Gonzaga in Cagli Program

Students learn Italian language and culture in the classroom

The Cagli Project is a hybrid course that combines classroom instruction, field and lab work, aspects of internship, and practicum courses in a setting unfamiliar to the participating students. 

Students in the Cagli Project are assigned to teams and work to develop an intercultural narrative. The course modules emphasize skill building in: Interviewing, Storytelling, Photography, Intercultural Communication, Journaling, Italian Language and Culture, and Elements of Web Design.

While in the program students have the unique opportunity to interact in a foreign culture and to acquire practical language skills through immersion. The ability to assimilate quickly and recognize another's cultural values are indispensable tools for preparing in a career field where globalization and intercultural communication are increasingly important.

At the micro level, students will learn how "to read" another culture on its own terms — thereby eliminating cultural bias. At the macro level, students will be ready to become facilitators in the intercultural dialogue that the modern world requires. 

Dr. John Caputo shares his love of Italian gelato

Students learn how to understand a foreign society by developing ethnographic skills, which facilitate experiencing a place from an insider's perspective. The students share their immersion experience over a range of topics from economics and health care, to language and culture– through the people of Cagli.

Learn more about the program here: Intercultural Communication in Cagli