Middlebury College Davis Peace Project Proposal Immersion Summer Language and Leadership Academy (ISLLA) Maggie Nazer ‘17 (Team Leader), Eva Bod ‘20, Lee Garcia Jimenez ‘19, Keenia Shinagawa ‘17, Isabella Carey ‘17.5 1.07.2016-31.07.2016, Bulgaria Context: Situated in the eastern Balkans, Bulgaria has undergone a slow and painful transition since 1989 from communism to a market economy. Despite EU membership, GDP growth of around 3%, and positive developments in entrepreneurship and the IT sector, 40% of the population remains at risk of poverty and social exclusion1. Bulgaria’s demographic crisis is also being deepened as an already ageing population is affected by an immigration flow that increases 30-40% annually2 with 55% of immigrants in 2013 being young people between 20-39 years old according to the National Statistical Institute. Additionally, Bulgaria has been greatly affected by the inflow of Syrian refugees beginning in 2011. While nationalism has been somewhat historically characteristic of the Balkans, in the last five years nationalism in Bulgaria has intensified. At both an institutional and individual level, Bulgarians struggle to tolerate, peacefully acknowledge, and accept the existence of multiple faiths, cultures, and lifestyles. Since integration has not been a priority for the Bulgarian government, identities deemed ‘other’- refugees, Muslims, Roma, LGBTQ people- are perceived as a threat and targeted through repressive policies, biased media, and various forms of violence. The Problem: The role of education in peacebuilding and conflict resolution has been highlighted by both theorists and practitioners3. The current Bulgarian educational system does not prepare youth for the challenges and responsibilities of living in an evermore interconnected world and being part of a cosmopolitan community. Bulgarian education is largely ethnocentric and nationalist, emphasizing differences with others through value judgements and failing to engage learners in adequate exploration and critique of multiple perspectives. High school and university education are largely mechanistic, reductionist, and ideologically oppressive. Students are taught what to think instead of how to think. Bulgarian youth lack the critical and creative thinking skills needed to engage in democratic processes, and therefore struggle to understand issues of national and global importance. In an interrelated world, failing to understand the global effects of local actions hurts our collective ability to affect change. Peace building education foregrounds the importance of informed current events and develops critical thinking skills and a desire for lifelong learning. Paulo Freire’s participatory pedagogy—which inspires our program—emphasizes dialogue as the main instrument for action, collaboration, and collective reflection which fosters responsible, active, and justice-oriented citizens. Our Solution: The Immersion Language and Leadership Summer Academy is a 3-week full-immersion program offered to 40 youth, aged 16-23. Given the ageing of the Bulgarian population, youth are of great importance to driving social change and reform in the country. Participants will be recruited through an open application with the help of partner organizations. The Immersion Academy will take place between 9-21st of July 2017, at a selected hotel in the Rila mountain. The Immersion Academy has three main goals. First, we will create an engaging learning environment in which participants will significantly improve their English proficiency skills by communicating entirely in English. Participants will also be exposed to media, text, and on-site facilitators who are native English speakers. Second, we will support the development of critical thinking skills by modeling how to frame problems from different perspectives, access and evaluate information, and create and communicate effective arguments. Third, we will support our students in their process of self-empowerment and promote the ideal of active citizenship and change-making through diverse forms of leadership. To accomplish these tasks, our educators will be trained in cultural awareness, lesson design, discussion leading, curriculum development, and more. In the months before the workshop, educators will participate in biweekly 2-hour workshops. Upon arrival the team will partake in a 40-hour practical training led by our Director of Curriculum Development and Assessment. The project team members come from different ethnic backgrounds and have navigated diverse international environments, overcoming and embracing difference in the process. We believe that this will be an asset for relating to and inspiring our international participants. At the same time, we recognize that the world our students will enter is not the same as the one that grounds our own education. Language learning is a productive, receptive, and interpretive action which engages the concepts of culture, identity, 1 People at risk of poverty or social exclusion. (2015). Retrieved from http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statisticsexplained/index.php/People_at_risk_of_poverty_or_social_exclusion 2 Alpha Research (2015). Study on Bulgarian Labour Migration. Retrieved from http://bulgaria.nlembassy.org/appendices/study-on-bulgarian-labour-migration---desk-research.html 3 UNICEF. The Role of Education in Peacebuilding.(2011) . Retrieved from: https://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/files/EEPCT_Peacebuilding_LiteratureReview.pdf and understanding4. Whereas the learners’ first languages allow them to critically engage in local contexts, learning English as a second language allows them to utilize their critical awareness in a global dialogue5. The Academy promotes peace by facilitating young people’s use of English to reflect on their relationship to the world and their ability to affect change in their communities. By using the medium of language learning to address these questions, we embrace the principle that “…every time language learners speak, they are not only exchanging information with their interlocutors; they are also constantly organizing and reorganizing a sense of who they are and how they relate to the social world"6. During the program, participants will be introduced to a set of essential questions7 during daily class sessions. In addition to class activities and discussions, participants will be asked to do their own research, identify issues of interest to them, present them to their peers, brainstorm, and collaboratively reflect on possible strategies for action. All groups will use multimodal learning tools, including audio-visual material, simulations, discussions, group projects, blogging, ethnography, and presentations. Each class will be led by a native speaker with the support of a local assistant. During the final week of the program, working individually or in small groups, participants will select social issues that are relevant to them to develop projects on. Another important component of the program will be participant-led workshops. Program participants and staff members will offer a variety of daily workshops to share knowledge, skills or otherwise meaningfully engage with their peers. This will be a way to practice leadership, learn from and with others, and build leadership repertoire and exposure. With an improved ability to express themselves, communicate with others, and access information, we anticipate that participants will become ambassadors of intercultural understanding in their communities. They will be able to advocate for human rights and conflict prevention and resolution locally and internationally. Through a multimodal framework that foregrounds sociocultural issues in language learning and leadership development, the Academy will enable participants to actively and positively shape future opportunities for subsequent generations, facilitating their inclusion through the development of inclusive identities, cultures, and knowledge construction in their local contexts. Our Vision: A generation of empowered youth who use English as a tool to access information and communicate with people outside of their country. They are motivated to be lifelong learners, to reflect on their position in the world, and to act as agents of change through both individual and collective action. Our Mission: To support the development of youth as creative, critical, and cosmopolitan thinkers and contribute to the establishment of a transnational attitude toward problem solving and personal and community development. Impact Measurement: Our language, critical thinking, and leadership impacts will be measured against our learning objectives through diverse monitoring and evaluation tools such as pre- and post-program surveys, evaluations, and other quantitative and qualitative methods, developed by our Director of Curriculum Development and Assessment. Sustainability model: ISLLA is not a one-time initiative but the pilot for an international social enterprise founded by Maggie Nazer. The initial summer program will be used to inform and establish similar full and partial immersion programs throughout the calendar year throughout Bulgaria. We aim to soon be able to offer immersion programs to youth from all over Europe via funding through participation fees, corporate sponsorships, and donations from relevant EU institutions. Team and Support Network: The project team is comprised of Middlebury students, advisors, and external affiliates with established interest and experience in education, youth empowerment, and social