Somos Vecinos
It’s a Monday evening. The air is warming as winter turns to spring in Seattle, and a roar of laughter can be heard from the corner of Jackson Street and 17th Ave South. There is a group of neighbors playing Pictionary, and guesses are being sounded off with cacophonous enthusiasm. Pictionary is just one of many games played on Monday evenings in CASA Latina as neighbors and community members gather to learn English and Spanish in a new and innovative language exchange program, Somos Vecinos, or We Are Neighbors.
Once a week neighbors gather to learn each others’ language. First, in separate classrooms English-speaking neighbors learn Spanish and Spanish speaking neighbors learn English. During the second hour they get together to try out their new language skills by communicating with each other, in both Spanish and English, about their family, their dreams and their interests. Through a variety of activities, students work in partners and groups to practice their new language with native speakers. Through this program, not only do students enjoy learning about each other’s cultures and personal experiences, they also gain the language skills necessary to navigate within their new communities.
The third session just had its graduation party in May 2009, where students shared foods from their own cultures, sang songs that they had learned in each others’ languages and taught each other popular dances. As students celebrated the last night of class, I watched a middle-aged, English-speaking student, learning salsa dance steps from one of the younger Latino students. I listened to a student explain the details of her job as a graphic designer to a Spanish speaking student who works in construction. We ate Oaxacan Mole, which a student spent the whole afternoon preparing for class. I watched children of the students from the English class playing with children from the students from the Spanish class. Before leaving, I heard their mothers exchange phone numbers so that the children could play together this summer at the neighborhood park. The English and Spanish exchanged were perhaps still a bit awkward, yet the desire to get to know each other far surpassed any language barrier.
To learn more, or to enroll, (the next series of classes starts July 6, and the one after that starts in September) contact Emily Gaggia at CASA Latina, 206 956 0779