MLO 5: Cultural Internalization and Language Immersion
Students demonstrate that they have actively immersed themselves in authentic Hispanic cultural and linguistic environments and have internalized the language and cultural experience, from which they have developed personal understanding and new perspectives of Hispanic communities.
Students develop intercultural communication skills and strategies, and learn to adapt and respond in effective ways.
Pathway 1: Study Abroad: By participating in a study-abroad program in a Spanish-speaking country for one at least summer or one semester. Classes completed in the study-abroad experience may also be counted towards another MLO.
Pathway 2: Latino Heritage Community Project: By participating in and completing a community project in a local Latino community, in the target language.
Students develop intercultural communication skills and strategies, and learn to adapt and respond in effective ways.
Pathway 1: Study Abroad: By participating in a study-abroad program in a Spanish-speaking country for one at least summer or one semester. Classes completed in the study-abroad experience may also be counted towards another MLO.
Pathway 2: Latino Heritage Community Project: By participating in and completing a community project in a local Latino community, in the target language.
Reflective Narratives
MLO 5 details immersion in a Spanish-speaking context. While I had initially planned to study abroad in Mexico, I was unfortunately unable to do so due to course scheduling , which conflicted with the process of studying in Mexico. On the other hand, I integrated myself through a final community project for SPAN 301S: Service Learning in the Chicano / Latino Community class which I took in the Fall of 2022 with Dr. Fernández. In this course, all students had the opportunity to provide community service where we could develop our Spanish and English language skills. With this class focusing on the Latinx and Chicanx community, I took the opportunity to investigate a community that I love, Salinas, the city where I was born and raised. For my part, I had the opportunity to provide my service at the Boys and Girls Club of Monterey County, located in Salinas, CA. I decided to do my final project here because it is similar to the job that I want to have in the future, an elementary school teacher. During my time volunteering here, I was tasked with helping out and looking over the members in the activity floor. Here they were allowed to have fun, play with the pool table or foosball, draw or color, and play with board games. It was a nice experience because I had the opportunity to help several of these members improve themselves academically and help them to be a little bit more social with other club members, achieving the goal of becoming a social and academic butterfly. After doing several reflections about my time with this service project we had a final essay talking about our experience with service learning. For my final project, I decided to write my experience in the form of a letter to a future service learner. I personally liked this class because I learned more and had the opportunity to get involved in the Hispanic community.