Business/History/Interdisciplinary Studies/Political Science/

Religion/Spanish/Women's Studies 399
Internship Seminar in Mexico

  

Instructor: Stephanie Barnes  (stbarnes27@hotmail.com)

 

Cross Listings and Credit Options

Students may choose to register for credit in any of the following departments: Business (BUS), History (HIS), Interdisciplinary Studies (INS), Political Science (POL) Spanish (SPA), or Women’s Studies (WST). However, students seeking Spanish credit must receive approval from the Augsburg Modern Languages Department Chair prior to enrollment and must complete all assignments in Spanish. (Prerequisites:  SPA 212 or equivalent, internship application, and Spanish reference forms) 

                                                           

Course Description

The internship seminar is a rigorous academic course for students that are highly-self motivated.  It involves not only a minimum of 100 hours of work experience and/or participant observation in a business or other organization in Mexico but also participation in a seminar that explores cultural issues, organizational analysis and personal and professional development through class discussions and written and oral assignments. Through their work and participation in field work orientation and seminar sessions, students are expected to improve their Spanish language skills, learn about key issues in intercultural communication, develop skills in organizational analysis, articulate their personal and professional goals and critically reflect upon the service they are providing.  In addition, students will look at the role of the business or organization within the community, gender issues in the work place, and cultural values and norms that are manifest in the work setting.

NOTE: Students who want to register for this course must complete and submit an internship application in which they list their primary learning objectives for the internship, along with their resume and Spanish Reference form, by the following deadlines:  June 1 for fall semester and December 15 for spring semester.  The Spanish Reference Form should be completed by a Spanish professor indicating that the student’s Spanish is strong enough to successfully complete the internship.  Applicants will also be asked to complete a brief phone interview in Spanish.

 

Requests for internships will not be processed unless all of the forms are submitted on time.

The internship seminar is a rigorous academic course and should be treated as such. Students who do not have strong Spanish language skills and are not highly self-motivated are encouraged to register for an additional Spanish course instead of an internship. Students who register for the internship seminar must be willing to travel to their internship sites and to work evenings and weekends, as necessary.

 

Course Objectives

Students will:

1. Gain hands-on work experience by contributing approximately 100-120 hours of service to a local organization/population that has expressed a need or desire for assistance.

2. Describe the role and function of the assigned agency in resolving local problems or meeting local needs.

3. Develop interpersonal and intercultural communication skills.

4. Increase their knowledge of Spanish vocabulary.

5. Improve their written and oral Spanish.

6. Apply at least two concepts/theories/ideas from their major or minor to the field work setting.

7. Apply or enhance at least two graduation skills and professional work skills, such as writing, speaking, critical thinking, quantitative reasoning, computer technology, interpersonal, teamwork, or leadership).

8. Identify a final project of interest related to the internship.

9. Accomplish at least one personal learning goal.

10. Assess their own contributions to the agency being served.

• The Successful Internship:  Transformation & Empowerment in Experiential Learning, 2nd edition, by H. Frederick Sweitzer and Mary A. King.  Brook/Cole, 2004.

• Selected chapters from: Basic Concepts of Intercultural Communication, ed. Milton Bennett, Intercultural Press, Inc. 1998. (You do not need to buy this book)

• Good Neighbors: Communicating with the Mexicans 2nd Edition, by John Condon.  Intercultural Press, 1997. (You do not need to buy this book)

• Any articles assigned by site supervisor.

Course Requirements

 

Course Participation and On Site Performance: (10%) Participation includes completion of a minimum 100 hours of service and active involvement at the site and in the internship seminar.  Active involvement includes supervisory sessions with the on-site supervisor and professor, a final evaluation of the site, and completion of the assigned readings.  Students will also be evaluated by their site supervisor at the end of the semester based on his/her presence at the site, the activities accomplished, interaction with clients/students, other staff and overall performance. 

 

Internship Portfolio (30%):  The portfolio is a collection of all of the intern’s work, including all documents that demonstrate the learner’s efforts, progress, and achievements in relation to the course objectives and the students’ own learning goals, as indicated by the learning agreement.  The portfolio should include a table of contents, defined sections, should be presented in a professional manner and follow all guidelines set on “Portfolio Guidelines” handout.  Students are encouraged to include work samples and projects in their portfolios.  Therefore, they should save all work.  Portfolios will not be considered complete without the following items:  a) a signed learning agreement; b) pages from the internship journal and log; c) a revised & updated résumé, d) time log of student times and tasks. 

 

The Internship Portfolio Includes:

A.  Learning Agreement:  All students must revise the statement of purpose submitted in their internship applications & complete a learning agreement plan in which they identify the following:  a) at least two concepts/theories/ideas from their major or minor that are related to the field work setting; b) at least two graduation skills and professional work skills to enhance or apply in the service setting; and c) at least one personal learning goal.  Students will review and seek signatures for these documents as appropriate in conversation with the faculty adviser and the site supervisor. 

 

B.  Internship Journals and Logs: Students must include pages from their internship log and journal as one section of the portfolio. Each person is responsible for keeping logs and journal entries up to date.  1) Logs are responses to specific topics or questions discussed in class and assigned by the instructor; 2) Journal entries are free writes with responses to the events happening in the internship site, personally, academically and professionally.

 

C. Resume:  All students will revise their resumes at the end of the field work, including new experience and skills learned during the field work in their resumes.  This is an important component of the portfolio.  

 

D. Hours Worked:  Students must provide an ongoing list of hours and a general description of activities/tasks done during that time.  These hours must be included in the portfolio checks and the final portfolio.

 

Academic Application Assignment: (15%) Each student will be expected to write a short paper or complete a creative project (pre-approved by the professor) that allows them to apply concepts/theories/ideas from their major or minor to the field work setting.    

 

Independent Project for Host Agency:  (10%) Each student must complete a special project that will be of on-going service to the host agency.  The specific project should be determined together with the site supervisor and be designed to meet the needs of the agency.  Examples of past projects include the following: a manual for future volunteers or interns; a mural completed together with members of the community; an article or series of articles in Spanish published in La Jornada newspaper; children’s books written in Spanish and illustrated by the intern for use in the school where the intern worked, and didactic materials for future use by the organization, translations into Spanish etc.

 

Internship Final Analysis Paper:  (15%) All students must write a 5-6 page paper synthesizing what they have learned from the internship.  They will be expected to reflect upon the relationship of the internship to their major and/or minor, identify professional and personal skills they developed, as well as professional terminology that they learned. Finally, they will discuss connections they made between the internship experience and the broader issues explored in the semester program. 

 

Late Assignments

In the case of illness or special situation, a request for an extension of the deadline for a particular assignment may be made. Requests for extensions, however, must be made to the course instructor(s) BEFORE the assignment is due and a new deadline must be proposed.  Late assignments may be taken into account in your final grade.

 

Work Schedule: Weeks, Days, & Hours:

During the second half of the semester, students will typically have at least three days/week free plus weekends in order to work at their internship sites.  You will be expected to work a minimum of 24 hours a week for 5 weeks in order to complete the minimum hours required for this internship (this allows for one day off for Día de los Muertos and other holidays, if necessary). Your specific work hours will depend upon the schedule of the host agency, as well as your own class schedule.  You will also have fieldwork seminar sessions on a regular basis.  Please be aware that you may be expected to work on the weekends and other days when other students may be free.

 

Work at the internship sites will begin during the second part of the semester.  Some of the reasons for concentrating the fieldwork after the start of classes are:

1. So that students who are not already bilingual will have improved their language skills and confidence in speaking Spanish;

2. So that students will already be oriented to the culture and local area;

3. So that students will have a few weeks of other experiential courses under their belt, providing them with a better sense of key issues that they might want to explore further in their fieldwork, as well as a sense of the resources available locally;

4. So that there is time for students to meet with their faculty advisor, visit the agencies where they will be working, and to conduct an interview with their site supervisors before beginning the internship.

Important Notes Regarding the Internship Seminar: 

1. All placements are made with agencies that have expressed a need for and interest in receiving a student. While students are encouraged to focus on meeting the organization’s needs, more emphasis is placed on learning from the experience than on accomplishing specific tasks. 

2. While the CGE office in Mexico solicits and welcomes student preferences regarding field work placements, the CGE staff reserve the right to make the final decision about these placements.

3. Although many agencies can accommodate students on the days reserved for fieldwork, students who register for this course must be willing to work on weekends (usually Saturdays) if asked to do so by their host agency.

4. Completing an internship requires that students spend more time than an additional Spanish course and so students must be prepared for extra hours and less free time  than other students (this includes Friday afternoons when other students may have off.).

5. Students who register for Spanish credit must complete all work in Spanish. They will also have weekly Spanish class sessions with a Spanish instructor who will read their assignments and help them correct common errors and expand their vocabulary.

6. Students who need to take two Spanish courses and an internship may make arrangements to do so, but this is not recommended because it is very difficult to schedule. If you need to do this, please indicate this on your internship application and also email Stephanie Barnes (stbarnes27@hotmail.com) about this request immediately.

7. Students who register for Women’s Studies credit must be placed in either a women’s organization, another agency which promotes the well-being and advancement of women or in a project which allows them to focus particularly on gender issues. In addition, they will be expected to apply feminist analysis to their reflections upon the internship experience. 

8. Students should bring a copy of their résumés on a computer disk with them to Mexico in order to update them upon completion of the internship.

9. Send completed applications and proposals to Stephanie Barnes at stbarnes27@hotmail.com by June 1 for the fall semester and by December 15 for the spring semester.  If you do not get a confirmation of receipt from Stephanie within 48 hours, please be sure to email her again so that your application is not lost.