{"id":13295,"date":"2026-05-22T20:45:35","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T20:45:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/instruction.austincc.edu\/tledupdates\/?p=13295"},"modified":"2026-05-22T20:45:35","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T20:45:35","slug":"faculty-focus-building-community-through-spanish-storytelling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/instruction.austincc.edu\/tledupdates\/2026\/05\/22\/faculty-focus-building-community-through-spanish-storytelling\/","title":{"rendered":"Faculty Focus: Building Community Through Spanish Storytelling"},"content":{"rendered":"

Faculty Focus features highlight the innovative teaching practices, projects and accomplishments of faculty across Austin Community College (ACC). Through this initiative, faculty are invited to share experiences ranging from classroom strategies and service-learning projects to research, presentations and community collaborations. In this feature, Ramiro Juarez shares how he incorporates service-learning and experiential learning into his Spanish classes to help students build confidence, connect with their community and bring storytelling to life beyond the classroom.<\/span><\/p>\n

Interested in reading more highlights of what faculty are doing across the College? View all Faculty Focus blog features here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\"\"I\u2019ve been interested in combining elements of both service-learning and experiential learning for some time. For Language Learning, it really is the sweet spot for helping students capture their desired objectives. In class, we build those skills by participating in daily communicative activities that get my students practicing the language with each other. I like to establish that pattern so students loosen up and get used to communicating and participating in pair and group activities. That leads us into larger projects outside of the classroom as well. By the end of the semester, we prepare to complete our large end-of-semester projects. For Spanish I, it is a video diary project where they highlight a particular feature of their life or community. It can be their favorite coffee shop, their hobbies, or their family. We then watch the short films together in class at the end of the semester.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

In Spanish II, the students create their own children\u2019s book using the two different forms of the past in Spanish and tell a story around a natural phenomenon. I chose this framework because in this unit, we discuss pre-Hispanic indigenous communities and myth creation. Some students tell stories about earthquakes, lightning, tornadoes, etc. We then read the stories together in class and select the best stories to be read to a group of elementary-age students at a school nearby. Every year that I have done this project, I have had a mixed reaction from students at the beginning. Some are unsure, some are nervous, some are excited, etc. By the end, when we are walking out of the elementary, there has NEVER been a single person who was disappointed or unhappy. Every single time the students are walking out with big smiles, giddy and excited that they participated in the project.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"If you are thinking of the logistical nightmare for this type of endeavor, then yes, there is some time that is needed to plan it out and be sure it goes well. I had to email several principals until one agreed, and then communicate with the teacher to find the appropriate time, etc. Bringing juice boxes and Gold<\/span>fish crackers helped \u201cgrease\u201d the wheels! Still, I would argue that as educators, it is on us to reach out to the community around us for support and collaboration. When I think of my classes, I am so thankful for the people here at Austin Community College (ACC) that I have collaborated with, including the service-earning team, El Centro at Riverside Campus, the Honors Program, etc. Secondly, even in an online course, just because the course is online doesn\u2019t mean that it has to \u201cstay\u201d online. We should all strive to create<\/span>\u00a0assignments that give students the opportunity to explore their community and the world around them. In Spanish class, that may mean reading to children in Spanish, learning about greetings with their friends and family, or ordering food completely in Spanish as well. So I would urge you to think of activities that take your class outside of the classroom, especially if it means providing a service to our community, and secondly, look around at the faculty and staff at ACC that can support you, and your wild ideas\u2026 and go for it!<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

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Share Your Faculty Focus Story<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Have a teaching strategy, classroom project, collaboration, publication, presentation, or accomplishment you would like to share with colleagues across ACC? The Office of Academic Affairs Communications invites faculty to submit a Faculty Focus feature<\/a>!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Faculty Focus features highlight the innovative teaching practices, projects and accomplishments of faculty across Austin Community College (ACC). Through this initiative, faculty are invited to share experiences ranging from classroom strategies and service-learning projects to research, presentations and community collaborations. In this feature, Ramiro Juarez shares how he incorporates service-learning and experiential learning into his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":111,"featured_media":13301,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[193,182,146],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13295","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-faculty-focus","category-teaching-learning","category-written-by-faculty"],"acf":{"carousel_content":false},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/instruction.austincc.edu\/tledupdates\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/05\/FF-Ramiro-1.png?fit=1000%2C1000&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/instruction.austincc.edu\/tledupdates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13295","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/instruction.austincc.edu\/tledupdates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/instruction.austincc.edu\/tledupdates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/instruction.austincc.edu\/tledupdates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/111"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/instruction.austincc.edu\/tledupdates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13295"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/instruction.austincc.edu\/tledupdates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13295\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13310,"href":"https:\/\/instruction.austincc.edu\/tledupdates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13295\/revisions\/13310"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/instruction.austincc.edu\/tledupdates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13301"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/instruction.austincc.edu\/tledupdates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13295"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/instruction.austincc.edu\/tledupdates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13295"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/instruction.austincc.edu\/tledupdates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13295"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}