Blogging about Spanish Community Service Learning, Social Entrepreneurship and Business Spanish

by Ann Abbott


Somehow I took a longer vacation from blogging than I intended. I missed blogging!

We're already at the mid-point of the Fall 2011 semester, and I will begin my blogging routine again. As usual, I will cover the following topics. But if there is anything you would like to see me cover that is not listed, please let me know! Furthermore, if you or your students would like to be guest contributors to this blog, I would be delighted to highlight your experiences and perspectives. But here is what you can expect from me:

  • Highlights from conferences I attend.
  • Reviews about articles and books that focus on Spanish or foreign language community service learning (CSL).
  • Reflective posts from my honors students who are doing CSL.
  • Lesson plans and classroom activities that I use with my own students. (Many are tied to Comunidades: Más allá del aula.)
  • Profiles of former students who are doing interesting things in their professional lives and with languages and cultures.
  • Updates to the running Spanish CSL bibliography. (Please add to the list if I have missed something!)
  • Local (Champaign-Urbana) opportunities for students and others to use their Spanish to help in the community.
  • Information about events that highlight issues of concern to local Latinos and Spanish-speaking immigrants everywhere.
I hope to hear from you in the comments, in person, on Facebook or Twitter (though I must confess that I'm as behind on tweeting as I am on blogging).

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