Major Learning Outcome 5
MLO 5 Cultural Internalization and Language Immersion
Students demonstrate that they have actively immersed themselves in authentic Hispanic cultural and linguistic environments and have internalized the language and cultural experience, from which they have developed personal understanding and new perspectives of Hispanic communities.
Students demonstrate that they have actively immersed themselves in authentic Hispanic cultural and linguistic environments and have internalized the language and cultural experience, from which they have developed personal understanding and new perspectives of Hispanic communities.
I have met Major Learning Outcome 5 by taking an upper division service learning course. In this course it was required for one to do their service in a Spanish Speaking community. I did mine at the Dual Language Academy. The Dual Language Academy is a school where students spend half the day learning in Spanish and the other half in English. D.L.A.M.P also offered night classes to adults looking to learn English as a Second Language. Here I had the opportunity of being a tutor. Because a majority of the students spoke Spanish, it was crucial that I communicate with them in Spanish. During one activity the students had to practice their english by pronouncing CVC words. Then they were to use those words in a sentence. Once they formed their sentence, students had to identify the verb, noun and pronoun. During another class, we had a potluck. Each student brought a homemade dish. Their cooking reminded me of my moms. There were tacos, salsa, guacamole and fruit salad. After we finished eating, the students had the assignment of forming a sentence of what they ate and whether if they enjoyed it or not. Overall my community involvement was an unforgettable experience. The students were friendly and I learned plenty. The teacher who I did my service under was also very welcoming and kind to us.
Another time I met Major Learning Outcome 5 was when I did a community project. For this project we were to interview members from the local community and ask them questions about a topic of our choice. My topic was immigration. After interviewing, one had to use two narratives that spoke about the same topic, and make connections between the interviews and the narratives. The individual that I interviewed mother tongue was Spanish. For this reason, I did my interview in Spanish. It was interesting to see how the connections between the interviewee and the narratives had. In both I noticed that perseverance was a big value. In other words, although the manual labor one had to do as an immigrant in the United States, both interviewee and the characters from the narrative shared the same belief of working hard and overcoming obstacles. I also noticed that the interviewee, like the characters from the narratives, was a field worker. I was told by this person that the conditions in the field were harsh; long hours, not enough pay and discrimination from the supervisors. These were all connections that I noticed. Thanks to the Community project, I was able to make these connections Coming from a family of immigrants, I know how important it is to work hard in order to keep striving forward. For some reason many people in this country believe that all immigrants are lazy drug dealers, but in reality they are some of the hardest working individuals in the United States, who contribute significantly to society.
Another time I met Major Learning Outcome 5 was when I did a community project. For this project we were to interview members from the local community and ask them questions about a topic of our choice. My topic was immigration. After interviewing, one had to use two narratives that spoke about the same topic, and make connections between the interviews and the narratives. The individual that I interviewed mother tongue was Spanish. For this reason, I did my interview in Spanish. It was interesting to see how the connections between the interviewee and the narratives had. In both I noticed that perseverance was a big value. In other words, although the manual labor one had to do as an immigrant in the United States, both interviewee and the characters from the narrative shared the same belief of working hard and overcoming obstacles. I also noticed that the interviewee, like the characters from the narratives, was a field worker. I was told by this person that the conditions in the field were harsh; long hours, not enough pay and discrimination from the supervisors. These were all connections that I noticed. Thanks to the Community project, I was able to make these connections Coming from a family of immigrants, I know how important it is to work hard in order to keep striving forward. For some reason many people in this country believe that all immigrants are lazy drug dealers, but in reality they are some of the hardest working individuals in the United States, who contribute significantly to society.