NEW OFFICES AND LIVING QUARTERS: LA CALERA.

Construction on Jacaranda Education´s new offices, workshop space, and living quarters is currently well underway and is due to be completed in the middle of December. Jacaranda is proud and excited to welcome in a new partnership with La Calera in Oaxaca. La Calera is a former limestone factory which is being reconstructed into a multi purpose project space, which houses artist´s studios, exhibition spaces, and living quarters. Daniel Lopez Salgado, the renowned architect responsible for the MUFI is the architect behind the new spaces for Jacaranda Education. For Jacaranda this is a natural partnership and it is highly excited to be moving into such a wonderfully creative and interactive space. A major incentive for the organization to accept this new opportunity is to allow it to expand upon its course offerings to the Oaxacan public and to become a more prominent provider of high quality, exclusive education programming for the city. The organization hopes very much that through these efforts it will also bring new opportunities and creativity to the La Calera space.

For more information on La Calera please visit the web page.

EXHIBITION AND SCREENING: ADOBE YOUTH VOICES AT THE MUSEO DE LOS PINTORES OAXAQUEÑOS.

Jacaranda Education in collaboration with the Museo de los Pintores Oaxaqueños and Adobe Youth Voices in Mexico presents work from the first education course for youth from the Museo. This past Saturday October 22 saw Jacaranda stage its first screening and exhibition of the Fall presenting works produced by youth from the Adobe Youth Voices course held this Fall. exhibition presented printed work along with a screening of 8 short films made by youth from Mexico, the UK and Canada. Refreshments were provided by the famous Popeye.

INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION PROJECTS: INSTITUTO BLAISE PASCALE.

Students at Jacaranda Education’s project at Instituto Blaise Pascale have been participating in an array of international projects during the first bimester of the academic year.

Students in Secundaria art classes have been using their newly produced art books, “Vision: International Art Projects for Students”, to create designs and drawings which have represented them in their past, in their present and which they think will represent them in their future. Students will be using these designs alongside symbols they create to reflect their local culture in a portrait they will be painting and a sculpture they will be making later in the semester. Our Oaxacan students have uploaded their designs to the internet in order to work with Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School in New Jersey, U.S.A. Students have discussed their images with their counterparts in New Jersey and are preparing for a Skype conference to discuss their ideas and their reflection of Oaxacan culture later in the semester. To see the designs and read the comments, please visit the side by side project.
Plans are afoot for other students at Instituto Blaise Pascale to work with Warren Township High School in Gurnee, Illinois, on a similar project. Other classes will be participating in a pen pals letter and email writing project with middle school students in Manatee County Schools in Florida, U.S.A.

Preparatoria students, meanwhile, participated in the first of many Skype conferences with senior students at Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School to discuss the celebration of Mexican Independence Day and the traditional clothing found in Oaxaca. These primero Preparatoria Advanced level students uploaded photos of the Independence Day celebrations and discussed them on a message board before participating in the Skype conference. To view the photos and the comments, please visit: lascelebraciones.

NEW TEXTBOOK PUBLICATION: AN INTRODUCTION TO THE UNITED NATIONS.

The month of October saw Jacaranda publish its second textbook in its bilingual series: An Introduction to the United Nations.
The United Nations is arguably one of the most important organizations that exist in the world today and one of the few platforms that encourage global collective action. For example, national governments serve national interests. Nonetheless, the increasing majority of our problems and concerns as a race are trans-national in, both their symptoms, causes, and potential solutions. Today, the world remains rife with war, economic crisis, environmental degradation, and extreme poverty, to name but a few of our collective and global challenges as mankind. These problems cannot be solved through unilateral action alone, but instead require the consensus and collective work of all. The United Nations represents the focus of this collective action and contains the potential political, cultural, and economic power to address these challenges. However, the United Nations is, as its name reflects, a body of different nations that serve the interests of peoples of a particular region or collective national group. Therefore, though the UN has much potential it is often restricted by the will and desire of its member states.

The aim of this course and textbook is to provide the student with an introduction into the world of the UN and the main areas of its work. Peace and Security, Environment and Development, Human Rights, Humanitarian Affairs, and International Law will all be looked at as topics of focus. A second aim of this course is to try and give a face to the UN and to simplify for the student, what is undeniably, a very complex and complicated organizational structure, which is home to a plethora of agencies, funds, committees, bodies, and institutes. The UN is an impressive and immense range of international diplomacy and development work, but one that can also appear confusing and overwhelming to the outsider.

If the UN is to overcome the many challenges that it faces in the coming years it must provide its citizenry with better access and information of the work that it is undertaking and familiarize people with how its activities function. Nowhere is this more important than in the school and with young people who form the future of our planet. Understanding the process is just as important as the result and it is important that young people understand how the UN is funded and what its power structure is like or what its mandates might be.

New Project: International Award For Young People: The Duke Of Edinburgh´s Award.

Members of Jacaranda Education´s teaching staff successfully completed a training workshop to become the first and exclusive representative for the highly respected Duke of Edinburgh´s Award in Mexico. Jacaranda Education has become a licensed operator for the International Award for Young People in Mexico. Its team of specially trained staff are now able to offer this programme across Mexico to participants between the ages of 14 and 25 in schools, universities, youth clubs and other educational entities. Jacaranda Education will initially offer this programme to both public and private educational institutions in the state of Oaxaca.

The Award is an exciting self-development programme available to all young people worldwide, equipping them with life skills to make a difference to themselves, their communities and the world. Anyone aged between 14 and 25 can experience challenge and adventure, acquire new skills and make new friends. The Award has a presence in over 130 countries and currently has over 785,000 participants.

Project Extention: GRUPO ADO Mexico City

Jacaranda Education is designing new training courses and materials to Grupo ADO employees in Mexico City. Early in September Jacaranda conducted its first meetings in Mexico City to expand the training courses and materials that began in Oaxaca to staff in Mexico City. In the coming months Jacaranda will begin to work with 40 staff members from Grupo ADO in Mexico City from the terminals at Benito Juarez International Airport and Tasqueňa Bus Terminal. The objective of this project is to prepare staff to operate in a bilingual context and to improve the services afforded to foreign travellers. A small team from Jacaranda has been observing staff in their work and have successfully designed and published a series of training materials specific to the needs and challenges of the local context that will be studied through intensive physical courses.

New Courses: 1599: A Year In The Life Of Shakespeare, Vision, English Language Studies 6.

Jacaranda´s commitment to innovative, quality curriculum and textbooks saw a boost this month with the successful launch of two new courses in schools in Mexico and the release of its sixth series of English Language Studies books. The course “1599: A Year in the Life of Shakespeare” is inspired by James Shapiro´s wonderful book with the same title. Wary of the difficulties involved in teaching Shakespeare to a younger audience Jacaranda took the approach of Shapiro to create a knowledge of the local context of the time for the learner and then to interweave it into the wonderful plays of Shakespeare. The result is a course which is manageable for the learner which can be easily linked again into the local context in Mexico. Corruption, power and politics, colonialism, religion, distribution of wealth, and land rights suddenly all come alive as history collides with the present through the wonderful poetic language of the great bard. Vision is the first book in Mexico from the curriculum developer Chris Lockwood. The book and course are a brilliant example of creative art, and art therapy curriculum and learning. Not only does the course guide the student through, artistic expression and learning, on a wonderful exploration of their surroundings and being, but also gives them the opportunity to connect in exciting new ways with students from all over the world through the iEARN network, sharing and learning about other people through their art work. English Language Studies is the sixth book in a series of six. The book is available in Low Intermediate, High Intermediate, and Advance levels. The book offers a Brief History of the United Kingdom. It features chapters on Elizabethan History, Espionage, Brit-Pop, and The Olympic Games.

Events: Watch This Space: AYV Screening/ Michael Nyman.

Jacaranda Education will be organizing two new events at the Museo de los Pintores Oaxaquenos in the coming months. To celebrate the wonderful work being produced in the first Adobe Youth Voices course students are designing an exhibition of work and process to the public. Films created by youth in Mexico City will also be screened and exhibited. No fixed date has yet been scheduled for this event, but a date in the last week of September is expected. Over the summer Jacaranda was in contact with the composer Michael Nyman, who resides in Mexico City. The composer has agreed to work with Jacaranda on a week-long event at the Museo de los Pintores in Oaxaca to celebrate his wonderful film scores that would culminate in a personal appearance and forum to discuss his professional work, old and new. This event, we hope, will take place towards the end of the year.

NEW COURSE: Adobe Youth Voices At Museo De Los Pintores Oaxaquenos

Jacaranda Education is launching a new 12-week Adobe Youth Voices course for the youth of Oaxaca in collaboration with Museo de los Pintores Oaxaquenos. Adobe Youth Media course is a new course, which is part of a long-term initiative and plan to build quality educational programming for the museum. This first course will be held weekly over a 12 week period in the Mac lab of the museum beginning July 2. The premise of the course is to give youth an introduction into philosophies within youth media, to build basic technical skills in Photoshop and Premiere, photographic skills, script writing, critical thinking, and investigation, to name but a few of the areas of study. Students will apply the skills learned to create a short film, photo essay, or poster campaign. Works will be displayed in special exhibitions and festivals. Though the course is full, a second course can be opened if demand exists. For information on how to register for this course please email:paulaa37@hotmail.com

NEW PARTNERSHIP: Grupo ADO Oaxaca & Puerto Escondido

Jacaranda Education is designing new training courses in English to Grupo ADO employees in Oaxaca de Juarez and Puerto Escondido. This summer we are embarking on a brand new partnership with Grupo ADO in Oaxaca. Jacaranda will work with ADO to develop specialized training materials and courses to train 80 of its staff members to perform their duties and services in a bilingual context. Fifty of the staff will be trained in Oaxaca City with a further thirty in Puerto Escondido.

New Partnership: Save The Children Mexico & Telefonica

As part of its role in the Adobe Youth Voices project in Mexico, Jacaranda Education has established a new working partnership with Save the Children Mexico. Twelve educators from ten different youth sites from the Centro Historico will receive training and support to develop and implement youth media projects in this impoverished area of the city. The project contains three important and distinct phases: The first is a ten-week series of on-line and face-to-face workshops to provide training and capacitation for the educators in the use of media software, work models, philosophies , and pedagogical practice. The second phase focuses on building course material, curriculum, and course offerings for the site, which are relevant to the local context, as well building materials to connect with potential students. The third and final phase consists of connecting the course, the classroom, and of course the student work to the surrounding community through screenings and exhibitions and networking with other government and ngo’s.

Instituto Blaise Pascale: Secundaria Graduation

Friday, 1st July saw the end of a very successful year for the Secundaria at Instituto Blaise Pascale with their Graduation Ceremony and Ball. This year has been a great success for students studying English Language Studies in the Secundaria. All students have participated in a weekly Art Workshop where they have produced art work that has been displayed around the world. The project at the heart of this was the Art Miles Mural Project whereby students had to create a mural painted on canvas that reflected their local environment on a global scale. Some groups linked the global awareness of the Beatles (studied in English classes) with their visits in Oaxaca to form the subject matter of their mural while others concentrated on how modern technology is allowing Oaxaca to link up with the rest of the world in an increasingly easy and advantageous way. A highlight of the year was the international project which saw students from the tercero work side-to-side with students from Scotch Plains School in NJ, USA the USA on a collaborative project to document their daily lives and to compare and contrast them with their North American counterparts. The project produced wonderful photo essays, wikispaces, skype conferences, and webpages.