Taking the Classroom to the Community

Service-Learning course shows the people behind the literature on immigration

Friday, May 13, 2005

Note to Editors: Duke service-learning courses are providing an unusual way for students to link learning with community service. These courses attempt to enhance the educational goals of a class and to service the public good by providing a needed service. For example, psychology students studying adolescence deepened their understanding of the issue by working with children at the John Avery Boys and Girls Club. Students in Ellen McLarney's "Local Islams" course regularly met with area Muslims to better understand the diversity of Islamic life in the Triangle. Below are excerpts from journals kept by Duke students in Kathy Rudy's "The New Chicana" course. For more information about service learning, click here.

Durham, N.C. -- When Kathy Rudy first explored organizing a course on gender and immigration issues facing new Hispanic families in the Triangle, she knew something was missing. Good scholarship was available for the class, but the people behind the scholarship weren’t.

“For several years, I’ve seen the changing landscape of the Triangle, and I wanted to teach a course on why people were leaving Mexico and elsewhere and coming to the Triangle,” said Rudy, an associate professor of women’s studies. “As I put the course together, I realized it would be dishonest to have the students just doing the readings without knowing the people who were living right people in their own neighborhood.

“My first idea was to have students interview Hispanic immigrants, but that idea quickly evolved into a service-learning course.”

The Women’s Studies class “The New Chicana: Gender, Immigration and Labor Issues in the 21^st Century” is an example of how service-learning can deepen students’ understanding of an issue while also involving them in community service.

With the assistance of an English as a Second Language program in the community, Rudy matched students with Latino families. The families all had children who attended E.K.PoweElementary School. Students regularly visited their families during the semester and wrote about their experiences in an online journal.

The visits to the families were just as much of the learning experience for the students as was the classroom, Rudy said. The students’ observations informed their written critiques of the readings and their classroom discussions. The class ended with a picnic for the families sponsored by the students on East Campus.

“Many of the families had multiple needs, and the students’ impulses were to try to help them,” Rudy said. “But while community service is a component of this, we wanted them to focus also on the scholarship. The purpose was to connect what they experienced to the literature we read in class.

“And of course, we had a range of experiences. It generally depended on the family. Some students had a very difficult time contacting the families. But in the end, the students thought it was a very powerful experience.”

Below are excerpts from some of the students’ journals:

First Visit

I went with Paul to meet the family I will be working with. There are two kids in this family, Hector (6th grade) and Jonathan (kindergarten) and that the Mom’s name is Elizabeth. When I arrived on Saturday, there was also another woman, Anna, who I later found out is Elizabeth’s 25-year-old sister-in-law.

At first, I was incredibly intimidated. Paul, Elizabeth, and Anna conversed fluently in Spanish while I sat there wondering what was going on. Sometimes Paul would explain to me what he had just said or what one of the women had said. I sat there and tried to look friendly. It’s definitely an interesting experience to be on the other side of the language barrier. Though that feeling (of being an outsider and not understanding what was going on) only lasted for 15 minutes or so, I hope to keep that feeling with me as we continue to explore the immigrant experience in the U.S. …

Jennifer Hainsfurther

Problems at school

Before I left for Spring break I called Johanna's teacher to see if there were any things that I could do to help Johanna's learning process. Estefania (the mother) asked me to do this; it was not my own initiative. Johanna's teacher wants nothing to do with me -- she won't return my phone calls or anything -- and when I expressed that to Estefania she just looked hopelessly disappointed because if I, a native English speaker could not reach out to Mrs. Smith, then how could she? I felt as if I had let my family down. This was a lot to deal with on a return visit. Johanna is still very fond of me and I appreciate her joy for learning, however I fear as if she may not pass kindergarten because of her inability to speak simple English. In my home state of Texas this would not be a problem because the state legislatures understand that fluency in English is a gradual process. The sense I get from Estefania is that Johanna's teacher wants her daughter to become fluent over night, which is impossible, even for an impressionable mind like Johanna's.

Tamaron Houston

Explaining the bills

I helped them understand an electric bill and some school fliers. They didn’t really understand the whole, previous balance, amount due, etc. columns that Duke Energy has on their bill. They also had me explain the part about e-billing.

Berta also asked me to explain the instructions on a 7-day curling kit. It was amusing because I didn’t know quite how to explain the instructions to her. When I told her she couldn’t wash or mess with her hair for 48 hours, she made such a nasty face. But eventually we understood each other. So maybe next week, Berta's straight hair will have waves in it. …

Thinking about the past reading on women activists, I have to say I agree with most of the class. I don’t think this family wants to make any waves unless something was directly harming them or Luis. When they saw the flier for the PTA, and I explained what it was, they dismissed it as not being important. And although Eli may help out with field day at Luis' school, I don’t think they would just up and make noise or make their presence very known unless something big was affecting their lives.

Ricky Lee Acosta

Memories of Guatemala

Patricia and I went to visit the Lopez family on Saturday afternoon. The kids were all playing outside when we pulled up but quickly came in and sat around us on the floor. Lupita immediately pulled out a packet of math problems that she wanted Patricia to help her out with. While they worked on addition and subtraction, I asked Patricia to ask Jordan and Francisco to each draw a picture of Guatemala looks like. I was hoping to get them talking about the differences between the United States and Guatemala and what it was like to leave. I was a little surprised by how little the genuinely remembered -- Patricia is right, they are kids but I had been guessing that uprooting them so recently would have imprinted strong memories. The memories that they vaguely described were crossing a long bridge and someone feeding them cornflakes. I asked them to tell me about their friends from home and eventually Francisco said that they had one friend, but did not offer any additional information. It did not seem as though they were withholding anything about their experience but that they didn’t have much to say.

Elizabeth Peyton Hahn

Family picnic

Today was our class picnic. I was excited to bring my family. This was the first time that they had been on my "territory." I wanted to show them so much, and I wanted to tell them everything about everyone, but I knew that they were just happy to be hanging out. Johanna was so cute. She first clung to me as the only person she knew, but she soon came around laughing and participating in the games provided. …

This class has in a sense been like Gloria Anzuldua's book, Borderlands. Like the reading of her text, during the research learning portion of the course, I was a foreigner trying to peak inside the world of my family. Anzuldua's diction and use of Spanish would only allow me to understand so much at a time, and like Mexican immigrants who come to Durham, like Estefania, I'm almost certain that they feel this same way just on a grander scale. By only being able to understand a portion of a conversation, as was the case with my reading of Borderlands, one may feel left out or inadequate to continue the conversation along with those who are in the inner circle, and in Estefania's case those who speak English. Though our class was a little slow getting off the ground because of family placements, I would not have traded in any of my experiences because through my understanding of the Cortez's family's struggle I have realized that they too want their slice of the American pie, and their lack of knowing the English language should not hinder them from enjoying every last bite.

Tamaron Houston