A group of students from the McAnulty College of Liberal Arts will get to be teachers for a day when they visit the YMCA-Duquesne to teach preschoolers the ways that Día de San Valentín—St. Valentine’s Day—is celebrated in several Spanish-speaking countries.
Dr. Lucia Osa-Melero
The 10 students enrolled in Dr. Lucia Osa-Melero’s Spanish Conversation and Composition Community-Engagement II class will teach the 11 3-to-5-year-olds using lesson plans they created based on research of the similarities and differences between how various Spanish-speaking cultures celebrate Valentine’s Day.
The students have been tasked with creating short, age-appropriate lesson plans that will keep young learners engaged with the subject matter, according to Osa-Melero, assistant professor of modern languages and literatures. They are encouraged to incorporate songs, dances, coloring activities, books, videos and other activities that captivate the children’s attention.
Osa-Melero has included this type of work in the community as part of the Niños y Niñas Bilingües y Biculturales program she began this past fall with students in her Spanish Conversation and Composition Community-Engagement I class. The program offers students the chance to learn Spanish culture through teaching it to young children.
Osa-Melero said she also sees the value it has for the children whom her students teach. “It gives children the chance to discover some of the richness of bilingualism and biculturalism,” said Osa-Melero. “Working with children and their parents to raise awareness about the benefits of bilingualism and biculturalism at a very early age is the best service my students can offer to our community.”
The Niños y Niñas Bilingües y Biculturales program received a Mead/SANS fellowship in 2016 and is featured on the SANS Inc. blog because the company deemed it one of the most impactful projects that they had funded in 2016.