academic information

Living/Learning Environment

An essential part of the semester experience will be creating an environment of respect and cooperation that contributes to our lives and learning together. This means that everyone will be expected to share a variety of group chores such as clearing or sometimes washing dishes. It also will mean engaging yourselves in a learning process that involves group discussion and group work. Students will share responsibility for organizing, attending and facilitating community meetings, in addition to group sessions where issues and challenges of the group are discussed.

The program employs a block schedule during which only one course is taught at a time. 

Guatemala

• Introduction to Central America (1 week)

• Intensive Individualized Spanish (3 weeks) - 4 credits

Guatemala

• History/Women’s Studies 355: History, Memory and Justice in Guatemala  (four weeks) - 4 credits

Costa Rica

• Religion 336/Psychology 290: Latin American Liberation Theologies and Social Change/Liberation Psychology and Social Change - 4 credits

• Political Science 310: Citizen Participation in Policy Formulation - 4 credits

Embedded throughout the Semester

Interdisciplinary Studies 291: Introduction to Central American Culture - 1 credit

Comments on Courses

Students will note differences among the courses in the two countries. In Guatemala your learning experience will focus on learning Spanish, adapting to Latin American reality and culture. You will also explore the history of Guatemala and the challenges its inhabitants face today.   The second part explores dominant historical representations of Indigenous Peoples, particularly Mayan communities contrasting them with Mayan people’s own memories and historical representation. Additionally, the course will delve into Indigenous People’s present-day struggles through transitional justice. Students will learn how Mayan women have used and transformed the western justice system through concrete cases. Students will also engage with indigenous political projects, and other spiritual and cultural frameworks.

In Costa Rica they explore the theoretical and practical origins of Liberation Theology and its impacts and connections with social movements and local expressions of faith and religion. The Religion course implies a great participation and observation of experiences of spirituality where the models of education, popular participation, and social activism are the basis of the reflection that feeds the faith experiences of feminist, Afro-descendant, queer, environmentalist, indigenous, migrants and refugees communities. They also learn about the various discussions on the influence of religion in political, cultural, economic and social realms, in its historical and contemporary dimensions. 

The political science course engages students in public policy debates while providing a theoretical framework for discussions of governance and citizen participation. The course aims to help students discuss and understand how global processes are interconnected with local realities  allowing them to engage with people who are  carving out new economic and social alternatives or forced to flee their homes due to (global and local) political, environmental, or economic causes. Through this course students are able to explore and understand the human rights crisis in the region from a political science perspective. 

In their progression the courses move from the concrete to the abstract, from the life experience of a Mesoamerican family, to the response of the Churches to these conditions, to an examination of organizing in general, the historical processes that shape the region’s present, the ways in which class, race, and gender are articulated,  other worldviews and forms knowledge, and the economic theories that underlie current and past attempts at economic development. Through the variety of experiences in the four courses, students exercise observation, participation, and analytical skills.

Spanish Instruction

This semester program is not a language immersion, but it does include intensive language study, homestays in each country, and subsequent opportunities to listen to, speak, and write in Spanish.

Students will spend three weeks studying Spanish intensively in Guatemala where you will practice your Spanish with host families and during visits to different communities.

In terms of course selection, students should simply register for whichever course follows the last Spanish course they took, or if they are at the 300-level and above, whichever course most interests them.  In the case of SPA 316, students do not need to have taken SPA 311 first.

Spanish 212, 311, 316, and 411 count toward the Spanish major or minor at Augsburg University. SPA 335 fulfills a Culture requirement for the Spanish major. If you are from another school and are majoring or minoring in Spanish, check to see which course will count toward your major or minor.

In terms of course selection, students should simply register for whichever course follows the last Spanish course they took, or if they are at the 300-level and above, whichever course most interests them.  In the case of SPA 316, students do not need to have taken SPA 311 first.

Spanish 212, 311, 316, and 411 count toward the Spanish major or minor at Augsburg University. SPA 335 fulfills a Culture requirement for the Spanish major. If you are from another school and are majoring or minoring in Spanish, check to see which course will count toward your major or minor.

Course Registration

You will be registered for classes based on the “Course Selection” questionnaire found in your Global Gateway account. Course listings and syllabi may be found in the CGEE Course Catalog. All students will be registered for a “Traditional” grading option unless the home school will not accept a traditional grade. If this is the case, please contact CGEE Minneapolis staff at globaled@augsburg.edu.

Available Courses

*All students take five courses for a total of 17 credits during the semester. Your coursework is in English, there is no Spanish language prerequisite for the program.  

• Intensive Individualized Spanish - 4 cr  [Required]

  • Students choose one of the following:

    • Spanish 111: Beginning Spanish I

    • Spanish 112: Beginning Spanish II

    • Spanish 206: Spanish for Healthcare Professionals

    • Spanish 211: Intermediate Spanish I

    • Spanish 212: Intermediate Spanish II

    • Spanish 311: Conversation and Composition

    • Spanish 316: Conversations in Cultural Context

    • Spanish 335: Contemporary Latin American Women: Texts and Voices

    • Spanish 356: Latin American Literature

    • Spanish 411: Advanced Conversation and Composition

• History/Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies 355:  History, Memory and Justice in Guatemala - 4 cr  [Required]

• Religion 336: Latin American Liberation Theologies and Social Change - 4 cr  [Required]

• Political Science 310: Citizen Participation in Policy Formulation - 4 cr  [Required]

• Interdisciplinary Studies 291: Introduction to Central American Culture - 1 cr [Required]

Add/Drops

Please keep a record of your course selection for your own records. You can also review them at any time by accessing the Course Selection Questionnaire in your Global Gateway account. 

Please speak to your site staff before making any changes to your courses. After speaking with the site staff, any changes must be made using the Add/Drop Form. No changes will be made without this form.

Some changes in registration may be made after the program has begun. These deadlines will be announced on-site. 

• A Spanish course may be changed within two days after the start of class.  

• For the other three courses, drop/adds may be made up to two weeks after the start of class.

*Please note that if you choose to do so it will reduce the number of credits you are registered for, and may affect your financial aid.

No changes in registration will be made after designated deadlines.

General Academic Information