Language and Culture Service Learning

This program is provided by

Location

Costa Rica: Monteverde

Description

This program offers undergraduates, graduates, and in-service teachers the opportunity to gain professional experience in an educational setting in Central America. Students will have the chance to immerse themselves in another culture, improve their Spanish, and get experience teaching.

The students explore through reflections, discussions and theoretical readings the nexus between language and culture and the issues involved in teaching ESL. As part of the service-learning component, the participating students apply what they are learning in a week-long English Camp for local elementary school children. The students develop interactive lessons that integrate the national science curriculum and apply strategies for teaching English to non-native speakers of English. Most of the course is at the UGA Costa Rica campus and the surrounding communities, however, we also travel to Turrialba in the Atlantic zone and finish out the trip at Playa Sámara, one of Costa Ricas coastal jewels in the Guanacaste region.

Highlights

Homestays with Costa Rica Families will give students an opportunity to experience the warmth and hospitality of Costa Rica and also experience Costa Rica life in ways that cannot be learned in a classroom.