This Spring 2024, Dr. Amy Roberts with her co-directors, Dr. Dilnoza Khasilova and Jonle Sedar received the Fulbright-Hays Abroad Program Grant to Costa Rica. 11 participants from Wyoming, Colorado, and Kansas were selected to go to Costa Rica to learn Spanish in the intensive CPI school and do projects there.
“Spanish GPA 2024 in Costa Rica” is an intensive community-based Spanish language and culture grant program designed to enhance participants’ language proficiency and promote knowledge and understanding of Central America in a global context. Participants are studying the Spanish language and culture in Monteverde, Costa Rica, and immersing themselves in the local culture through interaction with local citizens and service projects. Participants also will travel on some weekends to learn more about coastal Costa Rican culture, geography, and history.
Program-associated costs paid through the GPA grant include international travel to and from San Jose, Costa Rica, tuition and homestay accommodations during the duration of the program, weekend study tours, and program-related transportation in Costa Rica. The program also sponsors lunches for participants to meet with other faculty and co-directors for assessment and research purposes to advance the field with those participants who provide their consent. To be selected for the GPA summer program, applicants from different UW departments and universities in the Mountain West had to submit various materials, including indicating interest in the project or location and describing how it would help reach their professional goals; a summary of coursework in Spanish and any demonstrated research or additional projects in the Spanish language; an outlined proposal for a Spanish-English field-based study project of choice; a copy of a recent Spanish language test taken or a paper written in Spanish; and two letters of reference.
About the Fulbright-Hays Group Projects Abroad Program
The program promotes, improves, and develops modern foreign language training and area studies programs for all levels of American education. GPA provides opportunities for faculty, teachers, and undergraduate and graduate students to conduct individual and group projects overseas. Projects may include shorter seminars, curriculum development, group research or study, or longer advanced intensive language programs.
The GPA program is administered by the USA Cultural Exchange Programs and the UW College of Education’s School of Teacher Education, with on-site coordination and logistical support by Roberts and co-Directors Dilnoza Khasilova, UW assessment/scholarship of teaching and learning specialist, and Jonle Sedar, director of the CPI Spanish Immersion School in Costa Rica.