I worked as a Teaching Assistant and Staff Chaperone for a university Film Studies / Summer Study Abroad program in 2002-2003 and again in 2003-2004. The genius of the program I worked on was the college instructor who designed it, beginning with orientation workshops as early as January, for students who planned to travel with us in late June and throughout the summer.
I remember my first day on the job, when my supervisor (the same clever instructor who designed the course) gave me a list of films to get from the library’s media center: it was several shopping bags of videos!
Several times per month (from January up till June), during evening workshops, we began the process of introducing our study abroad students to the language, films, culture, politics, and traditions of the countries we planned to visit.
My job was to present and curate the films I had gotten in those shopping bags. In those six months, through the medium of film, I felt as if I had already visited the countries on our itinerary. Not only that, but once we got to Europe, I really had learned so much in the six months prior, that it as one of the most fulfilling and interesting trips I ever had taken.
That said, I have also worked with other study abroad programs at various colleges and universities, in 5 countries. I have seen those that work and those that work less effectively. This has given me a sort of aesthetic preference for various teaching approaches, when it comes to study abroad. I plan to discuss this topic further in coming weeks, in the context of how Distance Learning might save Study Abroad, even though the Coronovirus Crisis is cancelling programs left and right.
Dottore Mark 