Archive for the ‘Latino Culture’ Category

Guest Blogger of the Month: Ann Becker

Thursday, September 2nd, 2010

Our guest blogger of the month is Ann Becker. Ann is currently tutored by Veronica, one of our Spanish teachers at Multilingual Chicago. As the organizer of experiential travel trips to Costa Rica, Ann is one of our most exciting students! She uses her Spanish in a variety of fascinating contexts as she leads her trips. If you’d be interested in learning more about her trips, be sure to check out her website and feel free to contact her at: abecker@abecker.com.

Ann with trip participants “Does your ideal vacation integrate culture, ecology and building new relationships? I know mine does! I’ve spent the past six years organizing experiential travel trips to Costa Rica and its neighboring countries. While each trip is unique – for instance, several have been for women only- they all include the common elements of visiting indigenous communities and hiking, biking and boating through some of the most biologically rich and diverse environments in the world. It’s been a true joy to experience Central America with these travelers and to share my home away from home with them.

Keel Billed Tucan Our itineraries allow us to learn about culture and history while appreciating the enormous diversity of mammals, birds and flora of the Central American cloud and rain forests. Some examples of past and future activities are:

  • A visit to San Gerardo de Dota, a magnificent cloud forest south of San Jose nestled in the Talamanca mountains. Bright flowers and plants flourish in this pristine valley and you might be lucky enough to spot a resplendent Quetzal, one of the area’s year-round resident birds.  Hear Mario Chacon (owner of the eco-lodge) talk about the history of San Gerardo de Dota area and his family’s leadership in cultivating responsible eco-tourism since 1954.  Later that day, we’ll plant a tree together to support local reforestation efforts.
  • A guided boat tour to Chira Island. Located in the Gulf of Nicoya, Chira is Costa Rica’s second largest island.  Meet with the four enterprising women who came together to develop island tourism in order to generate income and protect the island’s natural resources.  Visit the lodge they built together, the Albergue La Amistad. Visit the Women Artisans’ Association of Chira Island and mingle with the artists, learning about their efforts to build a viable arts cooperative.


Our trip participants often return again and again! No trip is the same and we find that it is the group that brings a true richness and diversity to the experience. If you are interested in indigenous art, enterprising economic development, organic farming, cooking with local ingredients, rain forests or any of the other topics I’ve touched on, please feel free to send me a note and I’ll tell you more about the upcoming tours. Perhaps you will find yourself agreeing with one of our past participants that, “these trips are a once-in-a-lifetime experience that shouldn’t be missed!”

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Posted in Guest Blogger, Latino Culture, Spanish | 1 Comment »

Spanish: everything to do with everything

Monday, November 16th, 2009

This weekend was our first Bilingual Boot Camp: an intense Saturday/Sunday introduction to Spanish for those who want a quick-hit learning experience.  We had four people in class, all of whom came to the session with different needs and goals.  In addition to covering the basics of Spanish grammar and throwing more vocabulary at the participants than most brains can absorb, they addressed culture as well.  Given our Logan Square/Avondale location, exposure to Latino culture is not something that has to be limited to inside the classroom.  The students walked around our strip of Milwaukee Avenue (2900 North), bought fresh, delicious pastries at the Mexican bakery, ate lunch at the Ecuadorian restaurant – and, of course, practiced their Spanish at the same time.  A great learning experience overall.

So in advance of the weekend, I posted the information on some Linkedin groups that I belong to, and I was surprised this morning to read the following comment on one of them, a healthcare group:

Jill–What do Spanish lessons have to do with health care? This posting is not related to health care nor networking nor business events.

You can imagine my surprise at the ignorance of this question.  I was motivated to respond as follows:

Spanish has everything to do with healthcare. According to the 2005 National Health Disparities Report, Latinos have poorer quality care and worse access to care compared with non-Latino whites for 88 percent of measured outcomes, and Latinos are 18% less likely to report difficulties or delays getting care. The language barrier plays an enormous role in this.

In a city like Chicago, with 26% of the population being of Latino background and precious few doctors/providers equipped with the linguistic and cultural knowledge necessary for quality care, Spanish training is one of many crucial steps. Bilingual Boot Camp provides general introductory Spanish, and while we offer healthcare-specific Spanish training too, even the basics can make the difference when it comes to creating trust with patients, their families and the community.

The Latino population is expected to triple by 2050, so healthcare organizations – like others – that recognize this and start preparing will be best poised to succeed.

What does Spanish have to do with healthcare?  It has everything to do with healthcare these days, and in many ways beyond the points I addressed.  And I’d argue that today, like it or not, Spanish has just about everything to do with everything.

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Posted in Cultural Competence, Language Acquisition, Latino Culture, Multilingual Chicago, Spanish | No Comments »