Advanced Self-Directed Cultural Immersion

The European Union is a fascinating, ongoing experiment in international cooperation. Currently twenty-eight countries have joined together in a supra-national political and economic union, creating a political entity unique to a world of sovereign individual nation-states. This course focuses on understanding this complex and evolving union through study of its main political institutions: the European Council of Ministers, the European Parliament, and the European Commission. We will look at the workings of and functional relationships between these institutions through readings, meetings with politicians, bureaucrats, and NGOs involved in European-level politics, and visits to each of the institutions during two weeks in Brussels. We will also spend some time in the course looking at the broader political and cultural context in which the institutions operate, through examination of several important current topics in European politics. Topics could include: refugees and migrants in Europe, the reauthorization of the Common Agricultural Policy, Brexit, the rise of right-wing movements across countries in the EU. Students will be evaluated based on participation in class discussions, a reflective journal kept during their time in Brussels, and a presentation and final essay on a current EU-relevant political issue of their choosing.

This course provides students with an immersion experience in the language and culture of the Yucatán Peninsula. The course aims to increase student’s abilities to navigate the linguistic and cultural terrain of another society in sensitive, ethical, and effective ways. Class sessions, visiting lecturers, field trips, and readings will provide background on the history and anthropology of Yucatecan culture. Immersion experiences and living with a family will provide one important source of experiential learning. A second source takes the form of an independent project developed by each student based on the student’s interests. This practicum experience involves weekly activities during the term and an intensive independent project during the last three weeks. During these final three weeks, students live in a community of the students choosing, provided the location is relevant to their study and project. While each student is completely free to create their own unique project, past projects have included: creating a children's book, filming a documentary about the families work as ‘Mayan Dancers’, organizing classes for the children in the community, and participating in a crocodile research project. Evaluation is based on participation in the project as well as the final project presentation.

This course is offered through collaboration with CAVILAM as part of the COA program in Vichy, France. Students take 20 hours a week of language classes and workshops taught by immersion methods and advanced audio-visual techniques. Students live with host families in homestays and take part in a variety of cultural activities. They are carefully tested and placed at levels appropriate to their ability and are expected to advance in all four language skills - reading, writing, speaking and listening - as gauged by the European Erasmus scale of competency.

The goal of this course to help each student design and implement an effective learning program for the study of a language of her choice at whatever level of learning she is currently at. A very wide variety of general strategies, resources and practical advice for independent language learning are reviewed in weekly class sessions along with progress and reflection reports from each student that can help guide and motivate independent work. The core common text for this work will be Betty Lou Leaver, Madeline Ehrman and Boris Shekhtman’s "Achieving Success in Second Language Acquisition". The primary focus of the class is on the development and implementation of each student’s individually designed plan for learning a language of their choice. Materials for this will be identified by each student as part of their work on their chosen language. Progress in these plans are discussed in one on one weekly meetings with the teacher. Plans may include the use of software, peer tutors, Skype, videos, standard texts, flash cards, specialized technical material, music, visual art, field trips, and a wide variety of other materials as appropriate. Evaluation will be based on the clarity, coherence and effectiveness of the student’s developed plan and the discipline with which they actually pursue it and revise it appropriately as the term progresses. Students will be asked to meet with the instructor prior to the start of the term to discuss their motivation, aims, possible resources and possible plans for language learning after the course is over.

What is language? What is the relationship between language and thought? Between language and experience? What is meaning? These are some of the central questions of the philosophy of language. They are fundamental not only to large portions to modern philosophy, but also linguistics, computer science and other fields. This course will explore some of the key theories and criticisms that philosophers have developed in answer to these questions about our life with words.

In this course, we will take a historical approach and work our way to the present, exploring classic theories of meaning and language from the early modern period and early analytic philosophers, such as Mill, Frege, Russell, Wittgenstein, and others. Then we will examine criticisms that philosophers have raised over the years, both from texts in the analytic tradition as well as other positions from, for example, ordinary language philosophy, continental approaches. Students will acquire an understanding of those central problems in the philosophy of language; they will also develop philosophical skills in analysing texts, articulating arguments, and presenting complex philosophical material through writing and oral presentations. Introductory/Intermediate.

This course is immersive and interdisciplinary. Students work exclusively in Spanish, and the language is always taught through the cultural context of Latin America and more specifically Yucatán. Students learn not only in the classroom but also through constant interactions with other Spanish-speaking environments, fostering cultural enrichment and connection. This course is designed for students who are familiar with the indicative, subjunctive and imperative moods in all tenses across a specific and diverse vocabulary. Daily classes and assignments develop the ability of students to express themselves clearly orally and through writing. Daily classes and assignments foster student’s abilities to express themselves clearly in speech and writing. Students write, read texts, present on various topics, and converse in pairs and groups, all while perfecting advanced grammar and developing their vocabulary. Outside of the daily classes, students organize and perform in the annual Spanish Festival. The primary goal of this course is mastery and muscle memory across a wide range of grammar, including the indicative and subjunctive moods in all tenses. Students will be trained in understanding and applying the nuances of Spanish idioms. The students develop strategies to broaden their general vocabulary and deepen it in targeted areas. Upon completing this course the student will be able to communicate more effectively and with greater grammatical correctness across a diverse range of topics. This course will also help the student to enrich their understanding of the multiple dimensions of Spanish-speaking cultures. Students are evaluated based on homework, class participation, and their ability to work effectively with multiple kinds of texts, interviews, conversations, formal interviews, presentations, writing exercises in different styles, and non-verbal communication. This class is typically offered in fall depending on student interest.