Teaching Note: Vivan Los Jornaleros: A Cross-Cultural Bilingual Community Service Collaborative

Abstract

This teaching note describes a cross-cultural bilingual community service collaboration designed to prepare students to engage diversity and advance justice. BSW students enrolled in a multicultural social work class were paired with students enrolled in an advanced Spanish class to deliver breakfast to primarily Spanish immigrant day laborers at the labor pool location. This paper describes the advance collaboration, the course purpose, the assignment, student preparation, and student learning outcomes from this exercise. English-speaking social work students and Spanish majors developed a heightened awareness of social injustices related to immigration reform and poverty and increased self-awareness. They recognized personal and community misperceptions about immigrants from Mexico and South America. Selections of student responses from reaction papers, formal writing assignments, oral presentations, narratives, and video recordings are provided.