Adult and Community Education of Martha's Vineyard

Learn your passion. Teach your passion.

Home

Donate

Courses

Arts & Communication

Business & Computers

Cooking

Education & Parenting

Health/Fit/SelfHelp/Games

History

Island Living/Land&Sea

Languages

Writing/Literature/GED

Professional Development

International Volunteer

Em Português

Looking forward

Instruct

Volunteer

One Day U.

Gift Certificate

Registration Form

About Us

Contact Us

Upcoming Events

Newsletter- 2010

Faculty

ACE In The Press

Photo Gallery

Course Archives

Educational Groups

Document
Winter '11 Newsletter
- ACE MV 2010 Newsletter -
Come learn what's going on; find a place for yourself in this new community endeavor.

~We are proud of serving 25% more students in our second year~ 

~We had over 700 people enrolled in our three sessions this year~

Need-based Programs from fall, winter, and spring 2009-2010:

o   Human communications through Cape Cod Community College (on the island) with Early Childhood Educators Program

o   Graduate credit through Northeastern University

o   Essential Math and Essential English for pre-GED, college prep, learning community 

o   Dual enrollment for Vineyard high school students

o   Bus excursion to Actors' Shakespeare Project with ArtFarm Enterprises

o   Certified Nursing Assistant training courses with the hospital for the future 

o   Negotiation with institutions of higher education:

o   Business / technology

-  Management

-  Hospitality

-  Real Estate

-  Vocational Training

-  Arts, Communication, Media

o   Criminal Justice

-  Professional development of police, local government, and legal issues

o   Education

-  Pre-K-14 professional development

o   Environmental Science

-  Sustaining environment

-  Island ecology

-  Marine life

o   Health Care

-  Physical and mental health (including social services)

o   Interdisciplinary studies

o   First International Humanitarian Volunteer Trip linking Vineyarders in global projects (Pacaya, Nicaragua this year)

o   Linking with global issues

o   Haiti

-  through Young Brothers to Men

o   Peru

-  for the flood victims of the Chaska Hill Women's Cooperative

o   Free classes

o   Red Cross Emergency Disaster Training seminars

o   Vineyard Energy Project seminars

o   Immigration on Martha's Vineyard forum

o   Free community events

o   Fall course fair

o   ACE MV authors' readings

o   International Women's Day seminar

o   Black History Month recognition

o   Women in the African Diaspora

o   Nightmares and Dreams: Immigrant Voices

Let us know your needs and interests. We value your course feedback, requests, and inquiries for teaching. Send us your e-mail address to receive info and catalog. Email lynn@acemv.org or call (508) - 627 - 8373.

ACE MV is looking for instructors who are passionate about teaching, supportive of Adult and Community Education, and willing to grow with us.

Thanks for all your support!
Upcoming Courses for Winter/Spring Term 2010

Dine 2 Donate – 1/25 at Sharky’s
Black History Month talk and forum: The Current situation in Haiti (Slides and Discussion with Peace Quilt representatives from recent visit) and distribution of the Teachers’ Resource Guide sponsored by the "Fund for Challenging the PATRIOT Act"- Sat 2/5 1:00 to 3:00pm

Flatbread Night in spring TBA benefiting ACE MV

ACE Authors’ Readings – 3/19, 1:00 to 3:00pm

ACE Student Art Exhibit at Featherstone Center for the Arts – Pebble Studio – 4/10

International Local/Global Volunteer Travel - Peru – April14th to 25th (depending on group choices – Orientations begin during winter session)

 
Kids at school in Pacaya, Nicaragua
ACE MV Journey to Nicaragua

    It only took a day for them to smile and reach out with folded hands. Our little group from the Vineyard was in Nicaragua to teach English in a village school, leave some much needed supplies, and hopefully to make positive connections with the people. We did not know that the local expression. of respect is to look another person in the eyes, fold hands together and reach out. The response is to place your hands over their hands in a similar gesture to show that the respect is returned.
    The school children of Pacaya, Nicaragua were thrilled to have exotic visitors to their school, visitors from Los Estados Unidos. Other children and teenagers hung around the classroom doorways and peered through the open windows at us as we told stories, talked in English,  and sang songs. At first the students were quiet while they sized us up. As they decided we were trustworthy, they began to look directly into our eyes. When they reached out their folded hands, we knew we were in.
        Months ago we heard about the voluntourism expedition to Nicaragua planned by ACE MV director Lynn Ditchfield and Advisory Council member Sandra Grymes. The opportunity to perform public service in a faraway tropical country in the company of other Islanders was irresistible. Toni Cohen and I, of West Tisbury, joined Nancy Whipple and Lynn and Michael Ditchfield, of Edgartown, and Meg and Jim Braley, of South Portland, Maine, for a memorable journey among lovely people.
        Vineyarders answered our pleas for contributions with almost more than we could carry down. Each of us packed our own things in carry-ons and dragged giant wheeled luggage stuffed with books, maps, school supplies, sports equipment, clothes, and medical supplies. Cash for new textbooks and four laptop macs were special gifts.
     Most Islanders know or have heard about Muriel Laverty, a former Vineyarder who moved down to Nicaragua over a decade ago to start the Siuna Medical Clinic in the mountains. Muriel and her husband, Omar Gonzalez Espinoza, a Nicaraguan, now work in the school under a 500-year-old ceibo tree in Pacaya, a poor but picturesque area on the rim of Laguna Apoya, the lake-filled crater of a long-spent volcano. Muriel and Omar set up our connection with the school and acted as hosts, driving us around local highlights and advising us on local customs. Their guidance was key to the success of our trip.
        Although they struggle in one of the poorest countries in Latin America, Nicaraguans are friendly, generous, and openhearted. Each day children brought us little treats: a drawing, a freshly picked mango, and always the warmth in their eyes and their folded hands.
    One morning, Toni and I were gathering a class of second graders into a circle to learn the Hokey Pokey. Toni, who is fluent in Spanish, was directing the children with actual language while I smiled and pointed. An older boy, about fifteen, hung about the doorway, keen with longing. Invited in, Jorge joined us for two hours that morning, encouraging the little ones, helping to translate my sloppy Spanish. Pretty soon he was writing English vocabulary on the board, eager for more.
        At week's end, parents were invited to the school for a presentation by all the students. Class by class, the children proudly went "onstage" behind the root of the ceibo tree to sing new songs, to  perform in skits, and to show off their English skills for their families. They also recited by heart several popular Nicaraguan poems for us, in Spanish.
        Before we left Martha's Vineyard, island school children made drawings and wrote letters to the Nicaraguan children. Eighth graders from West Tisbury School translated many of them into Spanish. Edgartown third graders made a music video. These were amazing hits when we arrived. In turn, the children of Pacaya wrote about their families and drew pictures of local animals for us to carry home. We  will share these and our many photos back home in Vineyard classrooms.
        Already, plans are underway for the next ACE MV voluntourism project in another site in Latin America. ACE MV will offer history, culture and language learning courses next fall to help prepare participants for that particular experience. It is expected that more islanders will take advantage of this unique opportunity to expand their insights in another culture.  In addition, now that we have taken a first step at the Pacaya school under the ceibo tree, Muriel hopes that a team of Vineyarders will return to Nicaragua, as well. Next time, we'll know to greet them with our eyes and reach out with folded hands.

See this article and pictures in the Vineyard Gazette and read another article by Karla Araujo in the MV Times.
This newsletter is made possible by a grant to volunteer editor Julie Hitchings from the Local Arts Lottery (LCC).
ACE Newsletter editor: Julie Hitchings
for comments or questions write to us: lynn@acemv.org
ACE MV 80 Chase Road, Edgartown, MA 02539
(508) -693-1033 ext 240 voice mail or call 774-310-1131, email: lynn@acemv.org