The Spanish English Exchange Program creates an opportunity for relationship and bridge building between Regis students and Spanish-speaking families in the community through language activities, tutoring, and other cultural experiences. This program runs every semester requiring a 2 hour commitment each week from students to spend time visiting and engaging with families.
For more information please contact Paul Burson at pburson@regis.edu or 303-458-4943.
Testimonies
Family Luevano Espino: Every time we have had the fortune of participating in this program our family has had beautiful experiences. We learn a lot from the students. This time especially the girls shared with us some of their goals, dreams and wishes. They opened the doors of their heart to us since they entered our home, now their home. Now we can say we have new members in our family, Thank you and God Bless you always.
Student Amy Johnston: My experience with the program has been great. The family that I have been placed into are wonderful people despite their current situations and disadvantages. Eva, mother, is so kind and generous and you can tell that they kids have picked up on some of her mannerisms, and I think it will help the quints in the long run. I'm learning a lot about how the kids respond to certain things and how they react in certain situations. The one hour talking in Spanish and the one hour tutoring in English, I think is very beneficial to both the quints and myself, as well as the others that come with me. Since I am wanting to teach and working towards a minor in ESL, this experience has been helping me tremendously. I am learning different techniques on how to help the kids when they have difficulty reading books that native English speaking children wouldn't have difficulty with. For example, pronunciation and syntax. Vowels and consonants sound different in Spanish than they do in English and that seems to be the problem in most situations. It is honestly hard to leave at the end of out time together because I believe I have a special bond with each of the individual five kids. It would be nice to be able to spend more time with the kids and Eva.
Student Angelia Shugarts: Every week the family breaks down another myth that is still very much permanent in our society’s way of thinking and acting. This is the challenge for me: After visiting with the family, I want to share my experience and stories with others who may possess negative thoughts about minority communities living at or below poverty level. The challenge lies not in communicating with the family itself but in communicating my positive experiences and insights with society. The problem lies in knowing that children like Angie, Christina, Carolina, Lupe, and Joseph may experience obstacles in their academic and professional lives because of the ways in which our education system functions, despite our national ideals that promote justice and equality. The program as a whole promotes a level of understanding incomparable to what may be learned in the classroom.