with special observances at the George Washington elementary school for girls, to which the summer-school visitors were invited, a reception at the American Embassy, and a dance in the evening at the Guatemalan-American Cultural Institute.

Notwithstanding so many social activities at the very beginning of the term, it was not for a moment forgotten that the keynote of the summer school was sound scholarship. As classes got under way on the following Monday, there was great enthusiasm, inspired by the unusually fine faculty group and by the opportunity for students to begin learning Spanish or to increase their facility in that language, at the same time acquiring a deeper understanding and appreciation of HispanicAmerican life and culture.

The summer-school director, Dr. Thomas B. Irving, who accomplished a herculean task in planning and arranging all the details, was assisted materially by Dr. Louis Nesbit of Syracuse University; by Dr. J. H. Parker of the University of Toronto; and by Dr. Nora B. Thompson of Philadelphia, who enrolled nearly half the student group and conducted a seminar for teachers of Spanish. Heading a group of distinguished visiting professors was Dr.

Arturo Torres-Rioseco, whose lectures were always crowded and whose kindly manner as counselor to the summer school endeared him to all the student group. Dr. Torres-Rioseco, a Chilean, is on the faculty of the University of California at Berkeley.

A more representative student body could scarcely be found in any university summer school in the United States. Teen-agers from Syracuse; veterans from Florida, Virginia, Kentucky, Massachusetts, California, and so on, enrolled as undergraduates; graduate students from St. Louis and the Foreign Trade Institute

at Thunderbird Field, Arizona; teachers of all grade levels-kindergarten to college from Pittsburgh, Detroit, Galveston, Baltimore, Chicago, and New York; housewives and clubwomen; ex-Wacs, college professors from Savannah and Emporia; a Washington, D. C., business girl; a Department of Agriculture specialist learning Spanish while preparing to work on the 1950 all-American census; a missionary studying advanced Spanish and Quiché on his vacation time; and many others made up the student group.

All students carried a pretty heavy schedule, and it was possible to have classes

scattered from eight o'clock in the morning until four or even six o'clock in the afternoon, with late special conversation groups. Classes were conducted entirely in Spanish. In the first days the beginners were somewhat swamped by four hours with four different teachers, some of whom knew no English at all. The understanding faculty group came to the rescue, and soon arrangements were made to facilitate the beginners' work.

Plans have been approved to offer a Master of Arts degree (recognized in the United States) upon completion of three summer sessions and the submission of a

thesis. The fields of concentration will be Central American studies, Mayan civilization, and Latin American literature. A very strong beginning has been made by offering in the first summer term courses in all three fields, notably Central American economics, by Professor Marco Antonio Ramírez; Mayan civilization and language, under Professors Ricardo Castañeda Paganini and Flavio Rodas; Latin American institutions, by Dr. TorresRioseco; and several survey and specialized courses in literature by Dr. Torres-Rioseco, Dr. Joaquín Zaitegui, Señora María de Sellarés (principal of the Central Normal Institute of Guatemala), Professor Fernando de León Porras, and others.

Without lessening the emphasis upon thoroughness in class work, the summer school went beyond the limits of the classroom walls, textbooks, and even library shelves, in offering a great variety of cultural and social events to enrich the experience of the summer-school students. Weekly informal dances in the patio of the

university building with marimba-band music and group singing were enjoyed in the company of Guatemalan students attending the regular university session. An average of two evenings a week was devoted to poetry and lectures on art. The lecturers included the writer and authority on Guatemalan arts and crafts, Mrs. Lilly de Jongh Osborne; the eminent poet Dr. Rafael Arévalo Martínez; and several of the younger generation of Guatemalan poets, Raúl Leiva, Fernando de León Porras, and others. Students received special invitations to attend concerts and art exhibits and to participate in the activities of the Academy of Fine Arts and the Guatemalan-American Cultural Institute.

Even in the regular class work, the professors were extremely helpful in arranging to take groups to places of cultural and historical interest. Among the teachers in attendance, there was a desire to visit public and private schools, the Normal Institute for Girls, and day nurseries.