Language Institute
​for Sustainability and Transformative Education

LISTO for Students

LISTO for TEACHERS

Vision 
LISTO is a national model for training teachers to further develop cultural competencies and understand and engage English Language Learning students.

Purpose 
The purpose of LISTO for Teachers is to expose teachers to traditional cultures of Mexico to discover the cultural richness of the Spanish-speaking peoples of this hemisphere while engaging in effective second language pedagogy.

Mission 
The Mission of LISTO is to bring teachers together in a language and cultural immersion program in Oaxaca, Mexico, to promote cultural understanding and build bridges with students upon their return to the United States.

Values
The values of LISTO for Teachers are openness and understanding, a love of the natural world and of communities that live in balance with that world.

"What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us;
what we have done for others and the world remains and is immortal." 
Albert Pike

Im memorial and honor of 
Cara Esquibel,
an exceptional educator
​who heart-fully founded and passionately stewarded
​the original LISTO project

Cara Esquivel taught Spanish Language Arts and Native American Literature at Monte del Sol Charter School.  She had a Master’s Degree from the University of New Mexico and a BA from the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, and participated in the Middlebury College Breadloaf summer writing program. Cara was originally from Chicago, was a Peace Corps volunteer in Costa Rica from 1992 to 1994 and taught Bilingual Education and English at Bernalillo High School and with Albuquerque Public Schools before joining Monte del Sol in 2001. Cara served on the City of Santa Fe’s Immigration Committee since 2011. She has led student trips to Oaxaca, Merida, Yucatan and Costa Rica since 2002 and developed semester abroad programs and summer immersion programs in both Oaxaca and Costa Rica. She was an extraordinary educator, mother, friend, and community leader. She touched the lives of so many and made the world a better place. Her loss is a great one for our community and for all who were blessed to know her.

Article in the Santa Fe New Mexican Newspaper

Honoring the LISTO Community of Support:

Santa Fe Community College
Community Learning Network
Monte del Sol Charter School
​LANL Foundation
Santa Fe Community Foundation
The Brindle Foundation
Partners in Education
Santa Fe Innovation Park. ​Center for Social Sustainable Systems 
The Masters Program
Grace and James Ronhovde
Ellen and Paul Biderman
Monte del Sol Foundation
The Santa Fe Farmer's Market
Bethany Muller
Colleen Pfeifer
Gina Leeds
and
Leslie Schenk
and so many more...
​PLUS,
Robert Jessen
Dawn Wink
Randy Grillo
Jennifer Nevarez