Spanish Professor Inspires Students and Local Community

Students in Professor Evelyn Canabal-Torres’s SPAN206 perform outreach efforts to local elementary schools.

Students in Professor Evelyn Canabal-Torres’s SPAN206 perform outreach efforts to local elementary schools.

During the fall semester of 2012, Professor Evelyn Canabal-Torres integrated a unique academic requirement into her Spanish class’s syllabus.  Canabal required students of SPAN206, Review of Oral and Written Spanish for Native Speakers Educated in the United States, to complete ten hours of service learning over the course of the semester by attending back-to-school nights, parent-teacher conferences, or after school care programs at elementary schools throughout Montgomery County, Maryland.

Canabal hoped that her students, all of whom grew up speaking Spanish but never learned it in a formal setting, would “reconnect with their native language” and realize real-world applications of foreign language; however, her interactive teaching style had a more significant impact on both her students and the broader community.

Yecenia Morales, a junior at UMD with a major in Spanish Language and Literature and minor in Secondary Language Education, attended back-to-school night at University Park Elementary School. “The translator did not show up to the event, so I, along with a classmate, translated the entire assembly for the principal,” says Morales. “Later I went with a teacher to her classroom, and translated the entire back-to-school night to her students’ parents.”

When asked about how the experience affected her, Morales elaborated on a single experience with a parent, a Latino mother who was staring at her “in a negative way.”  Morales sensed that the parent was confused; however, when she offered to help, the mother responded rudely that she was fine. “She didn’t want to feel inferior in comparison to the other parents,” Morales explains. “Even though she was rude, I did not take it personally because I understood why she felt out of place.”

Although a more developed cultural understanding was not a part of the SPAN206 syllabus, students like Morales nonetheless gained invaluable experience through their interpersonal interactions with the local community.

Allan Guevara, a sophomore Graphic Design major, had a similar experience at back-to-school night at University Park Elementary School.  After interacting with Spanish-speaking parents and students, he admits that he was “exposed to the necessity for translators in the United States.”

According to Professor Canabal, the service learning experience is greatly “enriching” for UMD students as well as for the parents and students at the elementary schools.  “More than half of the students did more than the required hours, and I got calls from other schools asking if my students could go there,” Canabal recalls.  “It’s positive for everyone.”

In the future, Canabal intends to continue her outreach efforts to local elementary schools through her Spanish classes at UMD.  Undoubtedly, native Spanish-speaking Terps will continue to reap the benefits of their hands-on experience with the foreign language and its domestic implications.

“The parents, regardless of nationality, all seemed to feel at home,” Morales said. “You could feel all of the positive energy in the air.”

Stacia Odenwald ('16 French Language and Literature)
SLLC Public Relations and Media Intern
staciaeodenwald@gmail.com