For immediate Release
November 17, 2001
Contact Claudia Calderon: cc@partners.net

Virginia-Santa Catarina Partners Receive Award for Excellence

Orlando, FL - The Virginia-Santa Catarina, Brazil Partnership received a 2001 "Award for Excellence" for their Using Music to Teach English as A Foreign Language program. The award was presented Saturday, November 17, at the Annual partners of the Americas International Convention in Orlando, Florida. Partners is one of the largest volunteer organizations working to promote social and economic development in the western hemisphere. The excellence awards are presented each year by Partners to outstanding volunteer projects which reflect innovation and resourcefulness at the international level.

In 1995, the Using Music to Teach English as a Foreign Language program began as a way to use music to make the learning of English more enjoyable while bringing American folk literature to children learning the new language. Combining art and education, the program consists of workshops for practicing teachers and university students in four geographic areas of Santa Catarina, Brazil. Goals of the workshops include introducing teachers to the idea of using music as a means of enhancing language learning, providing teachers with the necessary music tools, and sharing a wealth of activities and materials developed to integrate music and language study.

Based on American folk and children's songs, the workshops provide student involvement, collaborative and cooperative learning, and variation on learning modes, for example dancing and instrument playing. Volunteer teachers from Virginia traveled to Santa Catarina to participate and help facilitate the workshops.

Such cultural sharing has inspired extensive project collaboration by both sides of the partnership and stimulated an ongoing and valuable friendship between the two communities.

Partners of the Americas is an active network of committed citizens from Latin America, the Caribbean, and the United States working to improve the lives of people across the Americas. Partners was founded in 1964 as the people-to-people component of the Alliance for Progress. Each of our 60 Partnerships" links a state of the U.S. With a country or region in Latin America or the Caribbean. Each side of a Partnership is organized as a private, non-profit institution in its respective community.

For the most up-to-date information,
please visit the Partners website at www.partners.net!