International Service-Learning Program in Guatemala On Mayan Education, Language Maintenance & Social Activism: A Program for The City College Of New York, CUNY

ABSTRACT: The CLC program design, International Service-Learning Program in Guatemala on Mayan Education, Language Maintenance & Social Activism: A Program for The City College of New York, CUNY, proposes a six-week program with a chief focus on service, research and experiential learning. The program aims to introduce all participants to the current issues in Mayan culture and society through lectures and service-learning activities at Casa Xelajú and affiliated NGOs in the Quetzaltenango area. As an international service-learning program, its participants will be incorporated to assist host organizations that have a similar interest to the curriculum of the course. Participants are to learn from the host communities and are not to try to foment change based on uninformed sources or ideas. Participants should be observant of means and approaches of their host organization and should keep themselves from offering officious suggestions based on their Western traditions and training. Herein lies the challenge of the program itself: to render services through projects that can be continued after the program has ended and to create an environment of learning that is mutually beneficial to the host community and program participants. Participants will be students of public policy, international relations, sociology, anthropology, bilingual education, law, languages, and sociolinguistics. They will be undergraduate students with a dedication to service and will mostly likely have a concentration in Latin American Studies. Participants should demonstrate the ability and maturity to work independently and also as a team. Participants will have a desire to do in-depth research to produce a unique and possibly original study at the end of the experience. This CLC program design has a strong focus on the theoretical foundations of current Mayan linguistic and social issues, thus proposing the curriculum for a new International Studies course that will be taught on-site. Key Words: international service learning, experiential learnin