The First Hemispheric Conference on Indigenous Bilingual Education

Guatemala City, Guatemala

July 25 – 27, 2001

The First Hemispheric Conference on Indigenous Bilingual Education taking place in Guatemala City, is intended to create a dialogue among policy-makers, practitioners, and researchers from countries throughout the Americas where multicultural and multilingual issues impact upon society and the education system.  Its primary purpose is to promote a sustainable exchange of pedagogical experiences, methodologies, and policies that yield the structures, programs, and materials needed to support effective bilingual and intercultural education in our hemisphere.

Sponsored by World Learning with support from the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Guatemalan Ministry of Education, the

Conference will facilitate a sustainable exchange of ideas, information, and approaches relating to the development of  bilingual and intercultural education throughout the Americas.  Among the core areas of dialogue will be:

·         The educational context of indigenous people of the hemisphere

Pedagogical studies and innovative techniques in bilingual and intercultural education l Community-based approaches to indigenous education

·         Effective policies for supporting

bilingual and intercultural education

The conference will include various programs designed to inaugurate regional collaboration and partnerships among individuals and organizations in North, Central, and South America.  Special efforts will be made to encourage the participation of representatives from indigenous peoples from Canada to Southern Chile.  Additional highlights of the conference will be a meeting of the Indigenous Parliament of America and a marketplace offering indigenous and bilingual education materials and resources from each of the participating countries.

For additional information or to register for the conference, please go to www.worldlearning.org.  To participate in the workshops as a presenter of innovative methods, materials, or policies, please contact:

In the United States:

Naoko Kamioka, World Learning

Tel. (202) 408-5420

E-mail:feria@worldlearning.org

In Guatemala:

José Angel Zapeta, World Learning/PAEBI

Tel. (502) 366-2356 or 366-5451

E-mail: feria@worldlearning.org