Huaylas Quechua:

December 22nd 2014 through January 31st 2015

The Center for Social Well Being offers our 6 week Intensive Quechua Language course in the north-central Peruvian Andes.  The program is designed for students who require class instruction and Quechua immersion contexts to develop language proficiency. FLAS Foreign Language and Area Studies grantees are eligible to apply.

SWB-Course Content, Structure and Activities    

Beginning, intermediate and advanced courses are offered that provide concentrated class hours focused on grammar, vocabulary and the development of speaking skills and listening comprehension of Huaylas Quechua, native to the region. The Center for Social Well Being is affiliated with the Regional Academy of Ancash Quechua, an association composed of bilingual school teachers, historians, writers, folklorists, musicians, poets and other professionals dedicated to the preservation and revitalization of the Quechua language.  All university-trained in intercultural education, our team of Quechua instructors offer an academically rigorous program, complemented with an orientation to Quechua creative expressions of local myths, legends, songs and poetry.  The program is structured into 4 hour classroom sessions each morning, and a 2 hour workshop of conversation, songs and poetry every afternoon. The 6 week session provides 140 contact hours with native speakers, equivalent to 1 year of university study. Our teachers guide students to their home communities and the schools where they teach for in-context language practice and skills acquisition. A highlight of the program is student participation in fiestas and the revitalization of Andean rituals in honor of the spirits of the earth and cosmos. Program site The Center for Social Well Being is located on an ecological ranch in the Quechua-speaking community of Cajamarquilla, nestled in the Cordillera Blanca mountain range of the Callejón de Huaylas, 7 hours northeast of Lima. Students lodge here for the duration of the program to fully engage in rural activities where there are plenty of opportunities to practice Quechua conversation. Program tuition includes all fees, food and accommodations at the rural center, field excursions and course materials. Excursions to archaeological sites, glacial lakes, hotsprings and impressive mountain passes are available.  The program is under the direction of Applied Medical Anthropologist, Patricia J. Hammer, Ph.D., and Ecologist, Flor de María Barreto Tosi.

Please contact us for further 2015 Programs Dates and Schedule.
For an application contact:
phammer@wayna.rcp.net.pe
www.socialwellbeing.org