Spanish Immersion: Latino Stories of Democracy, Migration, and Culture in the Bay Area

SPANLANG 10SC

The objective of this course is for you to develop communication, writing, and listening skills in Spanish through interaction with and understanding of the Latino community living in Redwood City, California. We will approach our goal through conversations, authentic readings, special guest presentations, field trips, films, and documentaries. Through these varied interactions, you will learn and understand how Latinos live, what their workday is like, and how aspects of their ancestral traditions and cultural heritage play an important part in their daily lives. At the end of the course, you will craft an article based on an interview with a member of the Latino community as part of the final project that will see the articles published by the newspaper Peninsula 360 Press, a community publication in Redwood City.

Immersion

SoCo immersion classes seek to integrate speaking Spanish into your everyday lives. You room with a classmate and speak Spanish together. The class will eat lunch and other meals together and explore the bay area, all in Spanish. As one student told us "I found myself dreaming in Spanish by the end."

Prerequisites

First year of college Spanish (i.e., will complete SPANLANG 2A or SPANLANG 3 by end of the year) or the equivalent (for instance, test scores that would fulfill the language requirement would be considered equivalent).

Meet the Instructor(s)

Citlalli Del Carpio

Advanced Lecturer, Stanford Language Center

My name is Citlalli Del Carpio and I have taught Spanish language at Stanford since 2005, and I specialize in Mexican culture. Since 2016, I have designed and taught a Spanish Cardinal Course in which I focus on stereotypes in Latino soap operas, poetry as part of social movements in Latino culture, and how Spanish-speaking immigrants transfer their culture in the world. I have also taught at UC Santa Cruz, San José State University, and Arizona State University, where I earned an MA in Spanish language and culture. I was the Spanish editor at Yahoo.com for four years, and have published articles on Latino film and culture in La Opinión and other Spanish language newspapers in the U.S. I am an active member of The American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL), and a board member of The Foreign Language Association of Northern California (FLANC).