CIEE Liberal Arts Program in Santiago, Dominican Republic

  Dominican Republic

• Santiago: 
Santiago

Term: Academic Year, Fall, Spring 
Dates: Fall 16 weeks: mid-August-mid-December; Spring 16 weeks: early January-late April; Academic Year 37 weeks: mid-August-late April

Description: The goal of Liberal Arts program is to help students solidify their Spanish language skills, while gaining a deeper understanding of the society, culture, economics, and politics of the Dominican Republic and the Caribbean region, with a particular emphasis on the Hispanic Caribbean. These goals are achieved through intensive language coursework, social science area studies, literature and history course-work, sports and arts programs, and immersion into Dominican life.

Academic Program
The Liberal Arts program in Santiago was established in 1987 with a dual focus: to enable students to achieve advanced Spanish language skills, while studying and actively participating in life in a developing Caribbean country. The program is designed for students who have taken two years of college-level Spanish and would like to significantly improve their skills in conversation and grammar. Liberal Arts courses offer a solid foundation and unique insight into the evolution of society, culture, economics, and politics of Hispaniola and the Greater Hispanic Caribbean, providing courses on regional literature, history, and on the comparison of the widely variant socio-cultural issues that are pertinent for contemporary society in this region.

At the start of the semester, all CIEE students are tested to determine their oral and written Spanish level. Students are then placed in one of three distinct academic tracks (Advanced Level I, II, or III) according to their language proficiency; each offering a different configuration of both required and elective courses.

Those with strong motivation, independence, and a high level of Spanish may continue
for a second semester at the CIEE Study Center in Santo Domingo or on the Service Learning program in Santiago. Academic year students have a three-week break between the first and second semesters.

Academic Culture
Most PUCMM students specialize in a profession such as law, medicine, engineering, architecture, education, or business. The only social science majors are psychology and social communication. Although PUCMM is considered to be the countrys premier private university, like other Latin American universities, it has limited resources compared to most U.S. colleges and universities.

CIEE students take a combination of courses offered exclusively for them, as well as courses with other foreign students. Students who place into the most advanced levels of the program have the opportunity to take one or two classes with PUCMM students. CIEE students will find some striking differences between teaching goals and methods at PUCMM compared to what they are accustomed to in the U.S., which can be challenging, but also educational. Teaching methods are less formal, employing a mix of tutorials, readings, discussions, reports, and tests, but with more reliance on memorization than analysis. Many of the presentations for a particular class are researched and presented by individuals or student groups, not by the professors, thus stimulating students to take more initiative in their own learning process.

Highlights:

• Interaction at multiple levels of Dominican society via homestays, university courses, rural and urban volunteer activities, and language partners
  
• Optional community service course and optional Teaching English as a Second
  Language course, both with a hands-on practicum
  
• Class trips ranging from visits to local Santería altars to the Free Trade Zone; excursions to sites of cultural importance; weekend trips to the Samaná Peninsula
  and mountains of Constanza; two optional weekend rural work retreats

Weekend excursions generally include the Valley of Constanza, high in the central mountains, and the Samaná Peninsula in order to visit sites in the Los Haitises National Park, which are accessible only by boat. In addition, there are trips to sites of interest, such as to the Hermanas Mirabal Museum in Salcedo; La Vega during Carnaval season; a half-day hike to an amber mine and experimental coffee plantation; a visit to a batey; and a day-trip to Dajabón, the principal market and economic development zone on the Haitian-Dominican border. There is also a selection of three optional activities that students vote upon each semester, with trips varying depending upon student interests, at an additional cost.

Many field trips are also integrated into academic classes. These may include visits to agricultural and industrial projects, free trade zones, a Dominican tobacco company, local museums, clinics, schools, and non- profit organizations.

Degree Level: Bachelors Degree (Undergraduate)

Cost in US$: Please check the CIEE website for current program pricing

Experience Required: yes