ECG 300 students prepare for Argentina trip

“This trip combines two of my passions: teaching and the Spanish language,” education major Melissa Matsanka said. “Getting to help teach English in a Spanish-speaking country is an amazing opportunity. Also, I have been fascinated with Argentina as a country for a couple of years now.”

Cabrini offers many courses that provide an immersion component with them. The ECG 300 course, Mother Cabrini in Argentina: Changing the World through Education, offers students the chance to travel to Argentina from May 27th to June 17th. The cost is $2,500.

“I first heard about the course and trip directly from Dr. Green about a year ago, because she knew that I am interested in teaching English as a second language,” junior secondary education and English major Sarah Davis said.

“In Argentina, students will be visiting the MSC schools in Buenos Aires for three weeks and collaborating with the teachers in K-12  English language classes,” coordinator of the trip Dr. Raquel Green said.

Dr. Susan Pierson from the education department is also coordinating the trip. This is the first time the class has been offered and will be offered each spring semester in the future.

The course teaches students about the history of the country, effective ways to teach the English language to eager learners and to understand the culture of the people they will be spending the trip with. Students were also prepared in terms of what they needed to do in terms of travel plans.

“It’s just a matter of making sure I have an international phone plan in line, a credit card that will work over there, any converters for the wall outlets and stuff like that,” junior pre-med major Sarah Grant said. “Which is all pretty simple to get and both of our professors have experience with traveling, which is super helpful when trying to find out what we need.”

Before students can depart on the trip they must finalize their ESL teaching materials that they will be using in the language classes. The students plan to leave those materials with  the teachers in Argentina at the end of their visit.

“I am really excited for everything that I cannot anticipate, because that’s what usually teaches me the most valuable lessons,” Davis said. “Ultimately, I want to make a difference in their lives while developing skills to bring with me wherever I go.”

Matsanka is also excited about the trip.

“I am most excited about meeting the teachers and students in the schools,” Matsanka said. “As an education major, I am excited to swap teaching techniques with the teachers and to learn from them.”

While traveling can be exciting for some it can raise some worries for others.

“I am pretty nervous about the 10-hour flight, but knowing that I will be with my friends will help me get through it,” Matsanka said. “I am also a little nervous about communicating in Spanish and messing up in front of the locals as well.”

“Both Dr. Pierson and I hope students will gain a deeper appreciation of the transformative work of Mother Cabrini and the MSCs in education around the world and their long-standing commitment to immigrant communities. We trust students will find this a unique opportunity to come to understand themselves as global citizens,” Green said.