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The Achuar learn English! We celebrate with you the first International English Minga in the Achuar community of Wachirpas. During a period of two weeks, 12 students of the International and Multicultural Education graduate program of the University of San Francisco (USF), led by professors Susan R. Katz and Onllwyn C. Dixon, worked together with 17 Achuar teachers to further train them in teaching English as a Second Language.
Together, they created the “Yamaram Chicham Unimiattai,” an experimental manual based on Achuar culture to transform the way English is taught in the Amazon. The new manual focuses on experiential learning, guided by the traditional way of life (fishing, hunting, agriculture, etc.) of indigenous communities of the rainforest.
The Achuar are choosing to learn English to help facilitate their interactions with the groups visiting the community ecotourism projects they lead within their territory.
This International English Minga was coordinated locally by the Achuar teachers Tiyua Napoleon Uyunkar and Jiyunt Isabel Uyunkar, and guided by Anna Hamilton, Lily Hollister and Kyle Solomon from the United States, long-time pioneers of the English program in Achuar territory. The mission of the program they lead is to contribute to a more sustainable world through a multi-cultural exchange of wisdom and knowledge. This exchange, born in Achuar territory, will be a model of teaching and learning for the global community.
