Spanish Service Learning
Course description: The academic goal of this course is to
increase fluency in Spanish skills while fostering cultural
awareness of the complex social issues surrounding Latino
immigration and education. Through our partnerships with
Indianapolis Public Schools, you will spend two hours a week
working with Spanish-speaking students as tutors and mentors. This
service work is complemented by our weekly classroom meeting in
which you are encouraged to frame your community experience in
meaningful ways through discussions, selected readings, and
reflection journals, all of which provide the opportunity to refine
communicative abilities in Spanish while deepening engagement with
the coursework.
Combining the study of Spanish language with the pedagogy of
Service Learning, this course contributes to your education in the
liberal arts. Becoming proficient or even fluent in another
language and culture foments self-awareness and empathy, and helps
us to better define ourselves both as individuals and as members of
larger collectivities. Service learning encourages meaningful
engagement between the academic work of university scholars (both
professors and students) and the communities in which they live and
work. Such pedagogy speaks to the duty of the democratic university
and the mission of the liberal arts to produce active and morally
responsible citizens.