Summer Language Programs

Portuguese Language and Brazilian Culture

This 6-week program caters to graduate and undergraduate students who wish to achieve a high level of Portuguese fluency through immersion in Brazilian language and culture. With language classes at the intermediate and advanced levels, it allows students to study with Brazilian faculty while living with local families or college students in the hip São Paulo neighborhood of Perdizes. Participants enroll in two courses: one language course and one content course on contemporary Brazilian society taught in Portuguese. Outside of the classroom, they explore São Paulo and its surroundings through organized excursions to museums, landmarks, and historic sites, and set off on personal adventures with friends and roommates.

Program Eligibility and Credits

This program qualifies as a FLAS-approved program with 140 contact hours of language instruction. It is available to students seeking credit in intermediate and advanced Portuguese levels only. Student applicants must be in good academic standing and have at least a current cumulative grade point average of 2.5. Non-Vanderbilt students are required to have completed two outside-institution Portuguese language course, or have otherwise reached intermediate-level proficiency if they are seeking credit for PORT 2050. Students may be interviewed to determine their Portuguese language skill level during the application process. Non-Vanderbilt students are welcome to apply, but should confirm with their home university that their credits will transfer. Course syllabi from previous years are available upon request.

Program Cost

TBD: Final program price will depend on enrollment and mode of instruction. Tuition will not exceed $5,000 and total program costs (which include tuition and housing and logistics fees) will not exceed $7,800.

View CLACX Summer Awards information here.

Application and Additional Information

CLACX at Vanderbilt University receives funding from the Department of Education to support Foreign Language Area Studies (FLAS) Awards for Intensive Studies of Portuguese or indigenous Latin American languages. Fellowships provide tuition expenses for the study of Portuguese, Kˈicheˈ Mayan, or another indigenous language.

Any graduate or undergraduate student with Luso-Brazilian, Haitian, or indigenous language-related interests and who is a U.S. citizen/permanent resident is eligible to apply. Undergraduate applicants must have already attained intermediate-level proficiency in the target language. Graduate students, if at the beginner level, must be advanced speakers of another Latin American language to qualify.

Please direct any questions to CLACX’s Gretchen Selcke.

Access the online 2024 FLAS Summer Application here. Applications are due by February 5, 2024.

Intensive Summer Language & Culture Program in K’iche’ and Kaqchikel 2024

FLAS Promotional Flyer_K’iche’ (vanderbilt.edu)

Antigua and Nahualá, Guatemala | Mid-June to Mid-July, 2024

The Mayan Language Institute is a six-week program to train students in either Kaqchikel or K’iche’ Maya, two of the most widely-spoken Mayan languages in Guatemala today. Thanks to the collaboration between U.S. faculty and Maya teachers, participants can study at the beginning, intermediate, or advanced levels of either language. The program’s highly individualized classes combine language immersion activities, lectures, one-on-one conversations, guest speakers and cultural excursions. The intensive nature of these classes, combined with students’ daily immersion in Maya communities, enables them to enhance their language skills rapidly while experiencing Indigenous cultures firsthand. Students enrolled in Kaqchikel Maya will spend 6 weeks at the PLFM campus in Antigua. Students enrolled in K’iche’ Maya will spend 1 week at the PLFM campus before relocating to Nahualá, a small city in the highlands of Sololá, for the final five weeks of the program.

Program Eligibility

Student applicants must be in good academic standing and have at least a current cumulative grade point average of 2.5. Students should have some level of Spanish proficiency; previous study in either Kaqchikel or K’iche’ is required for intermediate or advanced coursework. Students should be flexible and prepared for living conditions in Guatemala.

Tuition/Fees

This course meets all requirements for Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowships; students are encouraged to apply to their home institution for summer FLAS Fellowship support. Tuition for students on FLAS Fellowships is $5,000. Eligible graduate students at other universities may apply to the University of Chicago, Vanderbilt University, the University of Texas at Austin, Tulane University and/or the University of New Mexico for Summer FLAS Fellowship support, but priority for FLAS awards will be given to students enrolled at these awarding institutions. If you plan to apply for a FLAS Fellowship, please remember that the FLAS application will be due February 5, 2024.

In addition to tuition, all students must pay a program fee. The program fee covers local accommodations (including three meals/day, excluding Sundays, with the home-stay family) and class excursions. In addition to the travel costs mentioned below in “Travel and Arrangements,” certain other costs are not included in the program tuition or program fee, such as laundry, snacks, souvenirs, passport/visa fees, vaccinations, etc.

Travel and Arrangements
Students are responsible for their own travel and airfare to Guatemala as well as local transportation. Program fees include local transportation for programmed excursions and activities.

Language Program Applications and Enrollment
If you plan to apply for a FLAS Fellowship, please remember that the FLAS application is due February 5, 2024. Note that the fellowship application and the program application are separate applications.

Access the online 2024 FLAS Summer Application here. Applications are due by February 5, 2024.

Visit the program webpage for more information.

Offered in Partnership From
Vanderbilt University Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latinx Studies
Tulane University Stone Center for Latin American Studies
University of New Mexico Latin American and Iberian Institute
University of Texas Teresa Lozano Long Institute of Latin American Studies