Span 301 S: SL in Latino Community
Students enhance Spanish language communication skills via community service in local community agencies.
Course Reflective Narrative
Span 301S: Composition and Oral Practice Service Learning, is another course for the requirements of MLO 1, which focuses on languages proficiency. Through this course, students are expected to go out into the community and perform service work on a site where they will be required to use the target language. Students are to choose the organization of their choice as long as it meets the prerequisites for both, the university and the full requirements of the course. My service work was performed on the Salinas community during the fall of 2012. For a few months, I became part of The Citizenship Project. This is a non-profit organization established to prepare adult students for their citizenship exam. I serve as one of the trainers for these students, which allowed me to have a direct interaction with them and to work close to the Latino community of the area. The primary language of all the attendants was Spanish, which consequently facilitated me communicate with them in my target language. In addition to my service activities, I was expected to write a journal to keep track of my experiences and to formulate a reflection at the end of the semester. I also had to share my full experience with the rest my classmates through a formal presentation, were I was orally assessed by my instructor. Overall, my service learning experience was very insightful and allowed me gain a further understanding of the Latino community in Salinas. I absolutely enjoyed working with this community; everyone was very respectful and they appreciated the help that I provided them with. I will certainly consider working with this community in the near future and attending to some of their needs.