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July 7, 2011

InteRDom to Host Summer Institute for Educators Field Visit

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InteRDom is proud to announce that it will host the field portion of the 2011 Summer Institute for Educators from July 10 – July 17 in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.  The theme of this year’s institute is “Colonial Latin America,” and InteRDom has prepared an extensive agenda that will explore how colonialism is manifested in modern Caribbean culture, identity and attitudes.

The Summer Institute for Educators is a series of intensive professional development sessions that serve as a continuing educational training tool for in-service and pre-service K-12 and university-level teachers. It is sponsored by Programs in International Education Resources (PIER), The Council on Latin American & Iberian Studies at Yale (CLAIS), the MacMillan Center, the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies at NYU (CLACS) and the U.S. Department of Education through a Title VI National Resource Center grant.

The first half of the Institute is a week-long workshop given at the Yale and NYU campuses during the week preceding the field portion.  These workshops will serve to prepare the educators participating in the field portion of the Institute for the things that they will see and experience on the ground in Santo Domingo.

The diverse group of 9 elementary, secondary and university-level educators will participate in an intense agenda of activities including, but not limited to: a workshop on indigenous heritage given at the Altos de Chavón Cultural Center, tours of the ruins of the Boca de Nigua sugar plantation and the Cueva de las Maravillas, which features indigenous cave art, trips to various museums, 3 panel discussions with experts on Dominican and Haitian development topics, a guided tour of the Colonial City and market and a trip to the León Jímenez Cultural Center in Santiago for workshops on teaching Caribbean themes.

All activities will feature a question-and-answer session and daily workshops in which educators can converse with experts and the “Master” teacher accompanying the group on how they can best incorporate that day’s topics into their class curricula.

This program responds to InteRDom and Global Foundation for Democracy and Development’s objective to increase the quality and quantity of Caribbean topics being presented in international classrooms.  The initiative will also serve to fortify InteRDom and GFDD’s commitment to providing networking, exchange and development opportunities to the Dominican Diaspora, as many of the participants in the Summer Institute have expressed their desire to use topics in the field portion to better serve and relate to the Diaspora students that they teach.

The internship program, InteRDom, an initiative of Global Foundation for Democracy and Development (GFDD) and Fundación Global Democracia y Desarrollo (FUNGLODE), is the premier internship, research and academic study program in the Dominican Republic. It offers international students the opportunity to research important topics at the forefront of the United Nations agenda, obtain professional experience by interning with Dominican organizations and businesses related to their fields of study and/or earn academic credits by taking courses and seminars at a local university.

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