Say There Alumni Newsletter Fall 2018
During the past half century some study abroad programs have changed in format and location, but the goal of providing Ohio University students a cultural and academic experience abroad has remained constant.
Educational opportunities abroad for foreign language students at Ohio University have existed at least since the early 1950s, when the Course Catalog lists foreign study and exchange programs in France and Spain for the summer and junior year. By the mid-’60s, in cooperation with Bowling Green State University, the Modern Languages Department was offering year-long study abroad opportunities in Tours, France (1966), Salzburg, Austria (1968) and Madrid, Spain (1967).
In addition, winter, spring and summer programs began in 1967 in Mérida and Jalapa, Mexico. Since then several other programs have been developed, including in Germany, Russia, Italy and South America.
During the past half century some programs have changed in format and location, but the goal of providing Ohio University students a cultural and academic experience abroad has remained constant.
Austria: German Language in Salzburg
By Nik Sathe
The Salzburg Program is pleased with the continuing growth of our enrollments since the semester transition. With 15 weeks abroad, students have ample opportunities to develop their language skills and to travel independently and on group excursions to Munich, Berlin, and Vienna. A great asset for students remains their Austrian conversation partners, who are organized by our incoming exchange student. Since 2017, the program has added an excursion to the village of Maria Alm, where students visit an elementary school and try their hand at alpine sledding and skiing. Another addition to our plate, literally, is a schnitzel workshop, where everyone gets to make, and eat, their own Wiener Schnitzel. Guten Appetit!
Italy: Study the Italian Language in Florence
By Molly Morrison
Hello! A few different things in Florence, Italy: 16 students this year; excursions include an event in Rome—an historical enactment—gladiator show where students are just a few feet away from gladiators dueling to the “death;” a trip to the Roman catacombs; trip to a Tuscan olive grove; etc.
France: Language & Culture in Grenoble
By Dominique Duvert
Our Grenoble program is now offered in summer and offers two options: a one-month program for students who have completed FR 1120 (available in June or July); and a two-month program for students who completed FR 2110. Both programs include intensive language classes at the CUEF of Université Grenoble-Alpes in Grenoble. In addition, the two-month program offers culture and literature classes in July.
As in previous years, we have partnered with API since I do not stay on-site for the whole duration. API offers frequent excursions starting with a three-day stay in Paris and visits to Lyon, Marseille, Annecy and more.
New this year: The size of the group with 11 participants (10 of them in the two-month program). Academic highlight: Our students placed very well in their language evaluations! Personal highlights: taking the subway in Paris, seeing Paris from the towers of Notre-Dame or the top of the Arc de Triomphe, eating escargots! And sharing a couscous in Grenoble (one of French people’s favorite meals). There is more to come, more fun, personal growth, mastering the French r, and living the language and its culture!
Ecuador/Cuenca
By Carisa Trapp
Language and Culture in Cuenca, Ecuador
In summer 2017 the Modern Languages Department sponsored an eight-week study abroad program to Cuenca, Ecuador. Twelve students of all levels enrolled in a variety of classes in language, literature and culture and immersed themselves in Ecuadorian daily life by living with a host family. Students participated in cultural activities and excursions to locations throughout Ecuador, including archaeological sites, colonial cities, indigenous communities, the coast and the Amazon forest. This program allowed students the opportunity to greatly improve their abilities in Spanish and return with a deepened understanding of Latin American culture and history.
Teaching English as a Foreign Language in Ecuador
The 2016 TEFL in Ecuador summer program in Cuenca, Ecuador offered students the opportunity to earn a certificate in Teaching English as a Foreign Language designed for individuals planning to teach English overseas. This intensive, six-week program was unique in that the on-site practicum allowed students to apply their knowledge in a true non-English speaking environment. Students lived with a host family and participated in weekend excursions, including visits to archaeological sites, artisan communities, colonial cities and the rain forest. The six participants also completed a service-learning project in a rural community in the Andes Mountains.
Spain: Spanish Language and Culture in Toledo Summer
By Nelson Hippolyte
This study abroad program is offered every summer between May and June by the OHIO Modern Languages Department in association with the Universidad Castilla-La Mancha. The advanced- level students have the opportunity to immerse themselves in Spanish language, history and culture during seven weeks; experience life with a Toledo family, meet the locals, and discover Madrid, Segovia, Aranjuez, Cuenca, Consuegra, among other nearby cities. Toledo is a World Heritage Site by UNESCO because it preserves a stunning Gothic cathedral, thousand-year-old synagogues and mosques, ancient city walls, and mysterious narrow winding streets. In 2018 the program celebrated 10 years in Toledo. Also, we incorporated a new activity: Cooking Spanish dishes like “tortilla española,” “gazpacho” and “flores manchegas.”
Spain: Spanish Language and Culture in Toledo Spring Semester
By Keith Woodall
In Spring Semester 2017 and again in 2018, Modern Languages sent intermediate and advanced-level students to study Spanish and related topics in Toledo, Spain for a semester. Participants came from a wide variety of disciplines encompassing 16 fields of study from across the university. The program was expanded to include a three-day excursion to Madrid and another to Granada with guided visits to palaces, monasteries, monuments, cathedrals and museums. Also added were three nocturnal walking tours through and below the streets of Toledo, guided by local historians, as well as a series of cooking lessons at a local culinary institute.
On the academic side, the large number of students allowed for an expanded selection of courses, including The History of Art in Spain, and another on the novel Don Quixote. Both were named as favorites by all who took them. In 2018 another course, Introduction to Linguistics, was added in addition to a guided walking tour through sections of Madrid lived in and frequented by Spanish artists and authors from the Golden Age to the late 19th century.
The Spring Semester in Toledo program will be offered again in 2020 as DML seeks to provide a sister program in Latin America every other year.
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