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STUDY ABROAD IN THE AMERICAS: DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
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Program: Pontificia Universidad Catolica Madre y Maestra (Service Learning) / CIEE
Location: Santiago, Dominican Republic
Is This Program Right For You? The CIEE Service-Learning program in Santiago is designed for students with four or more semesters of college-level Spanish and demonstrated experience in volunteerism or community service. Participants engage in active service while reflecting upon the complexities and challenges facing Santiago’s Cibao region through an approach that integrates academics and urban and rural community-based service. Santiago de los Caballeros, the second largest city in the Dominican Republic, is surrounded by mountains in the lush valley of the Cibao region. Places of historical, cultural, and ecological interest are nearby, and it is just a little over an hour’s drive to the Atlantic Coast. Known as La Ciudad Corazón (City of the Heart), Santiago is the commercial and cultural center of the fertile Cibao Valley region, housing over 100 industrial free trade zone factories, the León Jimenez cultural center and cigar factory, and the commercial street of Calle del Sol. Service-Learning program students take the core course and capstone project at the Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra (PUCMM). For the service part of the program, students work with Emprende-Centro Comunitario de Indicativas Emperiales, Escuela Popular y Arte (EPE), Famn Vayant, Fundación Cuidado Infantil Dominicano (FCID), Juan 23, and Oné Respe.
The Courses/Program: Since 1947, CIEE has engaged in fulfilling its mission “to help people gain understanding, acquire knowledge, and develop skills for living in a globally interdependent and culturally diverse world.” The service-learning program serves this mission by providing a framework for students to fulfill their educational and personal goals while bridging relationships in the communities in which their learning takes place. In this sense, service-learning takes theory to practice to meet the challenges of social problems and closes the circle on an experiential learning cycle, while providing benefits to all those who are involved with the program. This program is built upon the four core principles of service-learning, and each component of the program addresses one or more of the principles- Engagement, Reflection, Reciprocity, Public Dissemination. The core course and capstone projects draw on the expertise of the CIEE Academic Director and faculty from the Department of Applied Linguistics at PUCMM. The service component is coordinated through PRODECO and various non-profit and non-governmental organizations in the Santiago area. Students take part in the CIEE Community Language Commitment by speaking Spanish at all times (except in emergencies). This fosters a learning community that contributes to both Spanish language proficiency and understanding of Dominican society.
Housing: Students live in Dominican private homes, and meals are taken at the place of residence. Housing assignments are based on questionnaires that students submit to CIEE and are made by the Office of International Students at PUCMM. The families live within walking distance of PUCMM. Students and their families are asked to speak only Spanish.
Duration/Deadlines:
• Fall Semester (17 weeks): mid August – mid-December / Application Deadline: April 1st
• Spring Semester (17 weeks): early January – late April / Application Deadline: October 15th
Requirements: (Language of instruction is Spanish)
• 3.0 GPA Cumulative and in Spanish courses
• Four semesters of college-level Spanish or equivalent
• Volunteer and Independent Research Experience
Program Cost Includes: Tuition, housing and some meals, orientation, cultural activities, local excursions, field trips, pre-departure advising, and insurance. Visa not included. For more information: www.ciee.org. Catalogues are available in ISAP’s Resource Rooms. Please note: The information on this sheet is for reference purposes only. It is your responsibility to confirm details and deadlines.
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Program: FLACSO / CIEE
Location: Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Is This Program Right For You? This program is for advanced level Spanish students who are motivated to gain a deeper appreciation of the realities of Dominican society and the Caribbean region as a whole, especially regarding issues of underdevelopment, through both academic and internship activities.
The goals of the program are to provide advanced Spanish language students with a critical appreciation of the Dominican Republic and the Hispanic Caribbean and its importance in Latin America from the perspective of the social sciences and in the context of an underdeveloped urban Caribbean setting. These goals are achieved through course work in the social sciences as well as through the opportunity to work (a minimum of six hours weekly) in a structured and supervised internship with a local grassroots development project.
The Courses/Program: The CIEE program is hosted by the Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales (FLACSO). FLACSO-Dominican Republic is linked to other research teaching centers throughout Latin America and was founded by UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization). Its internationally known faculty is also associated with one or more universities in Santo Domingo. Through FLACSO, students in the program are eligible to take selected courses from the nationally recognized university Instituto Tecnológico de Santo Domingo (INTEC), and the Instituto Filosófico Pedro FranciscoBonó (El Bonó).
The Instituto Tecnológico de Santo Domingo (INTEC) is a private university founded by a group of professionals and businessmen in the 1980s to promote academic excellence in the areas of social sciences and engineering.
The Instituto Filosófico Pedro Francisco Bonó (El Bonó) is a Jesuit institute of higher learning specializing in philosophy and social sciences.
In addition, FLACSO offers several special courses for CIEE students every semester, focused upon cultural, literary, artistic, political, and social aspects of the Dominican Republic, and the Caribbean as a whole. Students may enroll in a maximum of two of these courses per semester.
Given the acknowledged reputation of the faculty and course offerings at FLACSO, INTEC, and El Bono the program is suitable for both advanced undergraduate and graduate students with strong language skills and a background in the social sciences or Latin American studies. All courses are taught in Spanish. The program requires a large degree of independence and ability to pursue an individual academic program. A tutor is available at FLACSO to assist participants with specific grammar questions related to their course work throughout the semester.
For those students who have an interest in focusing their academic studies while in Santo Domingo, the CIEE Study Center offers participants an opportunity to pursue a Caribbean Studies track of study. Students who pursue this track must enroll in the required core course taught at FLACSO, “Social and Ethnocultural Identity of the Contemporary Caribbean,” up to two elective courses taught at FLACSO and up to three elective courses at CIEE affiliated universities in Santo Domingo. These latter courses must focus on the Dominican Republic or the Caribbean region.
Housing: Students live in Dominican homestays, near or around the colonial zone and the university campuses of Santo Domingo. Housing and meals are included in the program fee. All students receive three meals per day with their host family. Weekly laundry and linen service are also provided.
Duration/Deadlines:
• Fall Semester (19 weeks): late July – mid December / Application Deadline: April 1st
• Spring Semester (19 weeks): early January – early May / Application Deadline: November 1st
• Academic Year (39 weeks): late July – early May / Application Deadline: April 1st
Requirements: (Language of instruction is Spanish)
• 3.0 GPA
• Five semesters of college-level Spanish or equivalent; intermediate Spanish proficiency
Program Cost Includes: Tuition, housing and some meals, orientation, cultural activities, local excursions, field trips, pre-departure advising, and insurance. Visa not included. For more information: www.ciee.org. Catalogues are available in ISAP’s Resource Rooms. Please note: The information on this sheet is for reference purposes only. It is your responsibility to confirm details and deadlines.
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