Moving from Volunteerism to Social Justice
by Ann Abbott Spanish instructors always face a classroom with students of varying levels of Spanish proficiency. It's a difficult challenge, but one we are used to. In a Spanish community service learning (CSL) course, I have recently realized that we face a classroom of students with varying levels of politicization and social engagement. That's not necessarily a more difficult challenge, but it is one that I think fewer of us have thought about and how it our teaching should meet that challenge. I have posted before about class activities that can help students distinguish between volunteerism and engaged citizenship-- speaking at a School Board budget meeting and writing to our elected officials --, and Actividad 18-2 in Comunidades asks students to categorize various responses to social problems as charity, volunteerism or activism. Now that we're towards the end of the semester, you might consider trying this simple yet challenging activity with your CSL stu...