Elon Spanish class and Newlin Elementary School students participate in academic service learning project
Sophomore Sophie Biggar sits at the Elon University soccer game with several amigos. Photo by Julia Murphy.
Most classes don’t meet on Saturday. But a mixture of Spanish, English and Spanglish floated around at 6 p.m. on Oct. 9 at the Boney Fountain outside Moseley at as the Amigos Club — an Elon Spanish class and a group of third through fifth graders and their families — gathered.
The Elon students gave the younger students from Newlin Elementary School a campus tour. After the 30-minute tour, the students gathered in La Casa de Español for snacks and drinks, which Spanish professor Ricardo Mendoza Castano put together.
Formed in the spring 2006, Amigos Club is a connection between a club leader and Spanish professor April Post’s conversational Spanish class and Spanish-speaking students and families at Newlin Elementary School. Through the club, students participate in an academic service learning project.
Newlin Elementary School has a Spanish population in the 40 percent range, according to Post. The club helps students twofold, helping Elon students practice their Spanish and the Newlin students become more comfortable with English.
There are 25 Elon students and 27 Newlin students involved in the club. Elon students are paired with a student from Newlin, called their amigo.
The club was a collaborative idea between Post and Glenda Crawford, an education professor. Post said Crawford wanted her students learning about critical issues in education to have an opportunity to work with diverse learners.
Post said she wanted students to put into practice what they learn in the classroom.
“It’s definitely effective,” she said. “It’s much different to speak to a native speaker than your classmate. It helps with students, build confidence, not being judged by their level of Spanish like they are in the classroom. They feel more comfortable.”
Sophomore Sophie Biggar, a student in Post’s class, said she believes these events help her learn Spanish.
“Speaking Spanish outside the classroom helps,” Biggar said. “Because in other classes we learn vocabulary, we learn the grammar, but we never actually speak it.”
Biggar said it becomes more practical, reinforcing everything she learns in class and helping her to remember.
Post said the Spanish-speaking students often lose their native language.
“(The club) validates their culture and encourages the amigos to continue speaking Spanish,” she said. “There are huge advantages of being bilingual. If they see our students wanting to be bilingual it will encourage them.”
The club offered a campus tour because the Newlin students were curious.
“They live just 10 minutes away but they’ve never been here,” Post said. “They were curious about where our students go to school, what their classes are like, how big their books are, what campus is like,” Post said.
Post said she wanted the tour to open up the Elon community to the outside community.
“We’re trying to build relationships so we do social events,” Post said. “Sometimes families have invited students to their home for quinceañeras or dinner. We just spend time together.”
By the semester’s end, the students will have spent 15 hours with their amigos, according to Post.
Post’s students also took their amigos to the zoo and the conservator center and joined their amigos’ classes for an hour last week, she said. Next week, the club will participate in a service project, planting plants and cleaning up, Post said.
“We always have a culmination dinner the night of the luminaries,” she said. “It’s a potluck.”
At the end of the class, Post’s students complete an ethnography project.
“They tell the story of their amigo through a digital photo story,” she said.
Post said she hopes participating in the club will keep students interested in Spanish.
“What I’ve found is that students are more motivated to continue studying Spanish,” she said.