Spanish Conversation and Service Learning in the DR

• This is a Unit-Based Program
• Summer Program
• Instruction provided by Erik Willis, IU Department of Spanish & Portuguese faculty
• 14-18 IU Bloomington students

• 3 IUB credits in HISP-S 317: Spanish Conversation and Diction [Note: S317 can be taken twice for credit]
• Service facilitated by partner organization 7Elements to provide service to local communities in several projects which may include building bottle buildings, laying cement floors, providing community education on water filters, and cacao reforestation projects, among others
• Cultural excursions to Sosúa beach, the city of Santiago to tour the Centro León anthropology museum, Laguna Gri-Gri to visit a small downtown plaza, and Laguna Dudú

• Getting Started Handbook
• Diversity, Identity, and Accessibility Resources

• Shared rooms and meals at 7elements eco-lodge facilities
• Lodge is located on the beach, protected by a fence and guard dogs.

You may apply if you:

• are an undergraduate student at any Indiana University campus who is making normal academic progress
• are in at least your second full-time semester of college
• are able to engage in sustained physical activity in the heat
• are willing to live and work with a group
• have taken or are enrolled in fifth semester college-level Spanish with a B average earn a grade of B or better by the end of the spring term
• have approximately a 3.0 cumulative GPA

Students must have a passport valid for six months beyond program's end date.

Students must be able to demonstrate flexibility, resilience, and self-reliance.

Complete eligibility criteria and selection criteria are outlined within the Academic Policies and Procedures of Education Abroad. Selection is based on maturity, seriousness of purpose, and appropriateness of match between program and applicant. Students on disciplinary probation during program period are ineligible.

Summer 2025

Financial Aid and Scholarships:

• Most IU scholarships, grants and loans applicable to program costs, only if you are enrolled in 6 credits in IU summer sessions.
• Education Abroad Scholarships, including Scholarships for Students from IU campuses other than Bloomington.

Please see our financial aid page for general information and links to additional scholarship opportunities.