BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – For Illinois Wesleyan University sophomore Danny Burke, the end of the semester will mean more than taking tests and heading home—he’ll have to say goodbye to Jorge, the third-grader he has mentored this spring as part of his coursework for Spanish 240: Spanish for Social Justice.
The course, offered for the first time this spring, is part of an effort by the Hispanic Studies department to “strengthen course offerings at the 200-level, as well as involvement in the community,” said Professor of Hispanic Studies Carolyn Nadeau. The 10 students in the class spend three hours each week using their Spanish language skills to serve the community in a variety of field projects.
Burke mentors for the Grade-school Achievement Program (GAP) at Bent Elementary School and helps at the Immigration Project at the Western Avenue Community Center. Other projects include State Farm’s PALS program (high-school tutoring) and working with families of pre-school children at Heartland Head Start.
Spanish 240 is comparable to the established 230 course, Medical Spanish and Cultural Competency for Healthcare, in which students learn the vocabulary to speak about medical issues and then apply their skills as volunteers in a local clinic. Instead of healthcare, the new course focuses on five other social justice issues: immigration, housing, education, employment and citizenship.
“This course is unique in that it offers students both theory in the classroom and practice in the community,” Nadeau said. “We are also serving as a model of possibilities for classroom collaboration with with IWU’s Action Resource Center.”