Spring Break

Course Information

Course Title: HUM275/C.S. Lewis’s Oxford (1 credit)

Course Description: This course is designed to introduce students to some of the writings of C. S. Lewis in the context in which he spent most of his adult life: Oxford, England. The course will involve a combination of seminars discussing Lewis’s works and cultural excursions to sites either significant for his personal life or important for the cultural context of Oxford during his time there.This program is open to all Providence College students, but it will be particularly attractive (and useful) to students who have taken or who will be concurrently enrolled in DWC 202: The Life and Writings of C. S. Lewis or THL/HUM 348: C. S. Lewis, Christian Thinker.The main objective of the program is to give students a taste of the context in which Lewis lived, wrote, and taught in order to gain a better appreciation of the social, material, and historical factors that contributed to his thought.

Faculty Leader(s): J. Columcille Dever (jdever@providence.edu) and Fr. Dominic Verner, O.P. (dverner@providence.edu)

Travel Dates: March 7, 2025 through March 15, 2025

Application and Deadlines

Application Deadline: November 1, 2024

Deposit Amount and Deadline: $500 due December 6, 2024

Total Program Fee: $2,500

Link to application

Course Information

Course Title: HIS/AST 368 / Modern Japan (3 credits)

Course Description: Spend your spring break in Japan! This program starts like any other spring semester course on Modern Japanese History, but we’ll spend our spring break together in Japan. We’ll spend time in Tokyo, Kyoto, and Hiroshima, and other exciting destinations as we visit many of the historical sites we read about in class. Oh, and the food will be pretty spectacular, too!

Faculty Leader(s): Colin Jaundrill (jaundrill@providence.edu)

Travel Dates: March 8, 2025 through March 15, 2025

Application and Deadlines

Application Deadline: October 11, 2024

Deposit Amount and Deadline: $500 due October 11, 2024 (make checks payable to Providence College)

Total Program Fee: $4,000 (final payment $3500 due TBD)

Link to Application

Course Information

Course Title: Global Border Crossing (4 credits)

Course Description: The Global Border Crossing course is centered around the meaning of “justice across borders,” and “global border crossing”, with a specific focus on the historical and contemporary relationship between the U.S. and México. We will deepen this understanding through a comparative perspective, examining other borders and communities, both globally and locally, while also exploring what it means to live in transnational communities. Students will also take an active look at their own roles in building connections for social change across borders, while also critically examining the meaning of “global citizenship” and how their own identities and social locations impact working for that change. With a service-learning trip to Tijuana, México acting as a central “text” of the course, participants will come to understand the unique culture and circumstances that arise out of the U.S./México border region

Prior to the service-learning and immersion trip, through weekly classes participants will learn about the history, culture, socio-economic, and geo-political aspects of the U.S./México border. With themes such as the creation and maintenance of global inequality, national security enforcement measures, and transnational families, students will develop a broadened perspective of the historical and contemporary realities of life on/around the U.S./México border.

During break, our group will embark on a service-learning trip to Tijuana, where we will be working with Esperanza International, a local community development organization. Our group will be arriving to and departing from San Diego, CA, which will allow us to explore some of our course’s themes on the U.S. side of the border, while also requiring us to physically cross the U.S./México border, to literally experience border crossing. We will then join the community of Esperanza International, and their Tijuana-based sister organization (Fundación Esperanza de México), where we will spend the duration of the program. Supported by international volunteer groups, Esperanza works with local community members and volunteers to build new homes and empower communities. Our students will be working with homeowners to build/rebuild their homes, while simultaneously learning about the complex facets of transnational communities. Our group will be staying in Esperanza’s Posada housing quarters, where we will be living simply and in community with each other for the week. Through this experience, our students will be practicing respect, understanding, and building relationships across borders.

Faculty Leader(s): Kara Cebulko (kcebulko@providence.edu)

Travel Dates: TBD

Application and Deadlines

Application Deadline: TBD

Deposit Amount and Deadline: TBD

Total Program Fee: TBD

Link to application 

Course Information

Course Title: GST 371 Topics in Service Learning: English Language Education in Practice (3 credits)

Course Description: English Language Education in Practice is a project committed to advance Providence College students’ understanding of the positionality of the English language and best practices in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) in the context of Vietnam. The plethora of English accents speaks to the diversity of its speakers. English has positioned itself as a global language and it is constantly evolving since it is exposed to the peculiarities of the different cultural groups we use it across the globe. English Language Education in Practice aims to elevate this linguistic diversity; particular varieties of English are perceived more prestigious than others which means that both native and non-native speakers who differ from what is considered ‘standard’ can find themselves judged, marginalized and subjected to ‘ethnic accent bullying’. This program explores from an equity lens the many facets in the learner’ development as English speaker, alongside, with learner’s identity, sense of belonging to a community, sense of partaking in the local culture, and of the connectedness to the culture of origin. English Language Education in Practice fosters opportunities to engage in meaningful dialogue about foreign language education transnationally and examine culturally responsive pedagogies as pertain to English as a Second Language.

Faculty Leader(s): Nuria Alonso García (nalonsog@providence.edu) and Yune Tran (ytran@providence.edu)

Tentative Travel Dates: March 5 or 6, 2025 through March 14, 2025

Application and Deadlines

Application Deadline: November 15, 2024

Deposit Amount and Deadline: $500 due December 1, 2024

Total Program Fee: $2700

Link to application