Santa Clara University

Summer at the Casa de la Solidaridad

Summer 2005 Casa Participants

Integrate immersion with the poor and the health profession (Pre-Med, Pre-Health, Nursing) for four weeks this summer in El Salvador!

Come to El Salvador to learn Spanish, immerse yourself in the Salvadoran culture and gain experience in the medical field! This new academic initiative is desiged for students interested in pursuing careers in the Health Profession. Students will integrate classroom learning with experiential community-based learning in marginal Salvadoran communities. Each student will have a praxis site (field placement) where they will work 4 afternoons a week in either a hospital or clinic. These praxis sites will be supervised by medical professionals here in El Salvador. Students live in community with other Casa students as well as with peer Salvadoran scholarship students studying at the Jesuit-run Central American University (UCA). Field trips include: Major public hospitals, rural clinics, health cooperatives (dentistry, optomology, natural medicine).

All students will take two courses:
- One Spanish class, placement depending on ability. Choose from:

SPAN 15: Spanish Conversation and Composition (4 lower-division quarter units)
Instructor: Cruz Portal, El Salvador Lecturer
Course Description: Intensive work stressing skills of spoken and written Spanish in everyday situations and in health care settings. Course taught from a communicative and proficiency-based approach. No prerequisites.

SPAN 100: Advanced Spanish 1 (5 upper-division quarter units)
Instructor: Cruz Portal, El Salvador Lecturer
Course Description: Students develop their capacities to read, understand, and communicate at an advanced level in the Spanish language within the cultural context of El Salvador.

SPAN 110: Advanced Spanish Conversation (5 upper-division quarter units)
Instructor: Cruz Portal, El Salvador Lecturer
Course Description: Advanced work stressing the development of self-expression in Spanish within the context of El Salvador.

All students will also enroll in the INTL 199 class:

INTL 139: Field Placement/Praxis: Cultural Perspectives in Public Health (5 upper-division quarter units)
Instructor: Christina Pallitto, Ph.D
Course Description: This course is designed to introduce students to the field of public health and its role in addressing population-level health issues, especially in developing countries. Drawing on concepts from medical anthropology and other social sciences, research methods will be introduced as tools for understanding the influences of cultural belief systems and socio-economic factors on health and illness and as the basis for developing culturally appropriate interventions to address health problems.

Based on academic background, personal interests, and professional goals students are paired up with a fellow classmate and assigned a field placement in a clinic, hospital, or other health-related site in a local Salvadoran marginal/poor community.

Dates: June 18 to July 22, 2008

Program Fee: TBA

Specifically, fee includes:
- Tuition for two classes (Spanish Class and Praxis Class)
- Housing
- Breakfasts, Lunch and Dinners (Mon-Fri)
- Field Trips and Excursions

Fee does not Include:
- Travel to and from El Salvador
- Personal Expenses
- Weekend meals

Application Deadline: March 5, 2008 is the final deadline.