Bringing Service Learning into the WL Classroom

A few years back, I wanted to find a way for my students to actively participate in making the world a better place.  I found Yuda Bands and Pulsera Projects, both service learning projects designed for schools/ classrooms/ clubs.

The unit:  Future plans and choices

Essential Questions:  What factors determine my future?  How does where I am born affect my choices for the future?  How can I create change for my future and the future of others?


Students: Spanish 3: intermediate low to mid proficiency goal


At the beginning of the unit, we watch the documentary “Living on One Dollar” which follows 2 students from the U.S. who try to live in rural Guatemala on $1/day for 2 months.  The movie is in English, but is very powerful.  Using this as our background information, we then learn how to talk about the cycle poverty and its effects, one being young children having to drop out of school to go to work or to care for their younger siblings.  Through the unit we read the book Esperanza by Carol Gaab, through which we discussed themes like repression during the Civil War in Guatemala and reasons for immigrating to the United States.


**When I did this unit I did not have ICC can dos**  Here are my thoughts on what they would be:


INVESTIGATE 

In my own and other cultures I can compare practices related to everyday life and personal interests or studies.  (Examples, adding lard to food to get enough calories; purifying water before drinking it; leaving school to help family; community as family). We mainly discussed how often we take our education for granted and often feel burdened by it, rather than seeing it as a gift and an opportunity for a better future.


INTERACT 

I can interact at a survival level in some familiar everyday contexts. I can interact at a functional level in some familiar contexts.   (I need help here- we did prepare questions for our Yuda Band student in Spanish (see below), but quickly began to rely on me as the student spoke very fast and we had limited time with him).



My first experience was with Yuda bands.  https://www.yudabands.org/  



With Yuda bands, you and the class look through portfolios of students from Guatemala and Zimbabwe.  The students need sponsors to help them finish their education so that they don't have to leave school to help their families survive. After reading about the students in Guatemala and Zimbabwe, my classes chose which student they wanted to help complete their education. 


The focus of the program is on breaking the cycle of poverty.  In addition to helping the students with their education, they also receive training for future jobs and ways to help their community break the cycle of poverty. The program also creates jobs for local craftsmen. The bracelets are made of local materials- coconut shells and leather.   The highlight was a Skype call with the sponsored student.   Having him thank the students directly and answer all of their questions made my students so motivated to work hard to sell.


Here is a write up of our experience:

https://www.yudabands.org/mandy-gillin-conrad-schools-of-science/


After doing Yuda Bands twice, I felt like I needed to try something new. I found the Pulsera Project:  https://www.pulseraproject.org/


The Pulsera Project is really great for Spanish teachers.  They provide a lot of materials and even have them sorted by proficiency level.  (Videos, clips, articles, etc. on environmental issues, social justice, biographies of artists, etc.)  This program does not focus on students, but on providing fair trade jobs in Nicaragua and Guatemala along with housing, healthcare and educational scholarships for the workers.


Overall, I felt like the opportunity Yuda bands provides to select an individual who the students get to meet and interact with was an amazing experience for my students.  However, as a Spanish teacher, it is tough to turn down the amazing teaching materials that Pulsera project provides.  Both received rave reviews from my students and the school in general.


More ideas/ resources for service learning in your classroom:

https://kidworldcitizen.org/service-learning-projects-for-classes/


https://americanenglish.state.gov/resources/teachers-corner-service-learning-language-classroom

Comments

  1. ConcordiaAMLAFebruary 8, 2021 at 5:33 PM

    Very cool ideas and what a great write-up of your project!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Myths, Legends and Fairy Tales in the WL Classroom

Image
S tudents explore the elements of myths, legends & fairy tales from their own culture & those in the target culture through exposure to stories from across cultures, reflecting, & comparing stories they have heard, read, & viewed. Levels: Novice-Intermediate                                                                                              Languages: Spanish, German ICC Can Do Statements: Investigate: In my culture and others I can identify common elements of traditional stories. Interact: I can communicate with others from the target culture in familiar everyday situations, using memorized language and showing basic cultural awareness. Overview of Lesson: Students are shown pictures...
Read more

Citizenship and Cultural Identity

Image
Go, Sebastien, Go This lesson is developed around the short video “Go, Sebastien, Go” and has at its core the goal of helping students reflect about their cultural identity while at the same time considering the diverse cultures of the U.S. and how we define citizenship. The video also contains many other relevant topics that we touch on as time allows, including racism and cyberbullying. Students in this example are novice low, but the lesson would be appropriate for any level of Spanish. Since the video is in English, the lesson can be used in a variety of courses, especially if the focus is on U.S. diversity, identity and citizenship. This lesson comes at the end of a unit I teach in which the cultural focus is Hispanics in the United States. Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC) and Intercultural Citizenship are goals of this course, so the lesson is intentionally designed to help students reflect on their own culture as they challenge pre-conceived ideas (especially about...
Read more

Rites of Passage in the WL Classroom

Image
Students explore their own rites of passage and those in the target culture through exposure to one rite of passage in the target culture and reflection and comparison of rites of passage they will go through or have already gone through. Image 1      Image 2 Level: Novice Languages: Spanish, German ICC Can-Do Statements: Investigate : In my culture and others I can identify common rites of passage. Interact : I can appropriately greet/congratulate at a rite of passage event from target culture. Overview of Lesson Rites of Passage Slides Students are shown pictures and vocabulary of different rites of passage that are common in their culture. As we go through these slides with pictures and target language. Students are asked if they have been to these events or if they have been through any of these rites of passage. Students are asked how they congratulate/what they would say in L1 for those events. You can see an example of these slides here. The rites of passage we c...
Read more