Tonight, we went to Nuestra Casa, a nonprofit that provides ESL classes, citizenship, health and childcare services, for the local Latino community. We were all divided into different groups where the UP Spanish-speaking students were placed into the first two levels with the locals knowing very little English. As a Spanish minor, I helped teach in the level one class, not knowing it would require the most Spanish. I was very nervous because I am very shy about speaking Spanish and am scared about making mistakes. However, after introducing ourselves to the class, the Spanish-speaking students welcomed us with open arms. They complimented us on our Spanish, the very little we already said, our majors and they were very sweet. After walking through multiple activities like weather and sickness phrases, and different dialogues like job interviews, buying a house, and more, I was not as scared of making errors or feeling uncomfortable with my Spanish abilities. I truly felt their acceptance of us and their appreciation with being there to aid them. Seeing the students struggle with pronouncing words like happened, job and throat, made me realize what a privilege it is to speak English fluently and what an advantage it is. This experience showed me what life is like for these non-English-speaking students is like and how I can be an advocate for them. They were so brave and bold with their language risks that it demonstrated that I can do the same and share the same mentality. I left Nuestra Casa feeling the impact the place left on my life, my perspective and a desire to find a way to volunteer in an ESL class in Portland. With a smile on my face and my stomach hurting from the laughter of their jokes, helped create a safe, light hearted and warm environment not only for us, the teachers, but most importantly, the students. Although, this is not the end of the immersion, I can positively say this has been my favorite part.
-Asia Gates