Mexican Consulate

"One forgets words as one forgets names. One's vocabulary needs constant fertilizing or it will die" 

- Evelyn Waugh

 

During the fall semester of my Junior year, I started volunteering weekly at the Mexican Consulate through VOLAR (Voluntarios Ahora en Raleigh), a club at NC State. At the Mexican Consulate, I was involved with a program called “Lectura en Familia” (Family Reading) which is part of the educational program, ¡Ser bilingüe is cool! (Being bilingual is cool). The program is provided by the Consulate and the Institute for Mexicans Abroad to promote the Spanish language amongst children who are US citizens, have Mexican parents, and do not want to speak Spanish anymore. It is also part of an effort to promote reading as a family activity.

At the Mexican Consulate, I read to and with young children whose parents were waiting to use the services provided by the consulate. I spoke in Spanish the whole time with them to encourage them to continue to use their home language. We read a variety of different books but most of them included some form of hispanic culture. I enjoyed volunteering with this organization and plan on continuing to do this. I learned a lot about Mexican culture especially relating to language and enjoyed serving my community in this way. 

I will be using this as an engagement experience under the Global Knowledge theme of the Passport to Success program.