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Layli Amerson '13: This summer, I did an internship at the
Universidad Alberto Hurtado in Santiago, Chile, through the
Mount Holyoke International Internship Program, funded by the McCulloch Center.
This internship really seemed to lend itself to my long-term interests,
as far as career, because I'm interested in becoming an English professor,
and this internship was within the context of the English pedagogy department
at the Universidad Alberto Hurtado. I find the whole idea of a writing center--and
especially a speaking, arguing, and writing center--to be really exciting.
The mission of the SAW Program is to empower communicators--speakers, writers,
and arguers--both through their writing and through their presentation projects.
I have been working for SAW for over a year now. Katie, my co-intern, and I brought
this idea to Santiago, to this university, and we started out by just trying to
communicate what a writing center is capable of to teachers. Along the way, it
was really exciting for us to get the help of one of Mount Holyoke's alums,
Eliana Ortega. And she was really supportive of this idea of a writing center.
And so besides interacting directly with the teachers and with the students, we
decided to make a syllabus and lesson plans for a two-semester-long mentor
preparation course loosely modeled after what we do here at Mount Holyoke.
This class should start really soon.
Having a hands-on experience with teaching and lesson planning gave me
the confidence that I will be able to bring those skills to my future
work as a teacher or a professor. Knowing that I was able to do that in
another country has made me think about possibly applying for grants or
fellowships to go abroad, maybe to Latin America again, after I graduate.