Kate Graham-McHugh, a DePaul University secondary education major, does not have to incur the expense of traveling to a far off country to be completely immersed in Spanish as part of her language study at DePaul. Instead, the 19-year-old sophomore is honing her Spanish language skills with the same language engagement right here in Chicago through DePaul’s Bringing it Home program. Bringing it Home puts students in the unique position of working in an environment where Spanish is the only language spoken while they simultaneously study Spanish in the classroom and serve the community.

“This is an excellent opportunity to learn a foreign language because the best way to learn a new language is by constantly using it,” said Graham-McHugh, who volunteers at El Centro de Cultura y Education where she teaches English as a second language as part of her community-based service learning Spanish 104 class. “I will come away from this experience with a greater understanding of Chicago’s Latino community, not just a greater understanding of the Spanish language.”

Bringing it Home, which was launched this fall, is offered though DePaul’s Irwin W. Steans Center for Community-based Service Learning. Fueled by the U.S. Department of Education’s Fund for the Improvement of Post Secondary Education (FIPSE) initiative, it is designed to incorporate the intensity of a foreign studies program with the concept of service learning.

After spending a year volunteering in a community organization where Spanish is the primary language spoken while at the same time taking a three-course Spanish language sequence, students will spend the summer living with a Chicago family where Spanish is the dominate language spoken in the home. As the program matures, it will also offer students the opportunity to participate in a short –term study abroad program in Nogales, Mexico and El Salvador.

The result is that students get the same type of rich and rigorous language immersion experience that they would receive from spending a semester abroad learning the language. The program’s novel design also serves to expose students to the concept of community service, teach them about Spanish culture and engage the community by incorporating service with education—one of the major aims of community-based service learning at DePaul.

“Most intermediate students go to class two or three times a week and then they take a language lab,” explained Edgar Ramirez, Bringing it Home Project Coordinator. “Our intermediate students have a regular course load plus 25 hours per quarter of community service in a Spanish speaking environment—a living language lab within the community.”

The Bringing it Home program uses Chicago as its extended classroom with a creative mix of education and service that makes a strong impact on students and the community. “I am able to meet not only bilingual people but also bicultural people, which is very eye-opening,” said Kinsley Fahrner, an 18-year-old freshman communications major who teaches Spanish as a second language at Centro Romero, though the Bringing it Home program. “By volunteering in a Spanish speaking organization while studying Spanish in school I can apply my skill to real-life situations, and that makes for a valuable experience for both the agency and the student.”