René Zingarelli 5/1/05
Associate Dean- Division of Skills Development
ClackamasCommunity College
19600 South Mollala Ave.
Oregon City, OR. 97045
Dear Ms. Zingarelli,
We are writing you today to inform you of an emerging partnership between your Spanish GED coordinator, Mr. Camilo Sanchez and the Portland State University Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures. We are also writing to askyou to allow Mr. Sanchez to accompany us this summer for a community based learning and teacher training program we offer in Guatemala C.A.
We have been working with Camilo for the past two years. During this time PSU’s Applied Language in Service program has sent him students who assist in Clackamas’s Bi-lingual GED program. This partnership has been very successful and this term Camilo will be team teaching the class at PSU. We propose to build on this partnership by having Camilo join us for a three week program we run in Guatemala.
For the past three summers the Foreign Languages and Literatures department at PSU has offered an 8 credit program that takes students and bilingual educators from the Portland metropolitan area to the beautiful mountainous state of Sololá, Guatemala. This program is one of our most popular community based learning programs and a model for PSU’s internationalization efforts. For the three weeks we are in residence, we work in three Mayan communities on a variety of projects and activities in their schools. The program is organized so PSU students act as “teacher’s aids” for the Portland teachers who mentor (and learn from) their Guatemalan counterparts during the time we are in residence.
Since the teacher exchanges provide the focus for our work, it is imperative we bring experienced bi-lingual educators with us to Guatemala; Camilo exemplifies the type of teacher we are looking for. His contribution to this exchange will be tangible but in exchange he (and by extension Clackamas) will benefit as well. Our teachers profit from the contact they have with the indigenous teachers and the resulting understanding they develop for the limitations of the educational system under which they work. This is particularly germane to those Portlandeducators, such as Camilo, who coordinate programs whose mission it is to serve immigrant populations. By traveling to Guatemala and working in these communities they gain a much better understanding of the origins and educational issues of their future clients. This, in turn puts them in a better position to advocate for their programs so their institutions can best serve their student’s educational needs.
We are very excited that Camilo would consider joining us this summer. We also know he has ongoing responsibilities at Clackamas and that his value to your program does not diminish even during the summer. We hope you will support this professional development opportunity because we know we will all benefit from his experience. Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any questions and if you would like to learn more about the program you can do so by visiting the project website at:
Sincerely,
Manya Wubbold- Spanish
Mark Wubbold- Finance and Administration