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Release date: March 28, 2003 Spanish Seminar Changes Lives In and Out of the Classroom
Just a year ago, Jessica Clarke was in an intensive Spanish course that combined language immersion and service learning by matching Emory students with volunteer work in Atlanta's Hispanic community. Today, as director of Spanish programming at the Carteret County Public Library, Clarke is working to establish a reading program for Spanish-speaking children based on her experiences last spring. For Clarke and other former students like her, the course has had a life-changing impact. "In the past, I have felt that some of the volunteer work that I have done happened in a vacuum, but in our work with Hispanic children and their families, we really examined what we were doing and its impact from every angle," Clarke says. "After I finished the course, I truly felt armed with a well-rounded understanding of what I had done. Today, I don't think I will ever be satisfied with a job that wouldn't allow me to speak Spanish regularly, or to have direct interaction with the Hispanic community." In Beaufort, a small town near the Outer Banks of North Carolina, Clarke's program is the first of its kind for the area's growing Hispanic population, she says. "Without the class and the experience it gave me, I would never have had the confidence to try something like this," says Clarke, a Spanish and Latin American studies major. "The course made me realize that I really do have what it takes to positively impact my community." The course, "Spanish 317: Writing, Context and Community," is taught by Vialla Hartfield-Mendez, described by her students as one of the most enthusiastic and passionate teachers they have had. The class, which is being taught again this semester, merges advanced writing instruction and language analysis with weekly hands-on experiences in the Atlanta Hispanic community. Community service is a requirement — at least six hours a week — in one of three programs serving Hispanics: Caminar Latino, a support program for families dealing with domestic violence; a mentoring and tutoring program for Hispanic students at Sutton Middle School; and a Spanish literacy program at Cary Reynolds Elementary School where Clarke worked last year. "By the end of the semester, I have seen my students blossom, not only in terms of their eloquence in speaking Spanish, but also in how they view themselves and their ability to make a difference," says Hartfield-Mendez, who developed the course. In the Cary Reynolds program, which Clarke is using as a model for her program, students teach Spanish-speaking children to read and write in their native language, with activities that complement their emerging literacy in English, making it possible for them to be truly bilingual, says Hartfield-Mendez. At Sutton Middle School, students have had tremendous success tutoring children in danger of dropping out by helping them pass tests required to move on to the next grade level. In addition to community service work, the Emory students hone their Spanish writing skills through a series of assignments focused on their community service. At the end of the semester, students present a polished portfolio of all their writing, a copy of which goes to the organization where the student served. "Students are aware from the beginning of the class that these portfolios have a life of their own after the course, and are working toward that final product even as they write the first draft of the first assignment," says Hartfield-Mendez. One of the portfolios from the pilot semester of the course last spring was presented to the Mexican Consulate and used in a report on how educational materials provided by the Mexican government are being used, and other portfolios inspired Caminar Latino to revamp its orientation process for volunteers. |
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copyright 2001
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