“Spanish in the Community” Builds Cultural Bridges in College Park

This semester, 10 Terps tutored students in a program at Hollywood Elementary School now in its 8th year.

By Jessica Weiss ’05

Just two miles from the University of Maryland, Hollywood Elementary School is a lively, multilingual environment, where classrooms echo with the voices of young learners from diverse backgrounds, many of whom speak Spanish as their first language.

For UMD students in SPAN374: “Spanish in the Community,” this nearby school offers an opportunity to bridge the gap between campus life and a majority-Latino community. Over the past eight weeks, 10 Terps tutored students in pre-kindergarten through fifth grade while their parents studied English at the school on Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons through the “Aprendiendo Juntos/Learning Together” program. They led arts and craft activities, helped with students’ homework and read stories. 

“It had a huge impact on me to see the kids so engaged and excited and made me so much more aware of what’s happening outside my little bubble,” said senior Beverly Bolster ’25, a geospatial data science and sociology double major with a Spanish minor. “It really gave me a new perspective, and I loved going each week.” 

Junior Grace Hayden ’26, a double major in secondary education and Spanish, was inspired to add a secondary education major while volunteering at Hollywood Elementary School. She’s enrolled for another Spanish class in the community next semester. 

“It gave me the confidence I needed to know I can do it,” she said. “This was one of the best experiences I’ve had at UMD.” 

Ana Patricia Rodríguez, associate professor of Spanish in the School of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures (SLLC), created the program in 2016 and designed the accompanying UMD course as part of the Spanish for the Professions series, which provides students with cultural and linguistic skills for different professional contexts. “Spanish in the Community” equips students to understand, communicate and work with Spanish-speaking communities in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area, such as in education, social services or nonprofit organizations.

Rodríguez, who was born in El Salvador and grew up in California, has a distinguished career in community-engaged teaching and research, including in the region’s large Salvadoran and other Central American communities. She said the program exemplifies how UMD integrates classroom learning with meaningful engagement with local communities. 

“This is an opportunity for students to work in and with the community,” Rodriguez said. “They’re gaining cultural competence, as well as an understanding of what everyday life is like for some of our immigrant communities.”

In the first part of the class, students learn about the demographics, histories, cultures, communities and migrations of Latinos in the United States and the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area, through readings, documentaries and other class resources. They also learn teaching methods and approaches that are culturally relevant and anti-racist. After receiving clearance through Prince George’s County to enter the school and work with children, each student is required to design a learning activity for use in the class. 

Bolster, for instance, read the picture book “Plátanos Are Love,” about the ways plantains shape Latin American and Latino culture, community and family, told through a young girl’s experiences in the kitchen with her abuela. Then they colored and played a memory game based on words and images from the book.  

Carina Ferreira, community schools coordinator at Hollywood Elementary School, said the successful program highlights the transformative power of community partnerships in education.

“The children broadened their horizons—sharpening their academic skills and discovering diverse cultures, fostering curiosity, empathy and a global perspective,” she said. “These efforts are about more than language or academics.” 

UMD senior Delmy Morales Alvarez ’25, a double major in secondary education and Spanish, said it was especially heartening to see the children and their parents feel welcomed and comfortable—and able to speak in their own language if they wanted to. 

Alvarez, who emigrated from El Salvador when she was 16, was drawn to education from the desire to be a role model for immigrant children who often don’t see themselves and their family histories in their educators. 

“There were students in the program who just recently arrived in the United States,” she said. “It’s so important to know where people are coming from and have an open mind so you can be prepared to engage with them by being sensitive about their issues and trying to welcome them into the school community.”