Yucatán Program

International Programs

A rich landscape for immersive studies in language, culture, and human ecology

Every winter, a group of COA students journeys to México for a term-long immersion, led by Program Director Karla Peña and the staff of Programas de Inmersión Cultural en Yucatán. While in Yucatán, students spend two months taking language and cultural immersion classes in the city of Mérida, and then develop their own independent, interdisciplinary research projects on the culture of the peninsula.

1/1

During the fall term at COA, students participate in Spanish classes and program orientations to prepare for their time in Yucatán. Classes are taught exclusively in Spanish, emphasizing listening and communication skills.

Students travel to Yucatán, where they tour the region, meet their host families in Mérida, and begin classes. In addition to regular academic coursework, students can participate in workshops on everything from salsa dancing and traditional music to Mayan archaeo-astronomy. Over the course of two months in Mérida students will begin developing plans for their final independent project. The last part of January is spent on a group trip to a small community where students are oriented to rural life.

During their final month in the program, students design and conduct a three-week independent project, which takes many of them to live with families in rural, often Mayan-speaking villages. Returning back to Mérida at the end of the program, students prepare detailed presentations on their final projects.

Faculty

Karla Peña: Program director, Spanish language
Heidi del Lucero Guadalupe Gutiérrez Uicab: Faculty associate, Spanish language and cultural immersion
Raúl Ernesto Manzanilla Haas: Faculty associate, social anthropology and Spanish immersion