Saber leer, es saber ayudar. Saber escribir es saber ascender.” [To know how to read is to know how to help and to know how to write is to know how to move forward]. All participants learned that the power of human relationships built on respect, collaboration and love are stronger than political barriers imposed by governments. Future JourneysA future journey, in the planning stage, is an exchange in India with a progressive rural community school. Other institutes will take us to the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, South Africa and Cuba. Take a look at the video clip at the top of the page
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