Books in a classroom are often not enough as Latino community members have much to share with Spanish language students, said Carla Suhr, a Spanish linguistics professor and director of the Community Engagement Program. Spanish M165XP: “Taking It to Street: Spanish in Community” takes students out of the classroom, guiding them to apply language skills under real-life circumstances.
Taking a focused approach on learning from the community is especially important because there can often be a power imbalance in volunteer services, especially involving people with educational and institutional privileges, she added.
Even with the switch to virtual platforms, students have been able to continue service learning with various organizations, such as the Thai Community Development Center, Latino Coalition for a Healthy California and Front Lines Tutoring.
