Through homestays with families in Santiago de los Caballeros, students gain daily practice in the language and a special perspective on Dominican family life. Students have the option of taking another elective course with Dominican students, to experience Dominican classroom culture first-hand. This Study Group program seeks to integrate the theoretical learning the student obtains in the classroom with multiple experiential modes of learning. The program includes short excursions to other parts of the island, plus a week-long visit to the city of Santo Domingo, the first urban center in the New World, to participate in lectures, scholarly discussions, and other activities. This is a semester long-program, running from the beginning of September to the middle of December, 2000.
Students earn four credits.
Preference given to concentrators in Latin American Studies. The host institution offers different levels of language instruction and administers a placement exam at the beginning of the term. Students who are very advanced in the language may take a literature or film course instead. The Study Group Director designs and conducts this course. It functions as an integrative forum for collaborative learning and provides a theoretical background to help conceptualize the experience abroad.