Saudi Arabian students who are spending 2016 at the University of Delaware’s English Language Institute (ELI) have completed a documentary about their recent service-learning project in Puerto Rico.

Students in the group, whose education is sponsored by the Saudi Arabian Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC), will be earning undergraduate engineering degrees at UD and other American universities after completing a foundational year at the ELI.

During this year, they study the English language intensively, as well as taking classes and attending workshops in subjects including math, science, study skills, American culture and service learning.

The group recently returned from a week’s stay in Puerto Rico, where they learned about the history of the island and helped repair houses in the low-income community of Villa del Rio. They worked with Global Works Travel, which has been aiding residents since Hurricane Hugo devastated the area in 1989.

Led by ELI instructor Scott Duarte and later joined by SABIC program coordinator MariaJosé Riera, the students toured the community and then spent three days mixing and hauling concrete at a worksite. During that time, they also discussed socioeconomic and living conditions in Puerto Rico with others working at the site and ate meals prepared from locally grown food.

When not working, students explored the island’s diversity, visiting beaches and reefs, seeing ancient petroglyphs created by the Taíno Indians, hiking in the only tropical rainforest in the national forest system and kayaking into a bioluminescent lagoon.

Students documented their time as part of the ELI’s English Through Filmmaking Production course. They have since edited the video footage into a feature-length documentary, which was part of a showcase of drama and film productions presented to ELI students recently in Trabant University Center Theatre.

The documentary can be viewed in full or in a shorter version, both available at this ELI webpage.