From left: Dr. David Bell (Linguistics), Dr. Art Trese (Environmental & Plant Biology), and Dr. Theresa Moran (Food Studies) and the schoolchildren of Yunguilla with their Food Studies stickers.
Linguistics and the Food Studies theme announce the addition of undergraduate and graduate internship and practicum opportunities teaching English in Yunguilla, Ecuador.
Students can use the Food Studies internship option in Yunguilla for their LING 4920/5920 Practicum in TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) or as their LING 4912/5912 Internship in TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages).
Yunguilla’s nature reserve is a sustainable community 8,695 feet above sea level in the Andean Mindo Cloud Forest, just one hour north of Quito, the capital of Ecuador. The Yunguilla reserve seeks to preserve the cloud forest and restore land used for pasture through reforestation and agro-forestry efforts. The goal of the reserve is to achieve sustainability through both agriculture and ecotourism that are compatible with nature, supporting values of social equity and respect for natural and cultural diversity.
The study away program, Ecuador: Food Studies Internship, in Yunguilla, begun in 2018, offers students Food Studies Internship credits: CAS 4911/5911 – How Food Works in the Community. \Working in the community’s organic gardens, in the production facilities making cheese, yogurt and jam, and in the community’s restaurant, students learn about food security, production, processing, marketing, distribution, consumption, and composting. as well as, food choice and food culture.
Now students can also teach English as a Foreign Language. Dr. David Bell Associate Professor and Chair of Linguistics) visited the village K-6 school, which has about 20 students, and found it an ideal environment for a practicum or internship in TEFL.
It has highly resourceful children and parents and provides a very safe environment for OHIO students to live and work. Additionally, teachers will find that the language training they provide has important economic effects on the local community. In an article in the Washington Post, March 23, 2018, Deysi Collaguazo, head of Yunguilla’s tourism efforts, noted: “The kids in the community are really motivated. They study tourism, they study gastronomy, they’re learning English. The idea is to apply all of their knowledge, eventually.” And that means using their English skills to help develop ecotourism so that there are jobs, which will keep them in the community.
The internship program allows OHIO University students the opportunity not only to develop a global awareness but to make a valuable contribution to the sustainability of the Yunguilla community.
For further information about the Food Studies Internship Program in Yunguilla, Ecuador contact Dr. Theresa Moran (Director of Food Studies) morant@ohio.edu and for information about the TEFL Practicum/Internship, contact Professor Gaby Castaneda (Linguistics) castaned@ohio.edu.
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