Drewids share love of language and culture with local schools

A new program at Drew is helping Drew University students, local high school teachers and their students work closely together to build a greater appreciation for Spanish language and culture.

Language in Motion began in 2000 at Juniata College to help local students understand the concepts of culture and language more fully.

This year, a grant from the trustees of the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations has allowed Drew to create its own branch of Language in Motion.

After participating in Language in Motion, each Drew fellow will receive a stipend of $500 and recognition at the CLA's awards ceremony.

Under Assistant Professor of Spanish Raul Rosales' direction, Jaime Lazcano ('09), Anastasia Brown ('11), Cynthia Corrochano ('10), Susana Pouso ('09), Philip Gregory ('09), Brenda Osorio ('11), Sulia Mason ('10), Zachary Maas ('12), Eden Williams ('11) and Francesca Caputo ('10) will serve as Drew fellows.

Each will give four presentations to local High School students on some aspect of Spanish language or culture that they find interesting.

According to Rosales, the topics were very broad, ranging from discussions on politics in Chile to legends in Mexico.

Rosales will help students with their presentations which the high school students and teachers will evaluate.

Williams, who recently returned from a Drew International Seminar in Argentina, is using her experiences abroad as the inspiration for her presentation. She incorporated details like Argentinean daily routines, traditional food, cultural differences and the experience of living with a host family into her first of four presentations to high school teacher Ilyan Nunez's sophomore Spanish 1 class at Newark Collegiate Academy. "I talked a lot about study abroad," she said.

Williams was excited by the students' enthusiasm. After her first presentation, several students spoke to her about it. "Some of them were like, I didn't know this before you came…They do like to participate and have fun." By participating in the program, Williams says she has learned things about presenting in front of a class. Although she said her first presentation went very well, next time she wants to "incorporate more theme-centered exercises and hands-on things."

Caputo, who is presenting to Aurora Hermo's Spanish 5 Class at Summit High School, is focusing her attention "to get students excited" about the interaction of American and Spanish languages and culture. As for a particular teaching method, "we're trying to do things [the students] are not used to," she said.

Rosales, an advocate of the program, thinks the program will help the Drew fellows learn about presenting in front of a class and educating the high school students. "They're not just student teaching, they're presenting," he explained. "This [program] has led me to re-evaluate how good it is to present."

Rosales hopes to expand the program in the future. According to Rosales, the program will be easier to continue after this year because the Drew fellows will establish contacts at high schools through their work. "We'd like for it to continue," he said.

He also cited reasons why the Language in Motion program is a good fit for Drew. "It coincides beautifully with Drew's renewed commitment to civic engagement," he said. He also said that the program also helps fellows who are enthusiastic about teaching lead up to Drew's MAT program. "[The fellows are] bridging that gap between k to 12 and colleges in general," he said.

Caputo hopes to participate eventually in the MAT program and begin teaching. "I definitely want to teach high school Spanish," she said. "It's a good and practical experience for me to be in the classroom."

Many students were interested in the program's effect on high school students. "If there are college students who are knowledgeable in their field it's really going to engage high school students," Sam Slosburg ('12) said. "To have someone who is not necessarily a teacher in the classroom… [Students] can maybe relate to them better."

"It seems like something for students who want to be future professors or teachers," Brooke Murray ('11) said. "It sounds like an excellent experience."

"It sounds like a great community outreach program," Grace Landaw ('11) agreed.

Rosales is confident that the program will make an impact. "It's little in scope," he said. "But it accomplishes so much."