Classroom Without Walls: Families: 10th grade: Amazon

Amazon

💡STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE TO REGISTRATION AND PAYMENT HERE

The Amazon Rainforest. What an iconic place to visit!!! This journey is about seeing some of the most incredible biodiversity on the planet, but it is also about meeting its people. Students are going to be exposed to different aspects of the Amazon including the main city Leticia which is shared between Colombia, Perú and Brazil. They will spend time in the rainforest as they hike into a Maloka to meet a community elder and his family as they tell them about their lives. While in the maloka experience, they will learn about the chagra and the importance of mambe. They will visit the community's medicinal garden and also be exposed to delicious amazonian gastronomy and the process of food preparation. They will spend a night in the jungle. It is absolutely amazing to lie in your hammock and listen to the sounds of the jungle and oftentimes the silence of the jungle around you. An unforgettable experience!!! They will hike from the jungle camp to Ronda, a very small community where a boat will be waiting to take them to Puerto Nariño. They will visit communities in Puerto Nariño and Valencia. They will sleep with their peers and CNG/ANDARES adults in the homes of the community in Valencia in hammocks (small groups in the same space separated from the family living there). They will get to spend the evening with them as they share about their lives in a small community. They will play soccer with the community and also have a local olympic games where they will teach students to use their kinds of jungle equipment. They will visit the Tarapoto Lakes where they will use kayaks and canoes to go out and look for wildlife. If they are really lucky, they will see the mystical pink dolphins (toninas). They will finish their journey meeting everyone from tenth grade who has traveled to the Amazon in Biohotel Arara River. What an incredible space to finish their journey as a grade level before heading back to Leticia by short boat ride and then flying back to Bogotá.

Discover all the details about this program:

FLIER (English version)

Learn more about Andares, the company we collaborate with for this CWW program.

Introductory Video 

Webpage

Scope and Secuence

• The collections to class of this CWW program has a strong humanities component. A huge aspect is spending time observing how other communities live and living with them to develop respect and empathy. They will discuss ideas on how to minimize the impact of the economic crisis on people with less resources and reflect on what is Colombia's current economic crisis and what is their impact on daily life - unemployment, tax, power of acquisition, family budget. They will discuss how cinema, radio, flights and cars have changed the habits of people's daily lives. They will look at the causes and consequences of issues facing modern women and how issues in the Amazon may differ from issues in urban areas such as Bogotá.
• In terms of biodiversity, they will look at the impact of economic and social activity (agriculture, mining, fracking, deforestation, tourism) in different zones of Colombia such as the Amazon and determine if political policies protect against this. They will discuss national development projects - roads, ports etc and how these sometimes conflict with climate action and reflect on the complexity of the SDGs (sustainable development goals).
• In terms of their learner profile, there is a lot of focus on both being community builders and change agents throughout the program. 
• There will be core values focused on respect. Success skills will be focused on communication and collaboration. Specifically, they will be prepared for and practice right questions techniques to be applied when discussing life in the communities they will visit.
• Outdoor skills will revolve around jungle time where they will have physical activity of approximately 5 hours on various days. They will learn how to make and start a fire.
• They will continue practicing their hammock skills. Most importantly, they will take their hammock experience to the next level and sleep in a hammock in the jungle.