A 17-day "super-training" for social action trainers

Take your facilitation to a new level of creativity, range and effectiveness in this intensive 17-day super-training: 4 state-of-the-art workshops, with a day's rest between each, sequenced for maximum growth for participants.

The Super-T is for experienced and less-experienced trainers and facilitators who want to take their work to a new level of creativity and effectiveness, as well as new trainers who want to learn the major principles of this rapidly-developing field. The Super-T is ideal for a trainer's sabbatical, for facilitators looking for inspiration and fresh approaches, and for international trainers wanting to make a study trip to North America.

The Super-T has four parts, carefully sequenced to provide balanced learning by the participants, with rest in between for digestion of the new skills and knowledge. The program leaders are not only expert in empowerment teaching but also have deep experience in nonviolent social change work, internationally and locally. The Super-T goes beyond skills and information to the transformational level, with trainers growing in self-awareness and communicative power. The program includes an adventure-based learning course which will expand your toolkit for strengthening people's leadership, teamwork, and conflict resolution skills.

• More training tools you can use successfully
• Increased skill in challenging situations, including tools for working with strong emotions and difficult participants
• Greater awareness of yourself as a facilitator and new ways to use your strengths more effectively
• More clarity in how to arrange activities in a powerful sequence
• More confidence in facilitating with emergent design
• A certificate of achievement as a graduate of the Super-T

Want to add variety and greater range to the exercises you use in workshops? The Super-T will offer you...

• Expanded tools for working with people who learn primarily through visual, auditory, or kinesthetic channels
• Strategies for how to increase a resistant group's flexibility and openness to learning
• Increased creativity in inventing tools and activities for your kind of teaching

We'll show you how to increase your flexibility as a trainer. By the end of the Super-T, you'll have...

• New approaches to design which enable you to work with hundreds of participants in a workshop if necessary
• More understanding of how to use the dynamics in the workshop itself to teach nonviolence, team-building, democratic leadership, and conflict resolution
• Increased skill in cross-cultural communication and support for diversity

Coaching from experienced, internationally known trainers... Stimulation and support from working closely with other trainers for an extended time... A deeper appreciation for yourself and what you have to offer as a facilitator... More self-confidence

Of central importance is the learning community formed by the Super-T participants, which gives support to individuals' learning goals. This international learning community, by living and learning together for more than two weeks, extends the learning opportunities far past the hours of actual workshops.

The Super-T is very popular with trainers from overseas. In the past few years, we've welcomed trainers from Russia, Thailand, New Zealand, Bangladesh, Burma, India, Nepal, Romania, and many other countries. We have so many international participants that we've included a special orientation session for overseas visitors.

About visas: In order to travel to the United States, you will need to get a visa from the US embassy in your country. It's your responsibility to get your visa, but we'll help you as best we can. We will write an invitation letter and send it to you and to the embassy. But the letter is not a guarantee of a visa, and even if your visa is approved, the process can be very slow. You should contact us at least 3 months before the workshop you plan to take.

Funding: Are you looking for help paying for your trip to the US Here's an idea: many participants get funding from social-change groups in their home countries. In return, the participant agrees to do trainings for the group after returning home.

The fee for the whole Super-T is $650-$2,050 US, sliding scale based on income. The fee includes over 110 hours of training, meals on workshop days, and simple lodging in neighborhood homes for people who request it. Payment is by check or money order payable to Training for Change. To determine your workshop fee, use the chart below.

Keep in mind that the market value of this program is at least $5,000 US; we're able to offer it for less thanks to generous donors. We know you, too, will be as generous as you can! The registration deadline is May 1st, 2010. If you are attempting to register after the deadline or be added to the waiting list, please contact us at supert2009@gmail.com

(all numbers in US dollars)

Are you
being sent to the training by your employer? If so, don't use your income to determine the fee -- use the annual budget of the organization.

If you have questions about the sliding scale fee, or you need more information about the workshop, feel free to contact us.

The workshop fee includes all meals during workshop hours. Meals are cooked and served family-style at the training site. Participants are responsible for meals that fall outside of workshop hours.

The fee also includes simple lodging in neighborhood homes for people who request it. Just let us know on your registration form that you'll need a place to stay, and we'll match you with a local host; most of the hosts live within a few blocks of the training site.

Because we have so many international participants, we offer a special session just for them: the Orientation for International Participants. In two days, you'll get a chance to meet the other international visitors, adjust to the time difference, deal with culture shock, and meet some U.S. activists. You'll even find out how to use Philadelphia's public transportation system.

Part one of the Super-T, Training for Social Action Trainers, is an intensive workshop designed for experienced facilitators wanting to revitalize their work, new trainers wanting to inspire, teachers, community leaders, activists--anyone who needs to take their skills to the next level and learn how training can be used more effectively.

Format: The workshop begins with dinner and registration at 6 p.m. Friday and runs until 6 p.m. Sunday.

Cost if taken separately: If taken separately, this workshop costs $150-$375 US, sliding scale based on income. The fee includes over 23 hours of training, meals from Friday dinner through Sunday lunch, and simple lodging in neighborhood homes for people who request it.

Part two of the Super-T, Adventure-Based Learning, is designed to introduce trainers to a set of invigorating tools that you can use to build group cohesion, explore conflict, examine leadership roles -- and just have fun!

Adventure-based learning provides physical and intellectual problems for groups to solve. The "group challenges" help people explore issues of leadership, cooperation, and conflict. The hands-on activities provide a laboratory for people to experiment with different ways to lead or support a team. As with other experiential training, at the end of each exercise participants explore options for greater effectiveness. This workshop helps trainers incorporate challenges into their training designs so that they are more effective in building teams, developing leadership, and resolving conflicts.

Format: The workshop begins with breakfast and registration at 8 a.m. Tuesday, and runs until about 5 p.m. Wednesday.

Cost if taken separately: If taken separately, this workshop costs $110 US -$250 US, sliding scale based on income. The fee includes over 16 hours of training, all meals on Tuesday and Wednesday, and simple lodging in neighborhood homes for people who request it.

Part three of the Super-T, Creative Workshop Design, gives you a chance to let your mind loose in a liberating learning environment and get a fresh look at creating workshops, classes, seminars and trainings. This fun, intense 3-day workshop is for trainers who want to design engaging, impactful workshops, teachers who want to add spice to existing curriculums, and anyone who needs to communicate with groups in a way that empowers. You will...

• Increase your ability to design educational experiences and invent new activities
• Explore the art of arranging activities in the most powerful sequence
• Learn how to increase a group's flexibility and openness to using powerful exercises

Format: The workshop begins with registration at 6 p.m. Friday and ends at 4 p.m. Sunday.

Cost if taken separately: If taken separately, this workshop costs $150-$375 US, sliding scale based on income. The fee includes over 22 hours of training, meals from Saturday breakfast through Sunday lunch, and simple lodging in neighborhood homes to people who request it.

In part four, the Advanced Training of Trainers, you'll deepen and broaden your facilitation skills. It's a rigorous training open only to people who've taken our introductory Training for Social Action Trainers, whether in Philadelphia or elsewhere. As a participant, you will...

• Receive in-depth, personal coaching on your goals
• Prepare for cross-cultural work, including international training
• Use more practice time to experiment with new approaches in a supportive setting
• Learn about more training tools and how to use them effectively
• Meet trainers with a range of life experiences

Format: The workshop begins with dinner and registration at 6 p.m. Tuesday and ends at 6 p.m. Sunday. That makes it almost three times the length of the basic training: 14 sessions compared with 6!

Prerequisite -- Part 1: This workshop is open only to people who've taken the introductory workshop, Training for Social Action Trainers.

Cost if taken separately: If taken separately, this workshop costs $400-$1,150 US, sliding scale based on income. The fee includes over 45 hours of training, all meals from Tuesday dinner through Sunday lunch, and simple lodging in neighborhood homes for people who request it.

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