A statewide initiative in service-learning and community-based instruction

Residential institutes for K-12 Spanish teachers were held in 2001 and 2002 on the main campus of The Ohio State university. The institutes focused on Latinos in Ohio and incorporated service-learning and community-based instruction as key principles. Participants surveyed resources in their home communities and developed thematic instructional units for use with their own students. Consciousness about Latino issues, service-learning, and community-based instruction was further raised through workshops presented by the institute participants at the annual meeting of the state foreign language association.