Nuestra Comunidad: Service-Learning and Communities in Albuquerque, New Mexico

Scholarly attention directed toward service-learning components in academic curricula reveals the impact of service both in terms of its value to teaching and learning and, in addition, in its function as an avenue for further research. Service-learning, in and of itself, presents a timely, intriguing, and immanently worthy challenge to the academic profession. Furthermore, as the variety of studies, journal articles, and academic discussions - including the recent AATSP Service-learning Summit in West Chester, Pennsylvania - demonstrate, there are as many possibilities for service-learning as there are institutions of learning, higher or otherwise. One of the more significant questions related to this developing trend pertains to contextualization. After defining the concept of service-learning in terms of tasks, sites, course objectives, and outcomes, the success or failure of a service-learning project then rests upon how well the environment and needs of the student community mesh with the service component and vice-versa. However, this contextualization must expand to include the instructor's own particular circumstances as well. In this paper, consequently, I would like to offer an example of how a Spanish teacher might integrate literature, language, and real-life context(s) in order to promote civic awareness and engagement in a Spanish language/Hispanic culture classroom. [author]