Overview

Spanish and Mexican Studies for Social Workers The Next Millennium: With a current fertility rate of about 2.6, the population of Mexico could double in just over 25 years. Demographic experts write that the population of Mexico, which was about 85 million in 1990, is estimated to increase to over 100 million by 2000 and to 136 million by 2020. (Statistical Abstracts of the World, 1994).

At the same time, Mexico is undergoing tremendous social, political, environmental, and economic change; these changes have a critical impact on all aspects of daily life in both Mexico and, less directly, the United States. Each generation in Mexico faces the reality of less water, less land, more people, fewer jobs, more environmental damage, and a deteriorating standard of living. The result is that a large majority of the Mexican population lives in conditions of abject poverty. As conditions worsen in Mexico in a variety of areas and for a variety of reasons, the United States becomes increasingly important as the safety valve for Mexican workers and other immigrants (documented or not) who seek to provide a better standard of living for their families. The total population of the United States in 1997 was estimated to include almost 5 million people who come from Mexico, or over 20% of the foreign-born population of the United States (1999 New York Times World Almanac).

Spanish for Nurses

Nurses from California can earn CEU's for Spanish language study at Cemanahuac.Ten hours of class is equivalent to one CEU. Each week of the intensive Spanish language program is equivalent to 25 contact hours.

Social Workers Need to Meet the Challenge

The Hispanic population increases by almost a million people each year, according to US Census Bureau projections, and they will become the largest minority population by the year 2010. Right now, about 18 million people in the United States speak Spanish at home, and sadly, many of these people and their families fall below poverty levels; they are in need of social services in many areas ...economic, educational, and health.The need for dedicated professional social workers who speak Spanish has never been greater in the US, and this need will grow in the next decade. Social workers who can bring to their daily work setting an understanding of the Hispanic culture and its strengths and problems will be far more effective in meeting the needs of their clients than those who have not had the opportunity to learn about the heritage of fundamental beliefs in which these Hispanic clients have been socialized.

Health-related language study

In a unique cooperative language and cultural studies in health program, Cemanahuac works closely with the Hospital del Niño Morelense (Morelos Children's Hospital) to offer a program which includes extensive study of medical terminology in Spanish, clinic observations and language practice, and cultural studies about prevailing concepts of health and medicine in Mexico. Cemanahuac students who are nurses, doctors, and medical therapists of all kinds (including students from each of these health-related areas) may spend mornings at the hospital, where the health professionals from the United States will be in clinics observing their Mexican counterparts and practicing the Spanish medical terms they have learned in their language classes. Afternoons will be spent at Cemanahuac, attending seminars on topics such as "Traditional Medicine in Mexico" and visiting other health delivery programs, including natural healers and rural health clinics.

 

¡VAMOS!

Cemanahuac works with a social service program called VAMOS!, and students have donated over 50,000 bottles of vitamins to this fine organization, which serves over 2,500 lunches for poor children per week. Dessert for the children is a vitamin pill. VAMOS! serves the poorest of the poor in the state of Morelos, and through them our students have come to a new understanding of the social reality of Mexico, which is poverty for over half of Mexicans.

Patty and Bill Coleman were US citizens who lived in Mexico for many years and who saw and experienced, first hand, the problems and/or issues that face all Mexican families. Together with others, in 1991 they initiated the programs that VAMOS! offers, in an attempt to alleviate these problems. Patty continues to carry out the work she and Bill started together.

VAMOS! is currently funding well over fifty separate projects, all of which provide income for Mexicans and dignity in their work.The Hispanic population in the United States increases by almost a million people each year, according to Census Bureau projections, and they will become the largest minority population by the year 2010.Currently, about 22 million people in the United States speak Spanish at home, and sadly, many of these people and their families fall below poverty levels. Those who work with clients or patients in a social work or health-related environment find it important to improve their Spanish language skills and their understanding of the Hispanic culture.

 

Program Planning for Social Workers

Each program is specific to the needs of that particular university or professional organization. Group leaders will work with Vivian Harvey, Educational Programs Coordinator, to design a program that meets each group's specific goals and objectives. Programs can be of any length, from one week to four weeks, depending on the amount of time the participants can be in Mexico. All programs should be planned in such a way that they offer sufficient material to be suitable for graduate or undergraduate academic credit or CEU credit.What all programs have in common is a focus on (1) understanding the history and culture of Mexico and its people, (2) desire to improve basic Spanish language skills of the participants and (3) inclusion of specific content for the professional social work participants.For professors who bring groups of students to Cuernavaca, Cemanahuac offers all professors classroom space, computer services (Macintosh), copying, video, email, and other educational services. References can be provided if requested.

 

 

Testimonials:

• "There is no substitute from hearing the problems of the poor from the people who experience these problems on a daily and almost hourly basis. Nothing else could have convinced me of the situation faced by Mexicans, and nothing else could have shown me the desperation that drives them to migrate to the United States. I see the problems of both the United States and Mexico in a totally new light now." ~ Social worker from California

• "At Cemanahuac, our students were able to study Spanish each morning. Each afternoon they used their new language skills to talk with Mexicans about their concerns. The school program of total immersion in the language added a new dimension to our educational program, one that opens the minds of our students to the reality of Mexican social issues and concerns that no other experience could have provided." ~ Social work professor from Florida

• "I earned such a lot from living with my family...about the real Mexico and the concerns of real Mexicans...not just what I have read in textbooks. It was a wonderful experience." ~ Social worker from Chicago
  
  
• "I loved being in Cuernavaca...big enough to offer different types of social service delivery services, but small enough to be able to get around easily and safely. I'm a great people watcher, so sitting in the Zocalo and seeing the passing parade was fascinating for me."School social worker from New York