MSN's program is the perfect example of social justice pedagogy in action Past Review

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

This program was extremely academic rigorous and payed off for that very reason. Not only were we in classes for at least three or four hours a day, but outside of classes we were never really 'outside' of classes as we lived in the communities and alongside with people who were ostensibly our teachers (though there were also specific instructors who did not act as our host families). I remember waking up in the mornings in the foggy air of Chiapas, brushing my teeth at the outdoor 'faucet' with the children who attended the school next to ours, going to class on social movements, going to Spanish class, spending hours trying to do our hundreds of pages of reading each week next to my classmates and discussing our questions along the way (and loving all of it), and, after dinner, attending song night with our teacher and all the young members of the community who wanted to gather to share with us their songs and stories. I have never been so academically/socially/emotionally challenged and I hope that more Middlebury students will have the same opportunity that I had.

On-site administration of your program

MSN has been working with all of the organizations and host families for such a long time that there were very few snags in terms of on-site administration.

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

MSN describes the living arrangements very clearly beforehand and makes sure that you are prepared to be living alongside the people in the communities with whom we were staying. Thus, I was ready for the plank beds in Chiapas and the tight living quarters in Tlaxcala. There were never any surprises and I thank MSN for that.

The food was amazing! So many vegetarian options! I only wish that I learned how to make all of the amazing dishes I was able to try.

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

I felt quite integrated into the local culture(s), but because we lived in three different places in the span of three months it was difficult to become truly integrated anywhere. This was more a function of timing and trying to fit in as many experiences in different locations as possible, an element that I think MSN made the right call on -- though as participants we forfeited a degree of local integration, I can easily say that we learned much more about social movements and the different kinds of organizing/mobilizations from committing to three different locations than we would have in one place.

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

They really did the best that they could on the program to take care of us, though there were times that I fell ill and just had to wait it off whether because it was food poisoning or something else. It never got so bad that I had to seek medical attention, however, so I am not sure what the medical facilities were like. Plenty of other participants were very satisfied with the local clinics.

I always felt very safe, save for some experiences on Mexico City's subway system. It would have been nice to know beforehand that there are special cars for women during rush hour, but we talked with our instructors about that and they are now including that in their orientation information.

(1 = not very easy/$200+ on food & personal expenses/week, 2.5 = $100/week, 5 = very easily/minimal cost)

0 = No encouragement, 5 = frequent encouragement to use the language

Despite the fact that some of our social movements classes were in English (it is hard to explain Immanuel Wallerstein's dense global systems theory in Spanish), our instructors were always encouraging us to speak more Spanish both inside and outside of class. They organized between three and five meetings a week with local organizers in Spanish and expected that we would ask extensive questions. They worked very hard to prepare us for these meetings and the fact that we were also living with (and therefore constantly communicating with) our host families in Spanish definitely helped my Spanish as well as that of my peers whose Spanish was a bit sketchy at the beginning.

Select all that apply

• Host Family

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• Americans
• Host Family

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• Americans
• International Students

• the curriculum
• living in Chiapas with the Zapatistas
• the people

• make optional two-week extension program in Chicago a mandatory part of the program
• get outdoors more (more time for shared exploration of our new homes instead of just academics)

The Nearly Native or Trail Blazer