GLBL 298: Education & Development Lumbisi, Ecuador Faculty Director: B. Hancin-Bhatt, Global Studies E-mail: hancinbh@illinois.edu Lumbisi! US Dept. of State: http://www.state.gov/p/wha/ci/ec/

What is this program about? Our 2011 group with children at the camp.

Experiencing Ecuador and its human and natural beauty Visiting a family near Otovalo, a city that’s home to many different indigenous groups Visiting a tropical fruit farm

Our group made chocolate, starting from getting the cacao beans from the fruit tree, moving through process to grinding beans. We enjoyed a delicious chocolate sauce over bananas! We visited a community on the coast in Esmeraldas and learned to dance their dances.

Scenes like these are easy to find. We learned how to get a shampoo out of native plants!

Understanding how education impacts a nation’s achievement Discussions with local educators & specialists Working with local children on an environmental awareness campaign.

Creating an educational and fun summer camp Making paper flowers Singing and dancing together Learning to buy & sell in English

Serving a community that is serving you! During the last week of camp, we put on a party and performance for Lumbisi’s elder community.

What will you get out of this program? Sharpen your Spanish skills! Gain leadership experience and valuable community service – over 70 hours. Advance your intercultural skills and teamwork skills – employers appreciate these qualities!

What will you get out of this program? Appreciate the critical value of education for a nation and its people. Endangered mangroves on the coast.

What will you get out of this program? Grow to love a community that is welcoming and appreciative of our service and will teach us more than we ever anticipated. Making delicious quimbolitos! Tire races! Cutting grass to take to the cows.

What will you get out of this program? Lots of new experiences through our travels around Ecuador, including a long weekend to the coast Yes, the whales are there in July! Clam hunting in the mangroves You’ll see many different varieties of plants you’ve likely never seen before!

Melissa’s View Participant in 2011

Teaching the Kids All of the kids are so sweet (even the trouble makers!) and love all the attention (hugs, smiles, “muy bien!”s) You get to design the curriculum and lesson plans! (Great practice!!!) Practice your Spanish (even if it’s beginner level now) Great for Bilingual or ESL Certification Learn real life skills for the classroom

Make Meaningful Connections Your host family truly are your “home away from home” and truly care about you Our group bonded A LOT!.

Have fun with the kids!

Beautiful Scenery. Seriously. There are beautiful mountains that you can see AT Muñequitos (the school) and pretty much everywhere else. Whenever I got frustrated or upset, I would look at them and think about the amazing experience and beautiful mountains and be happy again. (Above) we also visited cool sites like this one where we went up really high to get a better view of the mountains and Quito. Breathtaking.

Melissa’s Final thoughts Going to Lumbisí was one of the best experiences of my life and I miss the kids, the community and my host family every day. I encourage anyone who knows ANY Spanish to take advantage of this opportunity I cannot stress enough how valuable the time spent preparing, teaching, making mistakes, and re-thinking lesson plans was for me as a future teacher. If anyone wants to contact me with any questions, please e-mail me at mbarbier1117@gmail.com Do not worry about fitting in all of your classes – I even took one of the middle school endorsement classes while I was there and it was fine (and I got an A).