Spanish & Illinois

by Michelle Lee ¡Hola a todos! My name is Michelle Lee and I am currently a senior double majoring in Anthropology and Spanish. If you haven’t guessed already, I’m primarily interested in cultures and languages! I have been taking Spanish courses since 6 th grade; many people ask me if I am fluent and the answer is no! One of my goals in life is to become fluent in Spanish and I am still in the process of working on it. Spanish has been a huge part of my life and I can't imagine ever giving it up. This past summer I had the opportunity to do something I’ve always wanted to do – study abroad! I chose to go to Granada, España primarily because 90% of my Spanish professors have been from Spain so I am more used to their vocabulary usage. Plus, who doesn’t want to spend a summer in gorgeous Europe? Although I only spent two months in Granada, my confidence in speaking improved and my vocabulary greatly expanded. This semester I will be volunteering as a tutor for ...

by Megan Creighton "Working at Leal Elementary School"   For my volunteer assignment in Spanish 232, I am working in a dual-language kindergarten class at Leal Elementary School, helping with daily tasks and instructions. The teacher I work under has just moved to the U.S. from a town just outside of Madrid, and has been welcoming and receptive to me volunteering in her classroom. In the class there are about 19 kids, about 11 of whom are native Spanish speakers, and 9 of whom are native English speakers, which I think makes for a very interesting dynamic. Although it is a dual-language classroom, instruction is supposed to be in Spanish 95% of the time. When I met the volunteer coordinator for orientation, she briefed me on expectations for volunteers at Leal, along with the school's philosophy, and corresponding policies. Leal hires many volunteers from the community, and all are expected to be role models for the children, which includes acting in a professio...

My background with Spanish and perspective on language learning by Megan Creighton   My name is Megan Creighton and I am senior in my last semester at the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana. I have been taking Spanish classes since second grade and have always felt that learning Spanish was fun and exciting. However, I didn’t come to really appreciate the importance of learning a foreign language until my junior year of high school. That year I had a Spanish teacher that changed my perspective on language learning as well as the value of of a good work ethic and perseverance. Unlike other Spanish classes where teachers would consistently revert to English for the ease of clarification, this teacher instituted a truly Spanish-only classroom. Because of her strict demeanor and classroom policies, I was terribly intimidated. Moreover, I was overwhelmingly confused during the first few weeks because I could not understand her quick-paced Cuban dialect. When kids like me con...

This is video of a "toxic tour" by  Little Village Environmental Justice Organization (LVEJO) in Chicago, Illinois. by Ann Abbott I received an e-mail from a student who wanted to register for "Spanish in the Community," but she hadn't taken the pre-requesite course, "Oral Spanish." Read her message below, and I think you will be struck by the same things that impacted me: This student can definitely skip the prerequisite course. Some of our students are truly engaged citizen-students, eager to bring that engagement into their college education. We need more courses for them. This student knows how to compose an intelligent, actionable e-mail message. This student has a lot to teach me and her classmates. " My name is X and I am a Senior in Urban and Regional Planning, I   was hoping to enroll in your SPAN 232 class. "I do however see that there is a SPAN 208 prerequisite.  Unfortunately, I have not taken Spanish at the U...

by Ann Abbott I received an e-mail about ThinkImpact 's upcoming event-- The Huddle   --where educators will work together in teams to come up with ways to increase/enhance  social entrepreneurship education with  experiential education. (The video above describes ThinkImpact's work.) That is precisely what I do. My course on "Spanish & Entrepreneurship" combines content about social entrepreneurship with service learning. It is a powerful combination, and I hope that a lot of great ideas and momentum come out of The Huddle. I asked  Brittany Koteles,  my former student and social entrepreneurship player extraordinaire--if she was going to the Huddle. She knew all about it, but it sounds like she won't make it. She did encourage me to attend  the AshokaU Exchange in February. I think I will start to put together an abstract now . I've always wanted to do a TED-style presentation. (I also really want to put together a Ted Ed video sometime s...

by Ann Abbott One of my amazing former students, April Nwatah, with a friend from her work in Limón, Honduras. Still learning and serving.

Mateo Arce con una amiga. by Ann Abbott Matthew Arce, or as I always called him, Mateo, was a student in my Business Spanish course. In that course, I usually have mostly students from Spanish who are interested in learning a bit about business mixed in with a handful of students from business who are interested in Spanish. Mateo was one of the handful from business. Mateo contacted me recently to tell me that he was applying for Northeastern Illinois University's Master of Science in Accounting . He was also applying for a tuition waiver scholarship for Latino, low income, or other underrepresented students that would cover the entire cost of the program. What a great opportunity! As usual, I asked Mateo to answer a few questions to help me write the strongest letter possible . Here are some highlights from his answers: "I took both Span 202 [Business Spanish] & 208 [Oral Spanish] during the Fall 2010 semester. I learned a great deal in both courses. Most n...

Good luck, Jacqui, on your applications to medical school! by Ann Abbott Many students who take Spanish community service learning classes are also interested in going on to medical school. I agree with them that being able to use Spanish in a clinical setting--not just a Spanish classroom--is a great asset when applying to medical school and beyond. I would suggest that all students who want to combine premed and Spanish study what Jacqui Kukulski has done. Study abroad. (Just be sure you truly immerse yourself in the language and culture. You need to make an effort to do this; it doesn't just happen.) Get actual work experience using your Spanish in a health-care setting. Jacqui did this as part of her "Spanish in the Community" community service learning work. She made the effort to find a place for herself at the Frances Nelson Health Clinic, even though they are not an official community partner.  Build your resume in a way that truly highlights your accom...

My Spanish and Social Entrepreneurship students wrote a take-home final exam: a cover letter for an actual job opening in a non-profit in Mexico. The course content was about creating economically sustainable nonprofits with linguisitically and culturally appropriate programming. The students did a great job matching the course concepts and work to the nature of a real nonprofit job ad. by Ann Abbott How do you test students in a Spanish community service learning class? That is a question that people often ask. I have already shared one test that I gave this semester. Final exam for SPAN 232 Spanish in the Community Here is the take-home test that I gave in my other course--a content-based course about social entrepreneurship that also incorporates CSL work: SPAN 332 Spanish and Social Entrepreneurship 1. Encuentra en Hacesfalta.org.mx un anuncio para un vacante que te interese de verdad . 2. Además de leer con cuidado el anuncio, e xplorala ...

What does "parent involvement" mean in your culture? by Ann Abbott Earlier this month I participated in the " Responding to Immigrants National Conference: Bridging Research and Practice to Meet the Needs of Immigrants in New Growth Communities ." My workshop was a "how-to" session on getting started with a community service learning (CSL) course. Mostly, however, I was interested in the sessions I attended. There is a lot of really great research being done about serving the needs of immigrants in education and human services. One session in particular provided very good examples of what "culture" looks like in education: "Immigrant Integration and Civic Engagement in a Chicago Suburb" by Melissa Abad and Julio Capales, Sociology, University of Illinois-Chicago. Here are just a few examples of missed opportunities for transcultural competence in schools. Officials felt that Latino parents were not involved in their children...

Brianna Anderson, "Spanish in the Community" student, serving tamales at the Refugee Center's fundraising dinner. What research questions could we ask about her time in the community, her Spanish and her learning? by Ann Abbott Out of the many positive things ACTFL does for our profession, one of the latest efforts involves establishing and supporting research priorities. As explained in "Moving Language Education Forward: ACTFL's Research Priorities Initiative" ( The Language Educator  April 2012), the project follows these steps: 1. Researchers conducted reviews of the literature in nine research priority categories. Those reviews will be published this summer. 2. Those research priorities were condensed to five areas: Foreign Language Teacher Preparation Model Programs: Documentation, Implementation, and Outcomes Profiles of High-Performing Foreign Language Teachers in K-12 Settings Language Use in the Community Mentoring K-16 Foreig...

Grace Larson  on a climbing trip in Southern Spain, in El Chorro.   by Ann Abbott Now that she has graduated from the University of Illinois, Grace Larson has job plans. They just don't involve an office. Or even a building. Grace is applying for jobs in wilderness therapy. She has taken her passion for climbing and outdoors adventures and combined that with her solid academic background, work experiences and proven ability to work with a diverse group of people. I know that Grace will excel in these jobs.  As she was preparing her applications, Grace asked me for a letter of recommendation. I always ask students to give me the information I need to write a good letter, and I'd like to share with you what Grace sent me . My hope is that Grace's words will show students how their behavior in the classroom (and in the community!) really counts.  Hey Ann! So, some basic info about myself that you might want to know: The course I took with you was...

Gabrielle Wooden, in Alicante with an amiguito. by Ann Abbott So many of my students just graduated this past weekend. Congratulations to all of them! It is a tough job market, and I know that many of them are struggling with tough decisions. Should I go to grad school? Should I go now or after working for a few years? How can I find a job that allows me to move out on my own? I really want to live abroad, but how can I find a job in another country? Gabrielle Wooden has made her decision and knows exactly what her plans are: Teach for America . Here are a few facts about Gabrielle: She had a  Global Studies  major and a  Spanish minor . She took "Spanish in the Community" with me and worked at Booker T. Washington Elementary School. She continued doing Spanish community service learning (CSL) work in my "Spanish and Social Entrepreneurship" course. She studied abroad in Alicante, Spain. She friended me on Facebook, so I am lucky to be able...

by Brianna Anderson Hola! Today I chose to include a picture of the library in Garden Hills.  The library in this school is fantastic—so much better than the one that I remember from my elementary years.  If memory serves me correctly, my library was about the same size as the one in Garden Hills, but the books were in terrible shape.  Reading is such an integral part of education that it only makes sense to keep a library in the best condition. But I really don’t want to focus this post on the library of Garden Hills and how I feel reading has helped my student progress academically.  I want to focus this post on what working in the community has done for me.  And that you just can’t really capture in a photo. I have had the opportunity to work with three different organizations during my time as a student in SPAN 232/332.  My main placement was SOAR, as I’m sure has been made clear at this point.  I have also volunteered several t...

by Susannah Koch I cannot believe that it is the end of my junior year and that this semester is over. Since coming back from Spain in December everything has flown by in a huge blur, and that includes this exciting spring semester. I have really enjoyed my experience in Spanish 232 and would like to dedicate this blog post to discussing how I have grown this semester, what I have learned, what I hope for the future and the summary that I gave to Alejandra about my time at Provena. This class has been a very unique experience amongst the other classes that I have taken at UIUC. I have always been drawn to activities and groups of a philanthropic nature and this class was no exception. Being able to combine my love of learning languages and my love of helping others has been the ideal experience and has allowed me to grow as both a student and person. Although my time in class and in the community were enjoyable, I was also forced outside of my comfort zone and made to realize...