MLO 5: Cultural Praxis
- Pathway 1: By participating in a study-abroad program in a Spanish-speaking country for at least one semester. WLC's Spanish program has exchange agreements with the University of Aguas Calientes and the University of Queretero in Mexico, and the University of Córdoba in Spain. In addition, through CSU International Programs, you can study at universities in Madrid or Granada, Spain or in Santiago, Chile.
- Pathway 2: By living and working in a local heritage community over an extended period of time without interruption for at least two years.
- Pathway 3: By participating in and/or completing 10 of the following cultural learning scenarios with accompanying documentation, in the target language:
- Participate in service learning within a local heritage community for a minimum of eight weeks beyond the actual service learning requirement.
- Make a minimum of three home-visits in the local heritage community to interact and communicate with members of the Hispanic culture regarding topics of personal interest, the community, culture and language.
- Attend or view via media a minimum of 10 cultural events and /or social activities of Hispanic culture.
- Actively participate and/or perform in a school or heritage community event or celebration.
- Participate in a heritage-community project (of some duration) that requires proficiency in Spanish and knowledge of Hispanic cultures.
- Conducting a one hour in-depth interview with a speaker of Spanish, eliciting, in a conversational manner, comments of a biographical nature, cultural and social observations and anecdotal reflections.
- View and comment on 10 movie-length films produced within and about Hispanic culture.
- Participate at least five times in organized sports or recreation activities of Hispanic culture.
- Demonstrate cultural skills by making hotel reservations, ordering meals and shopping in stores or markets in heritage settings where Spanish is spoken. This objective is assessed by faculty.
Reflective Narrative:
To meet this MLO : Cultural Praxis, I have referred several stages of my life in which I've been exposed to the Mexican culture, and in some cases of other Latin American countries. Before coming to the United States, I lived in Mexico until the age of 10 years old. When I moved to the USA, I already had the knowledge of the spoken Spanish language. Once in high school, in the tenth grade, I took a Spanish class for Spanish speaker, I was able to realize that in spite of having been born in Mexico I did not know my mother tongue well enough to maintain a professional conversation. I focus on learning the basics of the language (in terms of grammar and composition) before entering the University.
As a consequence to situations in my life, I lived for almost four years in Tijuana Mexico from June 2008 to February 2012. During my stay in Tijuana I tried improving my language. I believed that Tijuana was a state where only spoke Spanish, however, even though is border state with the United States, the English language is also accepted. My goal has always been to become a university professor in the Spanish language, for which I know I have to work hard. The best way to learn Spanish variants is to surround myself with Spanish speaking people, because it will help me grow culturally as well. I will also be able to understand my origins. My best vehicle is able to communicate with perfection in my language and be able to transmit my knowledge to other generation to prevent my language to get lost throughout the years.
As a consequence to situations in my life, I lived for almost four years in Tijuana Mexico from June 2008 to February 2012. During my stay in Tijuana I tried improving my language. I believed that Tijuana was a state where only spoke Spanish, however, even though is border state with the United States, the English language is also accepted. My goal has always been to become a university professor in the Spanish language, for which I know I have to work hard. The best way to learn Spanish variants is to surround myself with Spanish speaking people, because it will help me grow culturally as well. I will also be able to understand my origins. My best vehicle is able to communicate with perfection in my language and be able to transmit my knowledge to other generation to prevent my language to get lost throughout the years.