Gilman Scholarship

915 Words4 Pages
My Proposed Follow-on Service Project will promote the Gilman Scholarship through the intermingling and communication of French exchange students and students wishing to improve their French language skills. As mentioned in my statement of purpose, the city I live in is dominantly Hispanic. Every aspect of my city revolves around the Spanish language because it is the language people here are comfortable with. The only exposure to foreign languages most students on my campus have is limited to Spanish. For this reason, I am proposing a French language oriented service project to benefit students at my university who want to explore a foreign language they are rarely exposed to. I want these students to know that although speaking Spanish as…show more content…
Additionally, to break the ice and ease up any nervousness in the students, I will first conduct a presentation on my study abroad experience and give students the opportunity to ask me questions over my experience. I will show videos and pictures of my study abroad experience in Paris, France in an effort to arouse a desire to visit France in each one of the participating students. This will show them that just like me, they too can achieve a level of higher education by studying abroad. This project will emphasize the importance studying abroad has on familiarizing oneself with other cultures. I will make sure to stress to the students that no matter what their socioeconomic status is they can study wherever they choose. However to avoid intruding into their finances, I will avoid asking them if they are Pell Grant recipients. Instead I will let them know they should apply for the Gilman scholarship if the case is that they are recipients. My service project will highlight the Gilman scholarship and how it benefits students wishing to stud abroad. I will give them all the necessary information they need to know how this scholarship can help them study where they wish, regardless of their financial situation. Before the communication sessions between students begins, students will be provided with a reference sheet that will contain basic conversation starter questions in French in order to facilitate the conversations between students. These reference sheets will contain questions such as—what is your name, what do you like to do in your free time, and how do you like TAMIU—in addition to other basic questions. Additionally at the end of the communication sessions, I will provide my student email to these students in case they need help applying for the Gilman scholarship in the future. In this way, I
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