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CSULB
students head for the Amazon
By Luis Peña
Summer On-line Forty-Niner
When it comes to
studying world press some professors might argue that hands
on experience is the only way to go. Cal State Long Beach
journalism professor Raul Reis agrees and he is taking his
summer world press class to Brazil.
"It's a global news media class and we are taking a comparative
look at two different media systems, in this case the U.S.
and Brazil," said Reis. "We are also talking about
globalization of the mass media in general, what it means
for the future of the media politically and economically,"
Reis said.
"It's an intensive class," Reis said. Students enrolled
in the course met the first week of class on campus. The second
and third weeks will be spent primarily in Belém Brazil,
near the Amazon River. Belém has a population of more
than one million people and is the largest city in the Brazilian
Amazon.
The class requires students to do class presentations, take
a midterm exam, keep a journal and put together a final portfolio
that includes a 1,000-word reflective essay. Reis said the
course is covering in a day what they would normally cover
in a week's worth of class time.
Those students going on the trip look forward to the experience.
"It does meet a GE requirement and I wanted to study
abroad," said Alexza Barajas, a student participating
in the class.
Reis said the course is covering a broad range of media topics.
"We will go to different newsrooms, television [stations],
newspaper [offices] and radio [stations]," he said. "We
will look both at private and public media and if they do
things differently in Brazil than they do here in the States,"
Reis said. The students will also visit an advertising agency
and have guest speakers.
The course is a cultural experience according to Reis. Students
will visit; the local university, Universidade Federal do
Para, museums and take a cruise on the Amazon River.
Some students are taking the class more for the experience
than for CSULB credit.
"Its not required for me so I am more doing it for the
experience," said Aly Altshuler. "I just want to
learn about the culture because I have never known anything
besides America and that could be interesting."
Reis said that the language barrier will not be much of a
problem because many people in Brazil speak English and many
of the students that are attending speak Spanish. Portuguese
is the official language of Brazil but it is similar to Spanish.
"They speak Portuguese there but I speak Spanish and
my best friend speaks Portuguese and he's been teaching me
a couple of words here and there," said Barajas.
There were rumors that the course might be cancelled due to
low enrollment.
"It started out with a whole bunch of people then slowly
it started to dwindle. Once we gave our deposits if it was
cancelled we'd get our money back," said Kara Pierce,
a student enrolled in the class.
Reis said that the Journalism Department has been very supportive.
"Its absolutely fantastic students get to go to another
country to see how things are done in a whole other area,"
said journalism department chairman William Babcock. "I
think it's invaluable. I can't think that course could be
replicated in the United States. It's one which would be place
specific and that place is Brazil."
"I have always wanted to study abroad but I am not as
adventurous to go by myself and I didn't want to go for a
whole semester or year and when this opportunity came up I
couldn't resist," Pierce said.
Babcock said that the class had been well advertised months
ago and the department would observe how the class does this
summer to see if it will be offered again next summer.
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