October Newsletter

Fall Semester in Ecuador

Our pioneering Fall Semester in Ecuador students has arrived in Cuenca! In
early September the intrepid group began their exciting semester program.
This program, co-sponsored by the University of Wisconsin Whitewater, is
focused on Communications and TV News Production in the developing world.
Students have been shooting footage during all of their cultural classes and
field trips, creating documentaries from first-hand experiences. All
students are enrolled in a Travel Study Communications course to help them
understand and digest the diverse world around them.

Their first week started out with a bang with 5 days of travel and
field study. From Ecuador's most vibrant craft market in
Otavalo to the historic city center of Quito, with a visit to
one of the most famous hacienda's in Ecuador, and time to chat and dance
with a family of Andean musicians and a community of weavers, they were kept
busy and given a thorough introduction to the country and its people. Soon
after they met their families and began classes on Spanish civilization,
Andean Literature, Cross-Cultural Communication and Spanish grammar - to
name but a few. The first few weekends were spent getting to know families,
visiting Incan ruins and exploring a small town in Azuay province.

Extra-curricular classes in traditional ceramic techniques and salsa dancing
have been extremely popular with the group. This weekend the group is off to
a National Park to canoe through mangrove forests and hike in tropical dry
forest to search for howler monkeys! Afterwards the TV News Production
course will continue to Guayaquil to visit one of Ecuador's largest TV news
stations to see "Las Noticias" en vivo!

Visit: http://www.cedei.org/cuenca/programs/fall/ to read more.

Medical Spanish in Ecuador
Our Medical Spanish in Ecuador program is accepting enrollments for our
November, May and August programs. Designed to give medical students and
professionals the capacity to communicate with Spanish-speaking patients,
this program is intensive with 4 hours of high-quality Spanish instruction
every morning. To supplement the classes and provide students with a broader
sense of health and medicine in Ecuador, we will be visiting clinics &
hospitals, have a Shamanism presentation, and visit a small community to
learn about rural health challenges. Students will live with the families of
medical professionals during their stay. For more information please visit:
http://www.cedei.org/cuenca/programs/spanish/medical.php
While this program is designed for any level of Spanish, we recommend that
beginning Spanish speakers try to take some Spanish prior to enrolling in
the Medical Spanish program so that they can easily apply their new medical
vocabulary. An ideal option is to enroll in our Full Immersion Spanish
Program (http://www.cedei.org/cuenca/programs/spanish/fisp.php) for a few
weeks before joining the program. CEDEI provides a strong Spanish base as
well as activities such as salsa, music and cooking classes.
This background will prep you for travel opportunities during and after the
Medical Spanish program in the Galápagos, the Amazon and in Ecuador's finest
markets!

Spring Semester in the Andes
This January we will, once again, be hosting our Spring Semester in the
Andes program (cosponsored by St. Ambrose University) - with a twist. This
program, which always had excellent travel opportunities, now is going to
South America's two most unrivalled sites: the Galápagos and Machu Picchu.
Students will be accompanied by qualified professors and guides on all field
trips, enhancing their classroom learning by applying studies to the field
and the communities around them. Our Spring semester offers classes in
public health, environmental studies, Spanish grammar, culture and
literature, political economy, Latin American art, Quichua, service-learning
and more! And, like all of our programs, students will live with local
families and become part of the Cuenca community. Apply now to ensure a
space for yourself at: www.cedei.org/cuenca/programs/semester/

Augustana College Summer Spanish Program
After an intense and breath-taking period of travel in Peru (climbing the
steps at Machu Picchu, enjoying the Peruvian markets, and exploring cities
and towns of great historical significance), the Augustana students are
sadly off - back at home and trying to understand what their South American
experience has meant to them. Ten weeks here have changed their lives. Not
only have their Spanish skills improved by light-years, their hearts and
minds have been opened to the world and all of its complexities. Many of
them now think of Cuenca as "home" and are scheming ways to return. We miss
them and look forward to seeing them down here in the future - perhaps doing
research, teaching English at CEDEI or working with our programs.

Race & Ethnicity in the Andes
Our anthro students have also departed after a month of intense study and
travel in Ecuador. Many of them were scheming ways of staying in Ecuador or
coming back for an academic semester - one month here is just enough to wet
your taste-buds and convince you to stay a year, or more. After teary
good-byes with their home stay families, they hopped on a bus and undertook
a break-taking descent from the Andes into the rainforest. There the group
spent nearly a week visiting community eco-tourism projects, artisan
initiatives (think beautiful beadwork with seeds), organic farming
experiments, and stayed with a Quichua family for one night. While moving
constantly, this group did not view Amazonian Ecuador as tourists, rather
they chatted with local people, learned about the intricacies of indigenous
identity and politics, discussed development initiatives and oil production,
and took field notes throughout. Soon after they once again ascended through
the Andes back to the highlands of Quito and Otavalo, where they learned
about the Otavaleño market dynamics and were awed by the social justice
messages of Oswaldo Guayasamin's paintings.

Summer TEFL
Our TEFL students have all succeeded and are the proud bearers of TEFL
certification! They are now poised to work as English teachers in any part
of the world - including Cuenca, where it looks like some of them will end
up. CEDEI's English department often hires TEFL program graduates who study
at CEDEI due to their understanding of life and culture in Ecuador.

Individual Students
We continue to have a steady flow of unique and inspiring individual
students -- from Montreal, Boston, Switzerland and Germany this month. Many
students opt to join CEDEI's full immersion program for a few weeks (or
sometimes a few months) before embarking on cross-country South American
travels. Taking intensive one-on-one tutorials at CEDEI is an ideal
way to prep yourself for independent travel. Teachers are diverse and
talented and are active people in the community. With the help of language
teachers students have joined bands, learned about local development
efforts, and have enjoyed the less concrete benefits of chatting about
globalization, philosophy, reincarnation, indigenous culture, and Ecuadorian
chocolate in their conversation classes. There is something for everyone -
including guitar lessons, salsa classes, travel to Incan ruins and
opportunities to volunteer and intern. Write us and tell us what you'd like
to do! (info@cedei.org)