Anderson Oconee Pickens

Tri-County Sponsors Two-Week Summer Study Abroad Experience in Mexico

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 3/12/2007

CONTACT: TRINI TUMLIN, 864-646-1440 OR ttumlin@tctc.edu
                     DREW PROCTOR, 864-646-1521 OR dproctor@tctc.edu
(By Lisa Garrett)

PENDLETON --- For the second consecutive year, Tri-County Technical College will sponsor a two-week study abroad experience in Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico, scheduled for July 7 - 23.

Students will take classes at a well-known Spanish immersion language school and live with local families.  During the weekends and evenings, they will enhance their cultural knowledge of Mexico through excursions to markets, museums, and other towns.  Tri-County Spanish Instructors Trini Tumlin and Drew Proctor will travel with the students and represent the College.  Students may earn credit for SPA 201, SPA 102, or continuing credit for other professionals, such as area teachers.  The application deadline is Monday, March 19.  Living with an Hispanic family that has been approved through the school is the most effective way for the students to gain a fundamental understanding of the culture. As the students interact with their family members during meals and daily activities over 16 days, the learners naturally retain the information more successfully.  The school, Experiencia Centro Cultural, A.C., evaluates the students’ abilities individually and places them in a class of less than ten students at the same level. Not only will the students from Tri County have fellow TCTC students in their class, they may study with students from around the world.

Each weekend Ms. Tumlin and Mr. Proctor will take the Tri-County group to interesting locations which Ms. Tumlin, a native of Cuernavaca, knows well.  Ms. Tumlin taught at the school where the students will study. Mr. Proctor, who taught secondary Spanish for twelve years, has studied in Mexico and Costa Rica, and has worked in the Dominican Republic.   He also chaperoned a group of students on a trip to Mexico while teaching high school Spanish.

For more information regarding this scholastic and cultural immersion experience, contact Ms. Tumlin at 864-646-1440 or ttumlin@tctc.edu or Mr. Proctor at 864-646-1521 or dproctor@tctc.edu.  There is a Study Abroad link from the Tri-County Technical College homepage (www.tctc.edu) which includes answers to almost any question you might have.  The cost of the program is $1,685 plus four credits of Tri-County tuition and spending money.  To take advantage of this opportunity, students must apply by Monday, March 19.