CONTACT: Guillermina Engelbrecht, 277-3910 Media Contact: Laurie Mellas-Ramirez, 277-5915

Oct. 8, 2002 CHILEAN EDUCATORS VISIT UNM OCT. 27-NOV.30 Two groups of Chilean educators will participate in professional development programs Oct. 27-Nov. 30 at the University of New Mexico College of Education (COE). UNM competed with 50 universities internationally to attract the teachers whose visits are funded by grants totaling $130,000, awarded by the Chile Ministry of Education, said Guillermina Engelbrecht, Ph.D., director of the COE's Office of Latin American Programs in Education (LAPE), now part of the Multicultural and Bilingual Education Center. UNM is the only institution awarded more than one grant from the ministry. LAPE, in existence for more than three decades, today focuses on immersing Latin American educators in the American education system and promoting other international exchange experiences. A group of 21 Spanish-speaking teachers representing each of the 13 Chilean regions will take part in the program "Environment as an Integrating Context for Curriculum." A second group of 21 teachers fluent in English will be at UNM to boost their skills in teaching English as a Second Language (ESL). Both groups will take part in five weeks of seminars, workshops and discussion groups. Field trips to area schools, a community center and Pueblo feast day are planned. Several project assistantships, funded by the grants, have been awarded to UNM graduate students. Five of these students have earned master's degrees through LAPE. Englebrecht says UNM students, staff and faculty and those in the community who interact with the Chileans have much to gain. "I'm fascinated by the comparisons and contrasts. We can learn a lot by looking at ourselves through someone else's mirror." Chile has superb early childhood programs and daycare centers and successfully employs a voucher system in secondary education, Engelbrecht adds. "We can look at how their systems have worked or how they haven't. We can model after the effective ones or keep from making the same mistakes," she says. LAPE also hosted a group of educators from Chile in 2000. This year, the educators will be in Albuquerque for Thanksgiving. "We are looking for families who can host one or two visitors on that day so they can learn the cultural aspects of this very American holiday," Engelbrecht says. For information, call Guillermina Engelbrecht, 277-3910. ###

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