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Mano en Mano, a program designed to provide general support to Hispanic migrant workers here in Maine, has recently taken teaching to a new level at the University of Maine.
The program now promotes service learning, according to Kathleen March, a Spanish professor involved with the organization.
Mano en Mano, meaning “hand in hand” in Spanish, is a “labor of love” for its founder, Candace Austin, according to March. The new project, in cooperation with Literacy Volunteers of America, is designed to help migrant workers who are illiterate in their native Spanish.
“Literacy benefits the community. If they’re not literate in their own language, that affects what they can do in English,” March said. “They’re stuck.”
Over the weekend of Sept. 11 a group of a dozen volunteers went through literacy training in a workshop run by Ruth Colvin, the founder of Literacy Volunteers.
March described Colvin as a very sharp lady with lots of experience teaching people to read and write in different countries. Her methods are then adapted to different languages. This is the first Literacy Volunteers program in the United States for a language other than English, according to March.
Those attending the workshop learned about different techniques and concepts, then got to practice their instruction. They learned how to determine a student’s level of literacy, different assignments to work with and methods to view and interact with your student.
“We had to think about what the adult learner is thinking,” March said.
Colvin’s methods are learner-centered.
“It’s not a top-down program,” March said. “It’s respectful of the learner.”
A volunteer may have his or her student bring in literature that they want to learn to read. He or she may create a book with his or her student, so that student can hold on to his or her own words, which they’re able to read.
Many of the volunteers haven’t found their students yet and may end up traveling to Milbridge. March’s answer to finding people in this area who could be helped by the program is to seek them out. She is in the process of setting up a deal with Wal-Mart where she and other volunteers could host a table inside to talk to people.
“A lot of people come up from the coast [on weekends] to shop,” she said.
March got involved with Mano en Mano because of her students. Shaunessy Saucier and Rebecca Brochu, current UMaine seniors, started working last fall with a family from Milbridge.
The Milbridge children were going to school, but they didn’t speak any English. There was no one to translate for them in the school system, according to Saucier.
She and Brochu made the trip once a week to Milbridge to talk to the kids and play games in a mixture of English and Spanish. It wasn’t the best situation for the children, but it was better than nothing, Saucier said. Their work led to the connection between March and Austin, when March went to visit last January.
March strongly advocates for more service learning at UMaine.
“Service learning gets students out in the community. They have an active part in their learning,” she said.
She calls it applied education, as opposed to listening to a lecture.
“I can’t see a more effective way for students here to improve their Spanish,” she said.
Bangor Daily News