Embassy of the United States Lima, Peru

The Regional English Language Office was established in 2005 in the Public Affairs Section of the U.S. Embassy in Lima, Peru to support public diplomacy outreach through English language teaching and training in Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela. It cooperates with Ministries of Education, Binational Centers, professional teachers’ associations, Fulbright, Peace Corps, public and private universities and other higher education institutes, among other partners, in order to build a stronger understanding between the peoples of the Andean region of Latin America and the U.S.

• Mission
• Programs
• Resources

RELO Highlights

Online Writing Course for Bi-National Centers

From January 9 to April 6, 2012, a group of English teachers and trainers from 21 different Bi-National Centers in the Andean region participated in the online course "Teaching EFL Writing."The course was developed specifically to address a need articulated by a majority of BNCs in the region. Former Senior Fellow John Mark King, currently a Specialist based in Mongolia who also oversees one of the State Department's onlien E-Teacher courses, created the course after conducting a needs analysis with the group. Not only did the participants learn from their tutor, but also from the other participants. Summarized one participant: "At first I thought of the course as something more for myself than for teachers and students. However as soon as it began, I started to open my eyes while I was discovering the vital importance of writing well. Also I found many useful tools available. Now I am convinced of the importance of teaching, reading and writing fromthe early stages of our program. This will benefit our students and teachers, because writing helps us reflect, think critically and demonstrate capacity to communicate properly in different environments of our personal and professional lives."

Regional Access Camp and Conference

The Regional English Language Office in Lima sponsored the first ever Access Camp in Peru in partnership with the Binational Center in Chiclayo and the Peace Corps. Seventy-two students from Chiclayo, Chepen, and Cajamarca attended the overnight camp from March 15-17. The Presidential Management Fellow in the RELO Andes office organized a team of PCVs, Access coordinators from across the region and Mexico, and the Senior English Language Fellow based in Lima to lead camp activities. The camp was followed by a Regional Access Conference March 19 and 20 at which embassy representatives from Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela, along with 20 coordinators from their respective Access providers, discussed how to continue strengthening the Access Program in the RELO Andes region.

"ELT + IT" Training and Conference Revolutionize English Teaching

From February 29 to March 3, 2012, twenty-three English teachers took part in three days of intensive workshops on integrating information technology into the classroom with Specialist Michael Krauss, a professor of Lewis and Clark College in Oregon. On the fourth day, the teachers became trainers and shared web 2.0 tools with approximately 100 instructors from schools, univesities and institutes in the Lima area. The 23 teachers were alumni of Mr. Krauss's online courses and the event was an opportunity to cement their knowledge by having face-to-face trainign with an expert in the field. The program was held at one of Peru's most prestigious universities, Universidad San Ignacio de Loyola, and as such offered the institution an opportunity to reach out to a needy state sector.

The intensive training participants were from various parts of Peru, including Iquitos, Huancayo, Piura, and Cajamarca. There were also two special guests from Bi-Nacional Centers in Bolivia and two from the Ministry of Education in Ecuador. All left with a deep toolbox of specific ideas that can be implemented in their institutions and all have plans for sharing these ideas with their colleagues and other English teachers in their cities.

Several key objectives were fulfilled. Thos knowledgeable became experts, especially in the process of explaining the tools to others. Participants understood the deeper implications of working with technology in terms of reforming the more traditional "teacher knows all" approach. They realized that technology requires a partnership with, to use Mr. Krauss's words, the teacher becomes a "player coach." Finally, those reluctant to use technology became avid fans. Admitted one participant in his late 50's from Huancayo at the start of the training. "I am not fond of technology." On the fourth day, he was among one of the most active trainers, introducing a succession of small groups of 4-5 teachers to Voxipop, an online tool that allows users to record audio samples and share with a wider audience. Other tools includes Weebly, Screenr, Glogster, Mind42 and Diigo.

USIL Conference Launches Online Component

From September 30 to October 1, 2011 RELO Andes took part in University of San Ignacio Loyola’s “14th Annual ELT Conference: Preparing our Students for University: Rising to the Challenge.” Joining guest speakers from the U.S. and Peru, Senior English Language Fellow Vicky Holdridge conducted a workshop, “Teaching Public Speaking Techniques,” and Regional English Language Officer David Fay gave one of two opening plenaries, “Painting Chewing Gum: How English is Being Taught in the Andean Region… and how it is not.” The crowd of approximately 130 academics were drawn to the event by the focus on strategies for English language education at primary, secondary and university levels. For the first time in Peru’s ELT professional development history, the conference was linked virtually to a group of approximately 40 participants at the USIL campus in Cusco.

RELO Andes Outreach to Arequipa

From October 26 to 28, 2011, the U.S. Embassy’s Regional English Language Office provided support to two key projects, an ongoing 240-hour teacher training project for English teachers in public schools and an English for Tourism Purposes project. The former project was developed by Arequipa’s only Pedagogical Institute, which provides the region with future generations of English teachers, among other subjects.

RELO Andes Webinar Drives Home Message of Face-to-Face Visit for Specialists

On October 24, 2011 English Language Specialists Fredricka Stoller and Bill Grabe conducted a webinar with a group of 10 academics in Peru who prepare future teachers of English. The webinar is a follow-on to their visit to Peru in June 2011, and serves as a review of the material, a check to ensure some of the new ideas they proposed in June transfer into actual practice, and an opportunity for the group to ask follow-on questions. The group of Academics are also responsible for drafting a training document that helps current and future English teachers teach the important skills of reading and writing. This was the first webinar for many of the participants; it was also the first webinar for professors Stoller and Grabe.

Request for Support and More Information (PDF 263 KB)
RELO Office, U.S. Embassy, Lima, Peru
reloandes@state.gov
Tel: (51-1) 618-2110
Fax: (51-1) 618-2725