Bryanna Plog

Bryanna Plog spent a year in Colombia as a volunteer ESL teacher with the WorldTeach program. Misspelled Paradise is her attempt to share with others the Colombia she experienced, which isn’t necessarily what one might expect from the images and stories of Colombia prominent in the media.

Plog was assigned to a middle school on an island on the Caribbean coast with a predominantly Afro-Colombian population. For much the book, her view is very narrow, by which I mean she only relates what happens to her with little additional historical or cultural information. In contrast, there are several chapters in which Plog expands on her personal experience with research. Unfortunately, this reads like an info dump at times, although it’s still interesting.

Overall, Plog has done a nice job with Misspelled Paradise. It’s an obvious choice for anyone considering a volunteer teaching gig abroad or who is planning a trip to Colombia. It will also interest anyone who wants to read about the nation without a focus on drug cartels and violence.… (mais)