Among the many halls of Colorado Mesa University, are the themed communities that offer unique experiences to those willing to commit to and partake in that specified community. From the Maverick Innovation Center in Piñon for STEM-B students to the outdoor-oriented atmosphere of Jay Tolman Hall, there are numerous opportunities. One such themed community is La Casa or the Spanish House.
This community is located in Monument Hall where it was intended to be an entire wing of the hall. Until enough students apply to the hall, though, it has been reduced to two double rooms.
The aim of La Casa is to provide an immersive experience for students that really want to hone their skills in the realm of speaking and understanding.
There are several studies and advocates that say diving into a culture where that specific language is used can be the best way to fully learn and understand the desired language, especially when it is a second language.
This community is available to anyone that wants to increase their use and understanding of Spanish. It isn’t specially reserved to those partaking in Spanish majors or minors. So for those interested in building upon their high school teaching or those seeking a different culture from their own can participate in the hall and the activities that it offers in order to achieve a higher level of understanding.
It isn’t necessarily required to always speak in Español for every waking moment, but by enlisting to the community, it is expected that one will try to use Spanish before they resort to English. There are also several activities for the students to partake in in order to offer another outlet to speak in Spanish other than simply talking to the other Casa residents and their Spanish speaking RA.
Thomas Acker, a Spanish professor, and creator of La Casa runs some of these activities and organizes the programs for the community.
“The activities that we surveyed students on included Latino and Hispanic food nights (typical dishes from different countries); Hispanic art night—create something; Latino dance night (we are looking into collaborating with the Latin Student Alliance and the CMU music program on this activity), Hispanic movies,” Acker said. “We may also do outings with the outdoors club ’en español.’”
There are several ways that La Casa offers a unique way to learn Spanish at CMU. La Casa also hopes to work directly with the Latin Student Alliance in order to get a firsthand look into the culture that some have lived their entire lives, providing a true representative of the mini-culture that the hall is attempting to create in Monument.
La Casa is a community for those that would like to experience full immersion in a different culture, all the while gaining skills that could prove invaluable in the future.
