An Eclectic Internship in meh Sweet T&T : A Multicultural Island with Lovely People

Abstract

CA language is part of a culture and a culture is part of a language; the two are intricately interwoven so that one cannal separate the two without losing the significance of eilher Janguage or culture" (Brown, 1994, p.J65). Consequenlly, especially with regards to foreign language learning, language and culture go hand in hand. In fact, sorne literature about language teaching and leaming refers to culture sensilivity and awareness as !he fifth language skill (TomaJin, 2008). In lhis respec!, as students, we can Detice that the professors from the School of Modero Languages al the University ofLos Andes are aware ofthis reality. Through their teachings, they have been trying to expand our world view by opening a window to tbe vast quantity of cultures attached lo !he languages we have becn Jeaming. Equally importan!, !hey have taugbt us that there are no benee or worst cultures, only different ones. Thus. we would be opeo to new ideas and world views and OUT leaming process would be significant. Therefore, we are conscious lbat leaming a language is much more than leaming grarnmar, vocabulary and pronunciation. Mere linguistic competence is not enough to be competent in a language; with this in rnind, my maio goal was to do my inlemship abroad, in an English speaking country, and lo take advantage of !he immersion and cultural benefits for my English leaming process. Eventually, I had the opponunity to do my internship in Trinidad and Tobago, a country which, in spite of the fact that is located just seven miles from Venezuela, and due to its multicultural nature, offers Veoezuelans and Latin-Americans a quite different perspective ofthe world. In this way, my multicultw'al adventure got started; and l mUS! admil !hal I was privileged of having lbe opportunity lo do my inlemship in one of the most important organizations of our eountry in the Caribbean regioo: the Embassy of!he Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela in lbe Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. This Diplomatic Mission through tbe Venezuelan lnstitute for Culture and Cooperalion "Andrés Bello" (lVCC, by its Spanish acmnyrn) takes into accounl lbe importance of culture awareness in the language leaming process. Consequently. it offers its students the opportunity to practice Spanish by com.municating with native speakers whilst getting an insight into its ¡nherent socio-cultural aspects. Furthennore, lbe agreemenl belWeen lbe IVCC and lbe School of Modero Languages of the University of Los Andes enables the students from both institutions lo experience the socio-cultural perspective of the languages they are leaming. Thanks to this agreement, 1 was pretty fortunate to do rny intemship workíng as a Spanish leacher al lbe IVCC and supporting lbe Cultural Section of lbe Embassy while having the chance to experience Trinidadian culture al first-hand. AJaog this report, 1will ta1k about my internship experience al the Venezuelan Erobassy in Trinidad and Tobago. First, l will briefIy describe lbe hosl institulion; its hislorica1 background and how il is organized inlernally. Then, l will specify lbe tasks 1had to accomplish as an ¡ntem under the supervision of Mr. Gilberto Jaimes Correa, who is lbe Second Secretary and Trade and Cornmerce Attaché oflbe Embassy. Nexl, 1will ref1ect 00 the personal and professiona1 growing that entailed my experience as an interno Thereupon, I wilI present rny conclusions and 1 will offer sorne recornmendations to OUT Embassy in Trinidad and Tobago and to the School of Modern Languages of!he University of Los Andes, as well. Finally, l will submit a cultural essay about the impact of East Indian culture on Trinidad and Tobago's cultural diversity.