Interest High in Refugee Center


Within the past twelve hours I have received two e-mails from University of Illinois students who are interested in the Refugee Center. One student studies journalism and wants to write about it; the other student wants to volunteer or intern there.

The employees at the Refugee Center field many questions from college students and professional reporters. Every time immigration issues come up in the news, someone does a story with a local spin. I know that this takes a lot of the employees' time, but it also raises awareness about their clients, the issues they face and the good work of the Refugee Center.

Students from many majors can benefit from volunteering there. The student who just contacted me studies International Studies. That makes a lot of sense. The Refugee Center deals with refugees, asylees and immigrants from around the world. Students from law, political sciences, social work, community and human development, languages, sociology, etc. can see the issues that the study about come to life at the Refugee Center.

We want students to make connections between their Spanish community service learning and the other subjects that they study. Here are some issues that students can connect across the disciplines:


  • immigration policies and laws, today and through a historical comparison

  • issues of discrimination

  • language and culture maintainance and/or loss

  • access to public health

  • international politics (as related to refugee vs. immigrant status)

  • literacy

  • etc.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Vocabulary for Parent-Teacher Conferences

Image
I'm very happy that so many students responded to our community partner's need for help. Our students' language skills will help Central High School's Latino parents better communicate with the teachers during the parent-teacher conferences next week. Central's secretary will contact the students directly to schedule times with them. Here is some vocabulary help for students. Materias. School subjects are "materias" NOT "sujetos." You should remember subjects from your intro Spanish courses, but here are some reminders: historia, matemáticas, inglés, física, química, biología, educación física, etc. General vocabulary. Notas = grades; aprobar = to pass; suspender = to fail; conducta, comportamiento = behavior. Topics. Ms. Citraro offers the following advice: "The topics and vocabulary that would come up are about the subjects at school. For example: no ha entregado las tareas tiene que tomar el examen otra vez habla mucho en clase falta muc
Read more

How to Correctly File Hispanic Names

Image
I know that community-based learning students don't like it when they are asked to file during their time in the community. However, their learning goals are to improve their Spanish and knowledge of Latino cultures. Filing information on clients with Hispanic names helps them with both. And imagine the impact of mis-filing for the organizations where our students work and and their clients. That's why I was unhappy to learn that many SPAN 232 students did not do well on their exam section asking them to put some Hispanic names in alphabetical order. I can imagine that some students feel that putting names into alphabetical order isn't important. It is! It is especially important in the organizations where they work because they are dealing with clients who may not have "accommodated" to the American system of using only one last name. And it is especially important for clients whose papers are so important for their legal status, medical information and oth
Read more

Interview with Jessica Horn of ACCIÓN Chicago

Image
By Carolyn Kloecker , Span 232 student This past week I completed an assignment for my Business Communications class (SPCM 211) which was to interview someone in a field that I am interested in working for in the future. I asked her many questions about the organization, and lots of information can be found on their website www.accionchicago.org . This organization is a Community Partner with Spanish & Illinois, and has an extensive connection with the Spanish-speaking community in the Chicagoland area. Here are a few of the questions and answers from Jessica: Is ACCIÓN a fairly new organization? How did it begin? ACCIÓN Chicago started in 1994, but the parent organization, ACCIÓN was started in 1961. It is the largest micro-lending organization, and it began in Venezuela, and took root in the U.S. in 1991. How do loan officers communicate with clients? Mostly by phone, as people call in to the office to get a loan for their small business. The website is also a main form o
Read more