Read: 6 minutes-Author: By Dr. Bruce Anderson, Johns Hopkins University,
A Warm Welcome, and the Start of Something Bigger
Nou kontan vwè zot! (“We’re happy to see you!”) in Antillean Creole, alongside Bienvenue! in French, greeted us on a giant mural at the Pointe-à-Pitre airport.
Those words perfectly captured the spirit of what would become a remarkable two-week intensive course in Guadeloupe: French Language and Culture in the Caribbean, taken by twelve undergraduate students and two faculty members from Johns Hopkins University.
I’d like to share how this program came together, how it unfolded on the ground, and what other institutions might take from the experience if they are considering building something similar.
Why We Wanted to Create Our Own Program
As Director of the French language program at Johns Hopkins University, I oversee our Beginning, Intermediate, and Advanced language courses, with roughly 200 students enrolled each semester.
While we have long offered a strong range of courses in French and francophone cultures and literatures here in Baltimore, one thing had been missing: a study abroad program of our own. Instead, we encouraged students to explore options offered by other institutions or private organizations, whether for a summer, a semester, or a full academic year. But not many did.
Why? Was it because of scheduling constraints? Cost? Concerns about transfer credit? Or perhaps because the idea of spending an extended period abroad felt too complicated or out of reach?
What Our Students Told Us
To better understand what students actually wanted, we surveyed all students enrolled in our French language courses in Fall 2024, including beginners. The results were clear.
There was strong interest in a study abroad experience in a French-speaking part of the world, provided that it met a few key conditions: it needed to take place between semesters so as not to disrupt another major or minor, count as a real 3-credit course, apply toward the French major or minor, and ideally be covered by tuition, with scholarship support helping to offset the cost of travel, lodging, and activities.
Those findings aligned perfectly with an idea I had been considering for quite some time: taking students to Guadeloupe and/or Martinique during Intersession, the three-week break between semesters.
After all, who wouldn’t want to leave behind gray, cold, English-speaking Baltimore in the middle of winter and continue practicing French while earning academic credit in the Caribbean, just one time zone away?
Turning the Idea into a Real Program
Of course, before packing course materials and sunscreen, there was quite a bit to put in place.
My colleague and I first had to convince our Global Education Office that the trip would be academically rigorous and equivalent in substance to a semester-long course. Just as importantly, we needed a competent, fully licensed, and ideally American-based institutional partner who could help manage the many logistical details on the ground, from lodging and meals to transportation and excursions, while ensuring a safe and meaningful student experience.That is where, rather miraculously for us, JD Agency Experience entered the picture.
Finding the Right Partner
While walking through the exhibitor hall at the ACTFL conference in Philadelphia in November 2024, I happened to spot a sign for short-term study abroad programs in the French Antilles. I honestly could not believe my luck.
After speaking with Jessica Dunon, I returned to Baltimore thinking that we might just have found the institutional partner we had been looking for. And, as it turned out, we had.
What the Experience Felt Like on the Ground
Nou kontan vwè zot truly captured the spirit of the entire experience in Guadeloupe.
From Nadège, our JD Agency Experience on-site coordinator, problem-solver, student confidante, and all-around calming presence, to the many local experts who shared their knowledge with our students, to the countless Guadeloupians we met along the way, we were met with generosity, curiosity, and warmth.
People were often surprised, and genuinely pleased, that a group of American students had chosen to come to Guadeloupe rather than Paris in order to learn more about its history, culture, and everyday realities as part of France.
What Students Explored Academically
The academic content and excursions we developed with JD Agency Experience covered an impressively wide range of topics.
Students explored pre-colonial Indigenous history, colonialism, and postcolonial realities, including the difficult but necessary conversations around France’s role in that history. They studied the geography and ecology of the Guadeloupean archipelago, from the mangroves to the summit of La Soufrière. They examined local flora, fauna, agriculture, and the island’s political and institutional relationship with mainland France.
And, of course, they experienced Guadeloupean cuisine, music, and Carnival traditions firsthand, including the opportunity to help design costumes and march in a Carnival parade, which one student described as “probably the best day of my life so far.”
Why This Model Matters
For institutions interested in creating a similar credit-bearing program, I hope this example shows just how powerful a short-term, faculty-led model can be.
It can open the door to study abroad for students who might not otherwise see it as accessible, while still offering a rigorous and deeply immersive academic experience.
A Few Final Thoughts for Other Educators
If you are considering developing a program of this kind, I would offer two pieces of advice.
First, survey your students to make sure the destination and format genuinely match their interests and needs. Second, give yourself plenty of time, ideally a full academic year, to work through the planning with both your institution and your on-the-ground partner.
The result, in our case, was well worth it: a rigorous, immersive, and memorable academic experience that expanded our students’ understanding of the French-speaking world in lasting ways.
Perhaps our groups will cross paths there one day.
See how this short-term program in Guadeloupe was structured academically.
About the guest author
Bruce Anderson earned his PhD in French Linguistics from Indiana University in 2002. He is the director of the French language program at Johns Hopkins University (Baltimore, Maryland), where he has taught courses on French language, Francophone cultures, and Romance linguistics since 2010. He is also the co-author of the McGraw-Hill French textbook En avant!, now in its fourth edition.”