SOUTHEAST SPONSORS TRIP TO COLONIAL MEXICO

The foreign languages department at Southeast Missouri State University is sponsoring a trip to colonial Mexico, July 23 to Aug. 6.

Members of the community, as well as students, are invited to participate in the trip titled "Colonial Mexico: 1992 Spanish Masks on a Mestizo World."

The trip will include stops in Mexico City, San Miguel de Allende, San Luis Potosi, Aguascalientes, Morelia, Queretero, Guanajuato, Zacatecas, Guadalajara and Tula, said Pamela Brakhage, assistant professor of foreign languages.

The trip is part of a Field Experience in Foreign Language and Culture course in which two or three hours of graduate, undergraduate, education, foreign language or anthropology credit may be earned. Participants also may register to participate in the trip without course credit.

"We are very excited about this course because it offers an opportunity for us to visit places off the normal tourist track and to arrive at a deeper understanding of the Mexican culture," Brakhage said.

The goal of the field study is to offer students an opportunity to study abroad for intensive practice in a country where the language they are studying is spoken. The aim also is to develop cross-cultural awareness.

Students will be expected to keep a journal written in Spanish detailing their impressions of the Mexican culture. They also will be expected to prepare for the trip with selected readings from a list and to outline them in the journal.

Students registering for three hours of course credit also will be expected to research some aspect of Hispanic culture encountered on the trip, investigate it and complete a project upon return. An on-campus workshop will be held prior to the trip from July 7-17. This intensive course in foreign language and culture will meet seven hours daily for two weeks and will offer intensive language practice for students preparing to undertake the field study abroad.

The course will review language usage and preview the upcoming travel-study experience. Grammar and cross-cultural differences also will be addressed, and noon meals will be spent together in Spanish conversation. Students enrolling in this course may earn two or three hours of course credit.

Cost of the flight to Mexico will be $489.50. The cost of the ground tour has not been determined yet. A deposit of $50 for non-students or course registration for students is required by early June.

To register, or for more information, call Brakhage at (314) 651-2482 or (314) 264-3220.