(Materials and resource links have been updated for 2024)
For a week each August, Lake Tahoe Community College hosts ISSI, the Intensive Spanish Summer Institute. Students of all language levels spend a week studying grammar and conversational Spanish. Additional "breakout sessions" allow students to learn about a wide variety of cultural aspects and history of Spanish speaking countries. In 2008, in the first science and ecology oriented sessions to be offered, Debra introduced ISSI to Baja's sea turtles and friendly whales. She followed up in 2009 with a week-long environmental education series that continues as part of the annual program. In 2019, Whale Sharks were added as a breakout.
Links to English & Spanish language class materials can be found below. Each section contains a main topic page with links to the handout, presentation, and resource materials for that topic. Words on the main page have links to the vocabulary list.
All of the class presentations and handouts are available in both English and Spanish as well as the corresponding webpage in this section, except for the Gray Whale class handout and webpage, which are under construction.
Conserving the Peninsula provides information on the various governmental and public sector programs and activities by which the peninsula is being protected. Vocabulary List.
The Sonoran Desert introduces the thriving plants and animals of this major ecoregion of the peninsula. Vocabulary List
Sea Turtles discusses the five species that visit or reside in Baja California's waters or nest on its beaches and the efforts underway to protect these endangered reptiles. Vocabulary List. Watch three short videos of release of turtle hatchlings in Baja California Sur.
Cave Paintings & Cowboys highlights the world renowned prehistoric cave art of the peninsula as well as takes a look at the lives of the rancheros who live near these remote sites. Cave Paintings Vocabulary List and Cowboys Vocabulary List
Baja's Friendly Whales visits the shallow lagoons where California Gray Whales give birth and mate while at the southernmost point of their yearly 6000 mile migration. Vocabulary List
Monarch Butterfly: North America´s Amazing Mirgrant looks at the life of a species that has the longest and most unique migration of any insect . Vocabulary List
Whale Sharks of La Paz Bay is a Spanish-language short documentary by local cinematographer Eréndira Valle about the world´s largest fish species and forms the basis of this breakout. You can download the translation of the Spanish subtitles, a vocabulary list, and the class presentation on Whale Shark biology and conservation.
