Mentoring/Reading sessions with DLI students

Virtual Reading/Mentoring Sessions in Spanish

During Fall 2020, BSU Latinx students in SP305 (Advanced Spanish Grammar for Heritage Speakers) and West View Elementary students in 2nd grade DLI program collaborated on  a 10-week virtual reading/mentoring session.

Under the guidance of three faculty mentors (Dr. Chin-Sook Pak, Modern Languages and Classics; Dr. Lynne Stallings, English; and Dr. Patricia Clark, Early Childhood, Youth and Family Studies), seventeen BSU heritage speakers of Spanish provided language and cultural support to children in DLI. They also served as Latinx role models. 

This community collaboration also exposed college heritage students of Spanish to meaningful teaching career possibilities as the community schools face a shortage of bilingual instructors.

BSU student (Isabelle Wright) presents herself to DLI 2nd graders

Sample lesson plan

A. BSU mentors and the 2nd graders in DLI created videos to get to know each other.

B. On Fridays, BSU mentors and the DLI students met via zoom for group greetings.

C. Zoom breakout sessions allowed BSU Latinx mentors and DLI students to meet individually and read together. For each session the partners shared:

1. Conversation in Spanish

2. Pre-reading discussion

3. Reading aloud of a fun story book in Spanish (often with a cultural content)

4. Post-reading discussion

5. A fun "tarea" (homework) to follow up on the subject

For example, in this book a Hispanic child discovers the rich cultural heritage of long Hispanic last names.

BSU mentor, María Sanchez Cisnero, introduces herself to children in DLI.