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Intercambio: Language Exchange Program Offers Unique Service Learning Model

The program engages DePaul intermediate Spanish language students with Spanish-speaking ESL (English as a Second Language) students in order to exchange conversation in English and Spanish while learning about critical social issues.

​​​​DePaul senior Barbara Obregon is a mentor for Intercambio, a language exchange program formed through a partnership between the Steans Center, DePaul’s Department of Modern Languages and community-based organizations in Chicago. In its 9th year at DePaul, Intercambio is as much about improving language skills as it is a cultural exchange that exposes participants from DePaul and the community to the differences and commonalities in each other’s lives. Obregon and many others familiar with the program say that the program brings people from diverse backgrounds together in a unique fashion. “Intercambio is not only about language development – we see relationships forged in this program,” she says. “It feels like we are building a community.”

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The program, she adds, has been influenced by popular education theories developed by Brazilian educator Paulo Freire that stress collective learning and empowerment of community members. As they practice their language skills, participants critically reflect on important social justice issues occurring every day in Chicago and globally. The origins of Intercambio date back to a grant from the U.S. Department of Education’s Fund for the Improvement of PostSecondary Education (FIPSE) awarded to the Steans Center in 2001. The program entails DePaul’s Modern Languages Department offering an intermediate level, year-long sequence of Spanish classes with a service learning component. Students fulfill the university’s Junior Year Experiential Learning requirement which requires that students draw connections between course content and experiences off-campus. Obregon, who is majoring in accounting and finance, facilitates the program weekly at Refugee & Immigrant Community Services (RICS) in the Belmont-Cragin neighborhood on the city’s northwest side. RICS is part of Heartland Human Care Services, a subsidiary of Heartland Alliance.
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The Intercambio program also operates at Erie Neighborhood House, Centro Romero, and Universidad Popular, all organizations that serve predominantly Spanish-speaking Latino immigrants. At RICS, Obregon says, many community members are from Mexico, though there are participants from Colombia, Peru and other Central and South American countries. The ESL students may lack confidence in their grasp of English, Obregon says, but they typically have a greater grasp of the language than DePaul students do of Spanish. “Because relationships are formed,” she says, “you are able to get past preconceptions and prejudices, and have a dialogue.” Rebecca Martinez, former Academic and Community Development Coordinator at the Steans Center, supervised the Intercambio program. She says that Intercambio students have an opportunity to enhance their language skills while exploring complex social issues related to classism, racism, ableism and other forms of oppression. “We ease into issues,” Martinez says. “As soon as people feel comfortable about it, we talk about specific topics that affect our community and our world. We try to create a comfortable space – a space in which we can have a dialogue.” According to Martinez, the success of the program is reflected by more and more students choosing to participate in Intercambio for the full threecourse sequence. Ben Dronfield, Manager of Adult Education at RICS, calls the organization’s partnership with the Steans Center a “mutually beneficial relationship.” Dronfield states that the Intercambio program typically serves about six community residents per quarter at RICS and DePaul students team up with community members on a one-on-one basis. “The program provides our students with a rare opportunity – the chance to speak English conversationally in a learning environment,” he says. Like many people involved with the program, Dronfield stressed that Intercambio creates a supportive place for DePaul students and community members to learn. “Intercambio removes any sense that there is a downside to making mistakes in the classroom,” he notes. “In some situations, community members may be concerned about making mistakes in a class when learning a language – but that’s not the case in this program.” The same is true for DePaul students, says junior Kyra Cameron. She suggests that “what you can take from Intercambio is that a lot of times in the classroom you get really shy when speaking Spanish and caught up. You ask: Am I answering this correctly? In Intercambio, you loosen up a bit. If you make a mistake, it’s OK.” She says that her Spanish professor last spring, Bernardo Navia was very supportive of the program. Navia says that students in the program “really feel they have learned – not only by studying books, but by talking with people in real life.” Cameron participated in the Intercambio program as a service learner at RICS last year. Last fall, as a psychology major who minors in Spanish and community service, she also volunteered for the program. She further notes that “people in the community who participated in the program taught you something, whether it was a new word, something about their culture or even a recipe for guacamole. It was a great atmosphere for learning, and I became friends with many community members.” Erica Woodson, a senior majoring in international studies who participated at RICS last fall, says that initially she just “wanted to keep talking Spanish” after spending her junior year abroad in Argentina (and previously studying abroad in Puerto Rico). She claims that the Intercambio program reinforced the dynamic quality of Latino communities in Chicago. “People sometimes view the Latino community as being homogeneous,” she says, “but you really meet a range of people and hear different views through this program.” Woodson adds that “immersion is the best way for me to learn a language – and in an environment where everyone is learning. A program like this makes so much sense, and could work on a national level. In Intercambio, you are giving something and receiving something.” Dr. Jacqueline Lazú, one of the original faculty members involved in the FIPSE grant and who continues to teach courses linked to Intercambio, speaks of the transformation that is possible when students learn language in the classroom and in the community. She says that even in one quarter “I have seen a transformation among students in terms of their confidence level. They are acquiring a level of proficiency, but there is also more to it – students learn that language cannot be learned in a vacuum. It’s important to understand the norms of the culture.” Lazú says that language development is especially crucial as DePaul students – and community members served by the program – learn how to disagree with each other. “Early on, students don’t have tools to frame a counter-argument,” says Lazú, 

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who is also Director of the Community Service Studies Minor at the Steans Center and Associate Professor of Modern Languages. “They may disagree but they can’t communicate what they want to say. By engaging in conversation, students learn how to do that.” She adds that a textbook used for the class complemented the methodology used in Intercambio. The textbook employs exercises that include reference to social issues that can be discussed by students and community residents. The educational impact of Intercambio over the past decade is reflected in years of positive program evaluations and numerous stories relayed by Spanish language faculty and Steans Center mentors. Like all service learning courses, the program is also assessed quarterly through quantitative and qualitative evaluations attained from students, faculty and community partners. Until recently, less was known about the perspective of community members. In 2009, however, based on interviews with Intercambio community participants, Dr. Lucia d’Arlach (Mt. Sinai Hospital), Dr. Bernadette Sanchez (DePaul) and Rachel Feuer (DePaul) published “Voices of the Community: A Case for Reciprocity in Service Learning” in the Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning (Fall 2009). The authors note how community members reported “changing views of university students (i.e., from admiring them to seeing them as imperfect equals), changing views of themselves (i.e., from feeling helpless to finding a voice), as well as changing views of social issues (i.e., from impossible to solvable).” Findings such as those above continue to be a part of Intercambio’s success in the community. Recent participant Felix Delgado, who came to the United States from Mexico twelve years ago, works in the computer technology field for a company in Des Plaines, IL. He learned about Intercambio from a cousin who participates in the program. “My English has improved a lot,” says Delgado, who lives in the Belmont-Cragin community and has participated in the program for two years. “Students at DePaul are very good at helping us with pronunciation and new words.” Delgado adds that the program offers him the chance to learn language skills through conversations about a variety of subjects. “Every class is something different. We not only have casual conversations, but we also talk about things that are helpful to know or learn more about -- like discrimination, global warming or education, or problems in the community. We also learn about the culture of other people – what are their customs, what they do. I’m learning a lot, and it’s fun.” Elvia Zagal, who lives in the Portage Park community on Chicago’s North Side and works in a hotel in downtown Chicago, has also been involved in Intercambio for two years. She emphasizes that Intercambio is not just about what happens one night a week at RICS. “At the end of one quarter we continued to share our culture and learn about other cultures. We went to different restaurants in the city with DePaul students – including Mexican, Colombian and Chinese restaurants. We also talk on Facebook, and in emails,” says Zagal, who has two teenage children. “We are comfortable with each other – everybody knows everybody. I don’t have to speak perfect English, and they don’t have to speak perfect Spanish. She offers a concise view of how, and why, DePaul students and community members form a bond and benefit from this program – a view that many at DePaul have shared. “They ask us, and we ask them,” she says. “We learn together.”​

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