Internships
Internships Overview
Internships allow advanced students to enrich their study abroad
experience through work experience, research, and reflection. They
enable students with strong language skills, motivation and sense of
initiative to use their French to prepare for their future professional
lives.
Internships may take several forms, depending on the individual
student’s qualifications and expectations. For some, it may be helping
in various school settings in preparation for a career in education. For
others, it may be helping build a website, working in a public library,
or shadowing a surgeon for a future professional career. For others
still, it may involve work in the theatre or in various organizations.
Internship at l'école de la deuxieme chance
Procedures
Custom tailored internships are offered each semester (not offered
during the summer term) to a small, select
number of highly qualified and motivated students with excellent French
language skills. They are highly competitive.
- Interested students need to
contact Dr. Sylvie Rockmore, Center Director, as early as possible,
sending a resume and a letter of motivation, preferably in French.
Deadlines: Fall Semester - June 15; Spring Semester - November
15. There are no summer internships.
- Upon acceptance to le Centre d’Avignon, Dr. Rockmore will work
directly with individual students to begin the process. At this point,
it is recommended that the students check with the home institution to
ensure that credit will eventually be approved, should the internship
materialize.
- No internship is guaranteed and none can be considered definitive
until the student has arrived and a personal interview has taken place.
It may then take a week or two before the actual internship starts or
the intended site may not prove appropriate to the candidate.
- Priority in the spring will be given to academic year students.
Expectations
An internship is considered an independent study course and students
will earn 1-3 credits, depending on the number of hours devoted to the
internship.
Students are expected to:
- work at their internship site at least 1 half-day per week throughout
the session
- submit weekly journal entries
- attend a weekly one hour meeting with other interns and the
Director of Internships
- write a 10-15 page final paper enlarging their own experience
and perspective into a more general research into the topic
- present their results orally to the
Center
- perform all of the above duties in French
Examples of Previous Internships
- Drama: one student interned at the Opéra-Théâtre d’Avignon.
- Education:
students have interned at Lycée professionnel and experienced a school
in a ZEP (zone d’éducation prioritaire) as well as helped with the English version of the French site at E2C Marseille.
- Library Science: one student of
Japanese descent worked at public library updating the Japanese
catalogue and resources.
- Management: one student worked in a bakery.
- Pre-Med: a Bio/French major shadowed an orthopaedic surgeon, including
during operations.
- Psychology: a Psychology major shadowed a
psychologist at a private clinic for alcoholic patients.
- Retail and
Consumer Science: a student worked with the Union patronale, helping set
in place a mentoring system.