AREA OF SPANISH FOR FOREIGNERS

1.  DESCRIPTION

PUCMM's Spanish for Foreigners Program originated more than 15 years ago with the aim of offering foreign students the opportunity to perfect their fundamental Spanish language skills in reading, writing, listening comprehension, and speaking. For this reason, the program is one of integrated immersion, wherein students live with Dominican host families and take all of their classes in Spanish at our University.

Today we offer various programs, such as the short but intensive 4-week programs in the summer as well as programs that last the entire academic semester. The flexibility of the various programs allows us to not only emphasize language perfection, but to offer classes in the field of Social Science that focus upon Caribbean and Latin American Studies as well as classes in Community Health, and other areas. In order to do this, the University has signed agreements with several institutions and foreign universities.

2. CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

Our Spanish language classes offer tools to develop and improve the students' communicative abilities at both the oral and written levels. Among the objectives of these classes are the following: expand their vocabulary, perfect their Spanish phonology and intonation, introduce them to various aspects of the Dominican and Latin American cultures through a diverse selection of readings and presentations, and help them to understand and extensively practice Spanish grammar at various levels of complexity. All of these objectives are framed around a theoretical-methodological concept that emphasizes both function and communication for the teaching/learning of languages.

Through the field of Literature, we provide our students with a general and comprehensive vision of Hispanic American, Hispanic Caribbean, and Dominican culture through selected readings and the analysis of stories, poems, essays, and novels. The theme of the important role that women writers play in modern literature is also amply covered.

In the area of Social Sciences, students are offered a series of classes that aim to introduce them to the Latin American and Caribbean world, including knowledge of regional geography, environment, history, and social processes, always encouraging them to analyze and reflect upon the Dominican social reality, a process that helps them to achieve a wider global vision of our modern world.

In the area of Health, students are offered an option that aims to provide them with an introduction to basic health services in the Caribbean context at both the rural and urban levels. Students are exposed to the dual experience of theoretical classes and hands-on practice in the basics of applied medicine.

All of the classes have an eminently communicative focus, emphasizing the use of the skills and knowledge that the students are acquiring, with an eye to a better understanding of the problems of Latin America, the Caribbean, and especially the Dominican Republic .

3. AIMS

The design of the Program was conceived with the aim of offering participants the opportunity to perfect their use and understanding of both spoken and written Spanish through a variety of courses and levels of Spanish Language, Hispanic American, Caribbean, and Dominican Literature, and the study of a wide variety of the Social Science areas, with particular reference to the Caribbean and Latin American reality. At the same time, the aim is to enrich the students' experience by having them live with Dominican families for several months. For those who are interested, the Program also offers participants the opportunity to become involved in community development activities.

The participants, therefore, have the opportunity to immerse themselves in an intercultural living experience that will enrich both their personal lives as well as their intellectual knowledge.

4. PARTICIPATING INSTITUTIONS AND OTHER AGREEMENTS

•  Council on International Educational Exchange (CIEE)

This program sends us students from various North American universities each semester and, during the summer, offers a program exclusively devoted to Public Health. Students have the option to stay and study for the entire academic year, if they wish to do so. A Resident Director is permanently assigned to our Institution.

•  Dominican Republic Consortium (DR Consortium)

Composed of the universities of Hobart and William Smith Colleges , Colgate University , Le Moine College, and the University of Illinois , Chicago , the DR Consortium is a program for the study of Spanish and classes in the areas of Caribbean Study, Community Service, and the Social Sciences during the spring semester. Students come every year. The program requires the presence of Resident Director who accompanies the visiting students.

•  Council on International Cooperation, Health and Nutrition Program (CIC).

Participants visit us every year in the August-December semester, coming from universities in the Midwest such as Iowa , Indiana University , and others. The program is aimed at the area of Health, but with a Spanish language component.

•  ISA: International Studies Abroad

PUCMM offers participants in this exchange program a variety of classes about the culture and history of the Caribbean and Dominican Republic . The program is offered to students at diverse universities in the United States in both the August-December and January-May semesters, as well as in the summer.

•  Exchange with Spelman College and Morehouse College of Atlanta , Georgia

This group of students visits us in the summers; it is an intensive 4-week program with courses principally in the areas of Spanish language and Dominican Social Themes.

•  Other Exchange Programs are those of Arkansas , Albany , among others

Furthermore, our Institution has written agreements with numerous other universities and international institutions.