Student Impressions
Today the students are finishing up their first week of the Small Group Leadership Communications class with Professor Liza Burns. All of them are keeping journals which allow them to reflect on their experience here in Costa Rica, and to tie their experience to concepts being covered in the class. Two journal excerpts written by students follow:
During the past two days we’ve been in Costa Rica, I’ve been observing symbols everywhere… Symbols tell us so much about our surroundings. For example, today I saw a symbol that said “alto” on it. This symbol in Costa Rica, is their stop sign. I was able to recognize that because it was red and was the shape of our American stop signs…I also saw the Costa Rican flag. This is a symbol of the country. At school, ILISA is a symbol for the language school where we study. Words in Spanish that we know are symbols for what the meaning is behind that word. Symbols are everywhere in our lives. These are just a few examples of symbols I’ve seen while experiencing different things in Costa Rica.
-- Anna Davis
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Because we were in a small group we noticed when someone was having trouble and we could support each other. For example, when one of us could not remember one of the Spanish phrases the group would pitch in and help one another by saying the first part of the correct phrase. I learned that in a small group with the different traits we are more likely to adapt to our surroundings when helping each other with individual challenges. We can build off of each other and obtain information then apply the Spanish language on our own. Having a small group that is made up of friends helped us to open up, notice when our friends were struggling, and help each other with any challenges that came our way.
-- Caroline Hubley
