Category Archives: El Salvador

Español, Psicología, y STEP

El español es mi lengua nativa – mis padres son originarios de El Salvador y me han hablado solamente en español toda mi vida. Recuerdo cuando recién empecé a aprender el inglés cuando mi hermana empezó a atender el kindergarten, ella llegaba a casa de la escuela y se ponía a practicar el idioma conmigo. Las dos nos poníamos a hablar Spanglish o si no nos poníamos a inventar palabras juntas. Una vez estábamos jugando de vampiros y teníamos cajitas de Gatorade sabor de ponche de frutas, las dos fingimos ser vampiros y lo que tomábamos de la cajita de jugo era sangre. “Mmm I really like this sangre!” decíamos mientras jugábamos. Las dos nos reíamos y nos encontró mi tío y se puso a reír con nosotras y nos dijo, “Sangre en inglés se dice blood!”

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Mentor opportunity with local non-profit

Be a short-term mentor for university students from Latin America!!

Every summer in July and every winter in January, a non-profit called ITD (Institute for Training and Development, Inc.) manages and runs a Study of the U.S. Institutes Program (SUSI), a prestigious program that is sponsored by the U.S. Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the U.S. State Department. The program entails five weeks of intensive academic study in U.S. Policymaking, Entrepreneurship, Economic Empowerment, Leadership, and Politics. The highly competitive scholarship is awarded to twenty undergraduate students each time, all young leaders from Mexico and Central and South American countries. In the summers, the students who come to ITD are from Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala; In the winters, they are from Chile, Uruguay, Argentina, and Brazil. The students live in Amherst for three and half of the five weeks of their program, and attend specialized lectures at Amherst College and at ITD. Continue reading →

My Path to Becoming a Spanish Major

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When I came to UMass Amherst as a freshman I was not originally a Spanish major, I was actually a Sociology major. Upon one or two courses as that major, I quickly realized I didn’t have a passion for it, and I found myself leaning towards becoming a Spanish major. Cut to me meeting Luis Marentes for the first time and talking to him about becoming a Spanish major. I was immediately asked the following questions: Why did I want to be a Spanish major? Why don’t I just use a language teaching app or program to learn Spanish? What did I ultimately want to get out of this major? I will admit that I didn’t know the answers to all of his questions but I just knew I wanted to continue (from high school) learning Spanish because of my lifelong passion for it. Continue reading →

Wait, Latin America Isn’t All the Same?

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Latin America is more diverse than many people think. During my travels throughout Central America, South American and the Caribbean, I’ve come to realize how greatly this is so. Latin America is not simply a part of the world marked by the Spanish language, a warm culture and the love of fútbol. It is much more, much grander… It much more unique than that.

Having had the opportunity to travel throughout the various locations mentioned above, I’ve gained a deeper understanding of what it means to be Latin American in these parts of the world and how Latin American cultural identity can differ. Although not an expert on Latin American history and culture, the experiences I’ve had while traveling throughout Spanish speaking countries have been quite impactful and insightful and have lead me to various conclusions regarding the uniqueness of the Latin American regions/countries.

Below I’ve highlighted some of the ways in which Central America, South America and the Caribbean are different and what I found to be particularly special about my time in each location. Continue reading →