Left to right: Sue Ellen Wortzel, Irv Wardlow, Lissette McRea

Teachers from Lilburn Middle School, Lilburn, Georgia leave for Ometepe June 4, 2009. Lissette, Irv, and Sue Ellen are preparing to collaborate with students and teachers from the villages of Madronal, Balgue and La Palma, Nicaragua to discover new paths to teaching and learning.  Through this learning journey, they will help supply classroom and school libraries with materials that will build on and enhance present educational resources.  Upon their arrival in Nicaragua’s capital city of Managua, they will be buying and delivering over 2000 pounds of books to the two high schools and two elementary schools mentioned previously.  These schools are long standing partners with TALICA and the host teachers have worked endlessly to prepare the school for the arrival of these textbooks.  This collection will ensure the all students have access to the required information necessary to complete primary and secondary requirements. 

Not only will these teachers be bringing crucial materials, they will be living with local families.  All three desire the experience that many of Lilburn Middle School students had before immigrating to the U.S.  The home-stay will provide an opportunity to learn and develop a deeper understanding of Latin-American culture.

TALICA fully believes that by encouraging U.S. educators to step out of the U.S., they will develop the empathy that is so crucial to addressing the challenges of our own students, local school and system.

In their own words…
Irv Wardlow: I have a keen desire to better communicate with the Hispanic parents of my students and to acquire insight into the educational experiences of our students south of the border before they enroll here; this trip will allow me to do both. I’ll have the immersion in Spanish that I need to become bilingual, so I can volunteer as a translator at Lilburn, and I’ll have a new perspective that will, hopefully, help me better serve our recently immigrated students. I expect this trip to be transformative.

Lissette McRea:As a teacher at Lilburn Middle School, I am often reminded of the power of education and how education opens doors of opportunity to us regardless of race, gender, socio-economic situation or any other demographic which often are used to describe who we are. The faces of many of my students echo my experience as a newcomer to the United States. My family escaped political persecution in 1983, and left Nicaragua for a better life here in the United States. I feel extremely fortunate to reap the benefits of living in the US, but thoughts of less fortunate children are ever present. TALICA is undoubtedly a blessing for me to be able to return home andextend access to basic educational materials to build literacy. This will be an emotional trip, and I could not be more excited to share this journey with such altruistic colleagues.

Sue Ellen Wortzel:  I have been volunteering and working with TALICA with these particular Nicaraguan schools for over 2 years now.  I am thrilled that Lissette and Irv share my desire to learn and help these fellow educators.  Over the past year, TALICA has been able to grow and provide crucial support to hundreds of students and dozens of teachers.  My experiences in these villages of Central America have given me an insight that no other experience has or could ever do.  I am looking forward to sharing this work with two of the most influential educators at Lilburn Middle School.

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