Spanish Sin Límites Program and Languages Studio Explore Visual Literacies With Latino/a Children

Grace Gonzalez Sanchez

Left to right: Michael Hall, Luis Fernando Restrepo, Raquel Castros Salas, Nayelis Colon, Grace Gonzalez Sanchez, Walker Elementary students, Jhonatan Carmona.

As the academic year draws to a close, the Sin Límites Biliteracy Program had its end-of-year celebration with a VR immersive experience brought by the World Languages and Digital Humanities Studio. This special event served as part of a celebration of the language maintenance efforts from its participants and as an opportunity to foster Hispanic students' interest in science and technology through the captivating world of VR.

Sin Limites Biliteracy Program, a Service-Learning initiative of the Latino Youth Biliteracy Project course (SPAN 4563), is a collaborative effort between the Spanish Program, Service-Learning students and Walker Elementary school. It aims to help Hispanic students develop reading and writing skills in their home language. This year, program site coordinator Grace Gonzalez and program directors Raquel Castro Salas and Luis Fernando Restrepo decided to culminate this year's journey through STEM topics by incorporating immersive technology to enhance their learning experience.

Under the guidance of the university's World Languages and Digital Humanities Studio interns Jhonathan Carmona, master's candidate in Spanish, and Michael Hall, a doctoral candidate in comparative literature and cultural studies, elementary students had the opportunity to be immersed in the life and music of the Dominican Republic and Xochimilco, México. The goal was to expose them to the endless possibilities of this technology while igniting their curiosity about the Spanish-speaking world, culture and language, as well as their interest in the STEM fields — science, technology, engineering and math.

At the event, Nayelys Colon and Nahomi Gonzalez were recognized for their leadership and mentoring role in the Sin Límites program throughout this academic year. In addition, each elementary student received a certificate and a book in Spanish to encourage the continuous development of their bilingual reading skills.

If you are interested, the Biliteracy Project Service-Learning course is open for enrollment; class code is SPAN 4563, and class time is 10:45-11:35 a.m. M-W-F. Prerequisites: SPAN 3003 and SPAN 3103 or SPAN 3123. Questions should be directed to professor Raquel Castro at rcastros@uark.edu.