• A group of eight students from four eastern countries were awarded with scholarships to study at EAFIT´s Spanish Program for Foreigners between August and December this year.
• The initiative, led by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Colombia, convened the country's universities participating in the strategy Spanish in Colombia.
Excitement, expectations and surprise is what can be seen in the faces of the eight new students at EAFIT´s Spanish Program for Foreigners, who by these days are getting to know the University and the city while adapting to the environment in which they will live for the next months.
They come from four different Asian countries and now are here in Medellin because of the scholarship they received from EAFIT and the Spanish course for tourist guides from East Asia, an initiative led by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in partnership with the Caro y Cuervo Institute, the Presidential Agency for International Cooperation of Colombia (APC), and the Colombian Institute for Educational Credits and Studies Abroad (Icetex).
There will be 60 tourist guides participating in the program and they will be distributed in eight different universities around the country. The initiative is part of a strategy leaded the national government called Spanish in Colombia, which aims to make the country the best destination to learn Spanish as a foreign language.
The goal is to continue strengthening ties of friendship and cooperation with East Asia and also to strengthen the tourism industry in this area, which in fact, already has a large influx of visitors coming from Latin America, says Diana Milena Ospina Vasco, from EAFIT Language Center.
“Our goal is to support a national government initiative to strengthen relations with the Asian region and consolidate the Spanish Program for Foreigners by participating in projects that contribute to these efforts” adds Diana.
The students coming into the EAFIT Spanish Program for Foreigners come from countries such as Vietnam, Japan, China and Indonesia and in other Colombian cities there will be participants coming from Australia, the Philippines, Cambodia, Malaysia, Laos and Singapore, among others.
The call was made by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Colombia in 16 East Asian countries and answered by 13 of them, which submitted 105 candidates.
Learning Begins
The big day finally arrived. The first class was on Monday August 26 at 10:00 am, after a tour around the facilities of the University.
Each student will have four semi-intensive courses, of 38 hours each, and will be expected to achieve an intermediate level of Spanish that will improve their working skills once they return to their country of origin.
Students will take classes from Monday to Friday, with an intensity of 10 hours weekly. They will use the textbook Maravillas del Español, a series of books written by EAFIT and the University of Bergen (Norway) that aim to teach the language in a multicultural and educational setting.
The tour guides can start at different levels of the Spanish Program for Foreigners according to a previous performance evaluation done on their Spanish abilities. The idea is for them to also interact with other students and learn more about the local culture.
The University will provide all its teaching skills and infrastructure for the students in order for them to attain the expected competencies through learning processes that are oriented towards the participation and interactivity of the participants.
Diana highlights the willingness and commitment she has noticed during the first days in the new students as well as the improvement in their Spanish level, as some are starting from the basics.
The program receives between 400 and 500 students per year and is the one that currently receives the largest number of foreign students in the country. It has also been awarded for its quality with the Cervantes Institute international accreditation certificate, which is the organization responsible for the promotion and teaching of Spanish language worldwide.
Contact information
Marcela Olarte Melguizo
Journalist Information and Press Area
Telephone:
574 2619500 Ext. 9931 Mobile: 3113547204
Email:
molartem@eafit.edu.co