CIEE, Santiago, D.R.

This course is intended for students who have completed at least four semesters of college-level Spanish and wish to study the field of health sciences in Spanish in depth. This is an advanced course for students who wish to develop the necessary skills and knowledge to progress in the specific area of Spanish health vocabulary, or to work in the healthcare sector in Spanish. It includes the syntactical and lexical structures and communicative content, and techniques that cover all areas related to health: the definition of health, open institutions, closed institutions, professional outcomes, internal medicine, surgery, medical specialties, first aid, etc.

Designed for students with a background in Spanish language equivalent to Intermediate Spanish II or four semesters of U.S. university-level Spanish, this course advances Spanish language skills to comprehend and produce, in oral and written form, complex ideas fluently and spontaneously. Students apply Spanish language flexibly and effectively in social, academic, and professional contexts, including formal and informal registers. Throughout the course, students develop their vocabulary to move from familiar to abstract topics. They improve grammar use to produce clear, well-structured texts, and conversations on complex topics. Students will also be able to express a point of view on abstract subjects in oral presentation and write well-constructed and coherent essays on many subjects of general interest.

Designed for students who have completed at least five semesters of U.S. university-level Spanish or the equivalent to an Advanced Spanish I, as determined by a placement test. This course helps students consolidate the Spanish competence necessary to effectively comprehend and produce in oral and written form in all types of communicative situations and to learn how to handle formal and informal registers in Spanish in an immersive context. Throughout the course, students will develop their language competence by enriching their vocabulary to participate in interactions on unfamiliar and abstract topics. They will consolidate and enhance their grammar to be able to express attitudes towards different viewpoints and comprehend and produce different argumentative lines. Students will also be able to express a point of view on an abstract subject and follow complex arguments in oral presentation, as well as write a well-constructed and coherent essay on a subject of cultural, academic or professional interest.

This course has been designed to help English-speaking students apply the knowledge acquired in the Pre-Professional Healthcare Issues course through community service focused on primary care. Students will make an Analysis of Health Status (ASIS) followed by a project with the purpose of improving those health problems identified in the community. The course is based on the practical application of priority healthcare programs, addressed to rural and urban areas, and it will be performed under the Primary Health Care strategy, emphasizing
health promotion. These programs include prenatal care, health care to children and adolescents, extended vaccination program, chronic diseases, prevention of uterine-cervical and breast cancer, sexually transmitted diseases, birth control, prevention and treatment of tuberculosis and endemic diseases (Malaria, Dengue, Chikungunya, Cholera, among others). The course offers training on the appropriate educational techniques that allow students to get involved in community health care promotion and prevention. Moreover, the course will engage students in the application of the most useful health care tools, such as family records, diagrams, and identification badges for pregnant women, chronic patients´ records, and children´s identification card, among others. In order to comply with the course requirements, students will be visiting First Level Health Care Centers in their communities during the first five (5) weeks. Visits during this period will be held three (3) days a week for three (3) hours (45 field hours). The last three (3) weeks will comprise a rural stay (45 field hours), an urban stay (15 field hours), and final research and presentations (30 research hours).

This course has been designed to introduce English-speaking students to social health, public health, and primary health care emphasizing particular characteristics of the Caribbean region, the Dominican Republic, and Haiti. The course follows an integrated and multidisciplinary approach to individual and community health by means of social and medical science concepts that allow for critical and logical analysis of health determinants and their impact on people's health, health system's organization and functions, and the health-illness scheme that contextualizes health based on cultural characteristics.