Program Goals
- One of the goals of this program is to help students get the most out of their study abroad experience. By acting as the “eyes and ears on the ground” of a UNC class, course correspondents investigate their new city’s local culture, discuss current and long-standing issues with local people, and hopefully gain some insight into how their new home functions. Course correspondents are also pushed to use their language skills: the conversations recorded for class materials are conducted in the language of the country in which they study (for example, a course correspondent in Seville would speak Spanish in his or her videos, and ask that other participants do the same).
- Another goal of this program is to show UNC students the benefits of studying abroad, and the incredible impact it can have on language learning and personal growth. Course correspondents are their peers, and have taken the same courses. Correspondents do not have to be native speakers of their new city’s language, and so students at UNC can see how the grammar they learn in language classes gets put into practice. Through course correspondents, students here in Chapel Hill can see how the topics and material discussed in their classes are more than simply essay topics on an exam: they form part of the lives of millions of people.