Languages and Cultures: how a university Spanish department and the local Refugee Center can support each other

by Ann Abbott


The University of Illinois' annual Campus Charitable Fund Drive is underway. All the charitable organizations in the portfolio are worthy recipients of our giving.  However, I just sent the message below to my colleagues within the Department of Spanish, Italian & Portuguese to point out the connection between our mission as a department and that of the Refugee Center (officially, the East Central Illinois Refugee Mutual Assistance Center).  Any UI employee can contribute to the fund drive, and anyone at all can send a check directly to the Refugee Center at any time.  (Their address is available on their website.)


Dear SIP colleagues,

As you consider your choices for the Campus Charitable Fund Drive, I would like to call your attention to the East Central Illinois Refugee Mutual Assistance Center (ECIRMAC), also known as "the Refugee Center."  They are the only Illinois organization of this type outside of Chicago, and they provide myriad services to all refugees, asylees and immigrants.  For instance, in the first few months of this year they assisted in the resettlement of new families from, Iraq, the Democratic Republic of Congo, China, Vietnam, Syria and Liberia.  Furthermore, an alumnus from our Spanish BAT program, Guadalupe Abreu, is the sole Spanish-speaking counselor at ECIRMAC.

Many of our Spanish community service learning students work at ECIRMAC and learn not just about Spanish but also about global patterns of human migration, on-the-ground realities for our local immigrants and the impact of policies.  I especially remember the story of one of our students who was working in the office when an immigrant who had arrived from the Congo (originally from another African country) recounted the story of his torture while a counselor filled out his asylum request.  This took place in the midst of debates about the United States' use of torture in the war on terror.  As you can imagine, this was a very important learning moment for all the students in the course.  At the links below, you can see other students' reflections on what they have learned at ECIRMAC:

Summary at semester's end
Small cultural impositions create huge problems for immigrants (in Spanish)

If you would like to give to ECIRMAC in the Campus Charitable Fund Drive, you can give to the United Way of Champaign County (http://www.ccfd.illinois.edu/ccfdPledge/agency2.jsp?agent=11) and *designate* that your money go to the East Central Illinois Refugee Mutual Assitance Center (ECIRMAC).

Thank you for considering this!

Ann

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