I profoundly agree with what Brian said about internships. There is no better teacher than the learner teaching after his or her experiences. Especially in terms of travel and intercultural learning. I would say that perhaps the best two organizations to work with in terms of internships for international literacy that I have come across are Book Bus and Room to Read, there are plenty more that focus just on the United States literacy problem like Reading Partners and many others.
LIS programs need to structure themselves to be more proactive about intercultural issues. How about requiring books on other cultures to be read in the materials classes or cultural sensitivity issues to be brought up in the required classes. How about not requiring leadership as a required course, since some cultures have different values for leaders than we do in the United States. How about requiring this class instead of one of the others or in addition to the other required courses?
But most of all we need to allow and promote internships with Literacy organizations around the world!!! Or else we might keep our LIS bubbles intact for years to come!
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