K-State’s immersive Spain Today program delivers research and cultural experiences.
You are sitting in a small classroom at 10:30am on a Monday, listening to your professor drone on in Spanish. Half your attention is on the Spanish conjugation on the board, while the other half is fixed on the ticking clock.
Face it: You’d much rather be in Spain. You want to be speaking to native Spanish speakers and immersing yourself in their culture. That sounds like a much easier — and effective — way to learn.
K-State’s Spain Today: Madrid, Pamplona y el Norte program led by associate Spanish professor Rebecca Bender plunges students into a deep dive of Spanish culture while speaking in Spanish 24/7.
The students enroll in a Spanish course at the University of Navarra in Pamplona, Spain, and a K-State Spanish course with Bender.
Hands-on in Spain
For their K-State credits, students design research projects with on-the-ground, immersive and interactive learning experiences. Under the supervision of Bender, participating students customize their research topics to their professional and career goals or majors.
In the past, a wide variety of intriguing projects have been completed, from beekeeping to a cookbook of Pamplona foods.
While in Spain, students visit cultural sites and historical monuments in Madrid and Pamplona and even go to the medieval villages of Olite and Ujúe.
Throughout the trip, all coursework and cultural activities are all-Spanish, all the time. Students are fully immersed in the Spanish lifestyle and learn much more than they would have in a traditional class setting.
By Kate Ellwood
Curated from Hands-on learning in action: Student research and engagement in Spain