SPAN 301s: Service Learning in the Chicano/Latino Community
Course Description
This course is part of your Spanish language learning experience, and offers you the opportunity to interact in a personal way with members of the local Latino community, thereby enriching your understanding of Hispanic cultures and the Spanish language. As a community-based learning experience, the course provides students with career-related experience working collaboratively with community agencies to address community concerns / issues. Taught in Spanish.
Course Narrative
To meet the requirement of serving the community of Monterey I volunteered at The Village Project which is an after school program that serves the underprivileged children of the Seaside area. Many of the children involved in this program were attending the Dual Immersion school, being a Spanish major allowed me to help these children specifically in the target language as many of the other tutors were not able to do so. Some of the ways I helped the children was with their homework in math, science, language , etc. Furthermore, I listened to them as they read or helped with activities that would broaden their academics. During this class, we spent time looking at Chicano / Latino literature. One of the works of literature we read was "Bien Pretty" by Sandra Cisneros. In this story, we followed the life of a young woman named Lupita. After crossing the border she was on the journey of bettering her life. This story helped me realize how important it is to work hard for a dream, even if the circumstances are difficult. We also watched movies, one movie ¡Alambrista! detailed the life of a man who had also just crossed the border. For Roberto, the difficulty of living in the United States was finding a job which paid him a livable wage and good working conditions. Since he didn't know the language he had to take jobs which were harder physically in order to support his family home in Mexico. Overall, this class opened my eyes to the differences in our cultures. The class also exposed me to difficulties I had never thought of. These lessons both taught me to be a more caring and empathetic person.
Below is a paper I wrote on my journey of learning Spanish.
This course is part of your Spanish language learning experience, and offers you the opportunity to interact in a personal way with members of the local Latino community, thereby enriching your understanding of Hispanic cultures and the Spanish language. As a community-based learning experience, the course provides students with career-related experience working collaboratively with community agencies to address community concerns / issues. Taught in Spanish.
Course Narrative
To meet the requirement of serving the community of Monterey I volunteered at The Village Project which is an after school program that serves the underprivileged children of the Seaside area. Many of the children involved in this program were attending the Dual Immersion school, being a Spanish major allowed me to help these children specifically in the target language as many of the other tutors were not able to do so. Some of the ways I helped the children was with their homework in math, science, language , etc. Furthermore, I listened to them as they read or helped with activities that would broaden their academics. During this class, we spent time looking at Chicano / Latino literature. One of the works of literature we read was "Bien Pretty" by Sandra Cisneros. In this story, we followed the life of a young woman named Lupita. After crossing the border she was on the journey of bettering her life. This story helped me realize how important it is to work hard for a dream, even if the circumstances are difficult. We also watched movies, one movie ¡Alambrista! detailed the life of a man who had also just crossed the border. For Roberto, the difficulty of living in the United States was finding a job which paid him a livable wage and good working conditions. Since he didn't know the language he had to take jobs which were harder physically in order to support his family home in Mexico. Overall, this class opened my eyes to the differences in our cultures. The class also exposed me to difficulties I had never thought of. These lessons both taught me to be a more caring and empathetic person.
Below is a paper I wrote on my journey of learning Spanish.
Mi viaje hacia bialfabetismo | |
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