The Academic Programs

Internships and Service Learning

Internships in Perugia
Students who engage in an internship while studying abroad find it extremely rewarding for their personal development. An internship not only provides a unique opportunity to practice and enhance one’s language skills, but also offers students direct experience of the Italian workplace and access to the local community that is often impossible to attain on one’s own. Umbra offers a variety of internships in fields such as Education, Communications, Journalism, Political Science, and Tourism, which are available to mature students with self-direction and good inter-personal skills.

All internships are arranged through the Associate Director for Service Learning and Internships at Umbra, who will work with students to customize the internship placement according to the students’ skills and personal interests. Placements can also be tailored to meet specific academic interests and requirements. Making the internship a rewarding experience requires commitment and motivation. Umbra helps to ensure this outcome by providing assistance in setting up an agreement with the sponsoring organization and in defining the tasks to be undertaken by the student intern. Placements will depend on the students’ language proficiency, skills and interests, and availability of internships may vary from semester to semester.

To request information on any of the internships below, please contact the Associate Director for Internships and Service Learning: Dott.ssa Anna Selberg at aselberg@umbra-institute.com

Current internship placements include:

Theatre In English
The HELP Language Association works in and out of state schools, working with young learners from 4 to 18 years old, presenting activities appropriate to each age range to supplement and aid their in-school learning. HELP sets up various English Language projects in state schools in and around Perugia, working in primary, middle and high schools. The Theatre in English projects aim to create a lively, dynamic activity in which spoken English is put into a context where it becomes communicative and meaningful. The intern will work alongside the theatre teacher in primary school classes (9 or 10 year-olds), working actively with the children during lessons and performances. The intern can learn how to apply drama techniques to language teaching and how those techniques apply to education in a wider sense. This internship may be ideal for education and psychology majors.

Requirements: enjoy working with children, good physical and verbal expression, an outgoing, fun attitude to learning. No language requirement.

TEF channel
TEF is a local TV channel broadcasting in the entire region of Umbria and parts of Tuscany. This internship offers the opportunity to help create and produce a newscast in English to be broadcasted weekly by TEF! The intern will be working closely with one of the news editors, preparing and editing news scripts in English, and will also be conducting daily research using the internet to seek out information about local events and news of particular interest to foreigners in Perugia. This internship is perfect for communications or journalism majors.

Requirements:
Basic to intermediate knowledge of Italian and good communication skills. Students must be strongly motivated and responsible, and be dedicated and willing to learn.
Website: http://www.tefchannel.it

Uguccione Ranieri di Sorbello Foundation
The Uguccione Ranieri di Sorbello Foundation is a family-owned library-museum located in the historic center of Perugia. The library contains over 20,000 volumes, with special holdings on travel literature, English literature, and World War II materials, as well as an extensive family archive and art collection. The intern will research the library’s on-line catalogue of English books to create a bibliography of travel literature, children’s books and/or literature on Umbria during World War II. For students with a special interest in library science and museum studies. There is also the opportunity to learn how to prepare an annotated bibliography, by first reviewing the relevant sources and then writing short, critical annotations about each text.

Requirements: basic to intermediate Italian, good organizational skills, and interest in library research. Basic computing skills.
Website: http://www.fondazioneranieri.org

Biblioteca Augusta di Perugia
The Biblioteca Augusta was opened to the public in 1623 and is one of Italy’s oldest public libraries. The Library holds an extensive collection of volumes, the original core of which was formed by a private library donated to the City in 1582. These manuscripts came together to form the “Old Collection,” which includes the precious Statutes and the Matricole delle Arti (Lists of the Guilds) of Perugia. Other important collections were added to form the “New Collection,” acquired through donations from a number of important Perugian personages. In addition, the library holds a large number of incunabula, i.e. the very earliest printed books, some of which are illuminated. The incunabula cover a variety of topics, ranging from the humanities to scientific, philosophical, and religious texts. The intern will be involved in translating the titles of texts and other materials into English for the Library website. The intern may also be involved in special projects, such as researching the catalogue for materials needed for the creation of special exhibits.

Requirements: Advanced Italian, good organizational skills. Basic computer skills
Website: http://www.comune.perugia.it/canale.asp?id=822

E-Generation
E-Generation is an international student organization that provides foreign students with information about the city of Perugia, cultural events and excursions. The intern edits the English language version of the Egeneration website and assists in organizing excursions to places of cultural interest for students. Students with an advanced level of Italian will also translate into English and proofread articles for Emagazine, an on-line monthly magazine focusing on international politics, intercultural communication and globalization. Political science, journalism and communications, and English majors may find this internship especially interesting.

Requirements: Intermediate to advanced Italian, good communication and computing skills.
Website: http://www.egeneration.pg.it

Montessori Middle School
The Montessori school intern works with small groups of children aged 12-14 who are studying English. The intern will assist the teachers by organizing conversation groups, choosing a theme to work on with the children and leading the group independently. Part of this internship is also assisting children with their garden project and other craft activities at the Montessori school. This internship may be ideal for education and psychology majors.

Requirements: enjoy working with children, responsible and mature attitude. No language requirement.

Comune di Perugia - Ufficio Relazioni Internazionali
The intern will work with the city government’s office of international relations to update and expand a bilingual website. The office is particularly concerned with developing and promoting an image of Perugia within the context of Umbria, highlighting regional products and cultural/ recreational activities. Of special interest will be establishing a rapport between Perugia and her U.S. sister cities, Seattle and Grand Rapids, Michigan. The intern will be encouraged to correspond with organizations and university students from the sister cities and develop an imaginative and visually attractive website.

Requirements: Advanced Italian, motivation and good organizational skills. Basic computing skills. Website: http://tourism.comune.perugia.it

AltraUmbria
Altra Umbria focuses on off-the beaten track tourism in Umbria, offering tours, workshops, cooking courses and various cultural events during both the high and low seasons. The intern will work on translating texts into English for the website and assist the staff in seeking out new itineraries and events to plan future trips for English-speaking clients.

Requirements: Intermediate to advanced Italian, basic computing skills. Enthusiasm and interest in learning more about Umbria. Website: http://www.altraumbria.it

Clinica Liotti
The Clinica Liotti is a surgical clinic located in the centre of Perugia. The clinic provides Umbra students who are following a pre-med curriculum at their home institution the opportunity to engage in internships at the hospital. The intern will be able to shadow doctors and nurses and to observe doctor-patient visits in different wards of the clinic and surgery. This internship is a rewarding experience for qualified students with an intermediate to advanced proficiency in Italian.

http://www.casadicuraliotti.it/

The Umbra Institute
The Umbra Institute also offers its own work-study opportunities and internships at Umbra. Students must apply after arrival in Perugia. Internships are only available for students who have studied at Umbra at least one semester or bring exceptional skills and qualifications with fluency in Italian. Only applications submitted in-person will be considered. Students interested in a work-study or internship opportunity at the Umbra Institute should arrange an appointment with the Administrative Director, Ms. Anna Girolimetti at agiro@umbra-institute.com

Other internship openings made available to Umbra students during past semesters include a variety of experiences such as legal assistant intern, physician’s assistant, physical therapy intern and student services intern.

Note: Internships do not receive Umbra credit nor provide financial compensation. Students wishing to obtain credit for internships must consult their home institution.

Service Learning Opportunities

What is service learning?
Service learning is a type of experiential learning that combines community service with traditional academic work in the classroom. The integration of the two components allows for application of academic knowledge and critical thinking skills to outside activity in the community. Reciprocity between the academic institution and community organization, and reflection and assessment through carefully structured, course-based exercises are fundamental parts of Service Learning. Thistype of experience often leads to positive academic outcomes for students and helps foster an appreciation for civic engagement.

Why offer service learning in a study abroad program?
There are particular benefits associated with service learning in the context of study abroad. Normally, students remain at a rather superficial level in their interactions with the local community. In contrast, Service learning works to “embed” students in the local community in order to help them know a particular place beyond casual engagement. In some forms, service learning also allows students to complete research projects with service experience functioning as a primary research source.

How is service learning structured at Umbra?
Service Learning at the Umbra Institute is organized in three main models of community
engagement. The pilot program consists of a practicum course, the Perugia Practicum, a practical, hands-on course designed to facilitate student interaction with the community by providing foundation in the principles of service learning and opportunities to apply these principles through direct engagement with the community. The objectives of this course are to enhance language acquisition, academic learning, reciprocity and meaningful enjoyment through participation in cooperative projects with local organizations. The students explore how a region’s geography and history shape its contemporary identity and develop a project that synthesizes material studied over the term. This semester students work with the office of international relations at the Comune di Perugia, the Uguccione Ranieri di Sorbello Foundation, a family-owned library-museum in the historic center of Perugia and the Perugina chocolate factory museum. While working on these projects students are often partnered with Italian university students

Another model is integration of service learning into existing courses and each semester two courseswithin the Umbra curriculum will be designated as “service learning” courses while the Practicum course is offered each semester.
A third type of engagement with the community is through academic internship possibilities. Umbra is currently developing the academic internship track in which students will engage in 80 hours of project service during the semester plus a weekly internship seminar. Students who participate in the academic internship program must enroll in an intensive language course (6 credits) at the appropriate level (beginner, intermediate or advanced).

For more information, please contact the Associate Director for Internships and Service Learning: Dott.ssa Anna Selberg at aselberg@umbra-institute.com