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Your
faculty and staff news since 1965
April 19, 2004
Volume
39, Number 14
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Students make 'conexiones'
By Laurie Mellas Ramirez
Creating personal and intuitive connections between UNM students and the Spanish-speaking world is the goal of Conexiones, co-founded in 1985 by Enrique Lamadrid, Ph.D, professor of Spanish and director of UNM Chicano Studies, and Michael Thomas, lecturer III in the University Honors Program.
Sponsored by honors and the UNM Department of Spanish, for one month each summer 25 students are immersed in the culture and language of Mexico or Spain. Recognized nationally as a stellar program, a cross-section of UNM students along with a few from other U.S. colleges will travel in June to Morelia, the Michoacán state capital, located 200 miles west of Mexico City.
“2004 is an extraordinary year for Conexiones students,” Thomas said. “President Vicente Fox is struggling to implement reforms in an era that’s seen hopes for a new relationship between the U.S. and Mexico crumble. Michoacán, always in the vanguard of political life in Mexico, is the perfect place to observe and come to understand social and political evolution. Students work on their Spanish in the classroom, go on almost daily field trips, conduct interviews, and explore Mexican culture in direct and immediate ways via assignments in the famous Conexiones Cuaderno (field workbook).”
Participants are placed with local families, many of whom are now second generation hosts. Host families provide a welcoming space for students to perfect Spanish, experience the dynamics of another culture and gain perspectives of their own. Students pay UNM tuition, $1,500 in fees plus air or ground travel costs. A limited number of $250 stipends are available.
Students are schooled in Mexican culture before departure, Thomas said.
“We teach students how to recognize culture shock and to realize that you are dealing with culture shock rather than making value judgments,” Thomas said.
Thomas and Lamadrid co-authored a paper, “Pedagogy of Culture Shock,” published in 1986 by the Rocky Mountain Council for Latin American Studies and often anthologized. UNM Press has published Thomas’ newest novel, “Hat Dance” based on his various experiences in Mexico. He will read and sign copies at the UNM Bookstore Saturday,
May 1 at 2 p.m. For more information, call 277-4211.
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