La Raza Graduation

I went to the Raza Graduation ceremony last night and was impacted by the amount of camaraderie that exists between Spanish speakers, despite the country or region of origin. As the director of El Centro put it, "Where else can graduates walk down the line to be greeted by mariachis?". Besides the music and ballet folklorico, there was also a rich amount of Spanish being spoken with pride, respect, and honor. I thought to myself, this would be a great event for both SHL and SSL students to attend. We have a unique university where it's not always necessary to send our students off campus to practice or be exposed to Spanish. There are plenty of events on campus that offer the opportunity. In addition, it's more than exposure to a language, it's all the other stuff that comes with the package of culture: family values, religion, education, politics, music, food, and dance. These were all tightly intertwined with the language spoken last night, and presented a plethora of topics that could be discussed in the classroom.