Amid all the cheers, goals, high-fives and laughter from Duke students and local youths in Pascal Field House last week, you might think this was an ordinary soccer game. What it was, was an extraordinary Spanish class.
As part of a summer intensive Spanish language program, the Duke students connect with Spanish-speaking community members from El Centro Hispano and JLA (Young Leaders in Action). The soccer game has become an annual highlight of the program and program leader Liliana Paredes ensured the atmosphere was festive.
Paredes wanted everyone to introduce themselves before the game began.As everyone said their names, the Duke students chanted the names followed with a roaring “Hola!” Team draft occurred with cheers. Each team took a group photo with their local team members and clapped for just about everything.
As goalie Joseph Ajeigbe, a Duke sophomore, made a save, local teammate Juan Martinez responded with "That's my goalie!" Ajeigbe returned the encouragement, shouting to Martinez, “Nice defense Juan, we love it, we love it!”
Summer intensive Spanish courses have traditionally been held for advanced and intermediate level students, but for the past two years, Paredes has added an additional course for elementary-level speakers.
Maria Romero, a Spanish Lecturing Fellow, said these students can most use language immersion with local Spanish-speakers. It doesn't hurt that the immersion also provides the students with more opportunities to interact with the local community.
“[As an instructor] we get to have a closer relationship with students,” said Romero. “We have more conversations and it’s more engaging in the classroom.”
This summer the Spanish Program will host two elementary-level sessions for the first time. Each session runs for six weeks with five six-hour lesson periods per week; at the end of each week the students must participate in a community service activity.
Soccer is only part of it. This past Thursday, the students learned salsa dancing from an instructor in hopes of putting their moves to the test during the fiesta which followed Friday’s soccer game.
Other activities included students locating, researching and visiting Latino restaurants and businesses in Durham. They also visited Estampas de la raza/Prints for the People: The Romo Collection which chronicles the heritage, history and experience of contemporary Mexican American and Latino artists at the North Carolina Art Museum in Raleigh.
"The main goal of this is not only to play soccer but for Duke students to mingle with the locals," said Romero. "The local kids get to experience meeting college students, which probably is not easy in real-life situations."
Paredes said many of her summer students are athletes with few opportunities to study abroad. She hopes next year she can take the students to Mexico for one week.
"Our main goal is to have two-way interaction," Paredes said. "[For some] it will be their first step out of the Duke environment…we want to remove them from that bubble."
Following the soccer game the sweaty students and kids freshened up before heading over to the fiesta held at the Spanish Program building. People piled their plates high with crispy potatoes, refried beans, rice, salad, slaw, pupusas and rotisserie chicken courtesy of Mami Nora’s and El Cuscatleco Peruvian and Mexican restaurants.
Over the meal, the Duke students and local children talked about life, food, and their experiences.
"I hope to maintain some contact with the community," said sophomore Grant Hall. "We've met some really cool people and Liliana introduced us to some people who want to continue that relationship."
Paredes said two students in the program are organizing a soccer league in Durham with the help of Latino community member Jose David Reyes and his wife Lorena Sanchez.
At the fiesta's conclusion Spanish language teacher Rebecca Ewing received a birthday cake. The kids smashed her face into the chocolate icing as everyone cheered and sang the Birthday song in both English and Spanish.
The summer intensive program is sponsored by The Office of the Deans, Summer Session, and The Program in Latino/a Studies in the Global South.
Leah Montgomery is a student at NC Central University who is working as an intern this summer with the Duke Office of News and Communication.