The Spanish Language Internship Program aims to connect Spanish-speaking students with partnered community based organizations to provide unique service learning opportunities with the Latino community in Washtenaw County and Southwest Detroit area. Students commit to going to their site one day per week and volunteer 3 to 4 hours there at a time. By engaging themselves into their community service work, students gain insight into the culture, economic needs and a better understanding of the Spanish language. To compliment their learning, students attend and participate in Spanish discussion sessions to discuss their activities at their sites, share experiences, and have discussions based on readings related to Culture, Education, Immigration Reform, and other relevant issues impacting the Latino Population at large.

Students are required to keep Weekly Journal Logs in Spanish to reflect upon their experiences and weigh the significance of their observations. Journal entries are submitted via email once per week. They also are required to write a 4-5 page Midterm Research Paper in Spanish on a topic related to class discussions or of strong interest related to the Latino population at large. All topics must be pre-approved by the instructor. The proposal should do the following: (1) state the question to be explored; (2) identify one or more possible answers (i.e., hypotheses) and their relative merits; and (3) identify at least four sources used to frame and/or assess the hypotheses. At least one source should be a scholarly book, a scholarly article, and only one source can come from the resources available on Ctools. They must write a 4-5 page Final Reflection Paper written in Spanish due on the day of the last discussion session. The paper should reflect on their entire semester based on what they learned from interacting with the Latino community, their overall experiences of weekly field trips, and class discussions. The main purpose of the paper is not to summarize all of the events, but to note important facts or questions that were raised, and to reflect upon the significance of these observations.

Course Requirements:

Weekly field trip to site (4-5 hrs), attend discussion sections, assigned readings, weekly journal, and papers detailed in expanded description.

Intended Audience:

All interested undergraduates

Class Format:

Field study and discussion