Listeners who tune in to Vermont Public Radio (VPR) this spring will be treated to the sound of UVM students in conversation with native Spanish speakers living in Vermont. “Hispanic Voices,” a service-learning project created by Adriana Sanchez-Gutierrez, Ph.D., lecturer of Spanish in the Department of Romance Languages and Cultures, gives intermediate-level students the opportunity to strengthen their Spanish-language skills while offering the community a way to become more inclusive.

The students each conducted three interviews at different times, using the first two to get acquainted with their interviewees. They then submitted the transcript of their third interviews to Sanchez-Gutierrez, who helped them with editing before sending them along to VPR.

Mikeal Van Mierlo, a first-year student majoring in environmental sciences, says his goals were to improve his conversational Spanish as well as his understanding of native speakers. He interviewed Thomas Macias, Ph.D., chair of the Department of Sociology at UVM and a third-generation Mexican-American. “I was initially nervous to interview a native speaker,” Van Mierlo says, “but after the first interview, I think my classmates and I found that our confidence increased, and we felt more comfortable.”

Olivia Ciocca, who is a sophomore, says she registered for Spanish 051 to fulfill a requirement for her major, psychological science. She also liked the idea that Professor Sanchez-Gutierrez was working with VPR to get a segment in Spanish on the air. Although Ciocca wasn’t confident in her Spanish-speaking abilities in the beginning, she thought this project would be a great way to learn. “Connecting with Spanish speakers in my community was going to force me to use my skills in a real-life context, rather than just learning about language and culture in a classroom,” she says.

To find interviewees, Sanchez-Gutierrez reached out to the Hispanic community first through the UVM system—the Office of International Education, the Latin American Student and Scholar Group, Latinx professors—and then through a Facebook group called Latinos in Vermont. All in all, 29 native speakers participated, and they come from a variety of countries and regions, including Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Peru, Puerto Rico, Spain, and Venezuela.

Sanchez-Gutierrez then matched students to interviewees by balancing the students’ proficiency level with an interviewee’s accent and country of origin. For example, a student with a lower level of proficiency was matched with someone from a region where people tend to speak more slowly, and vice versa. She also considered common cultural interests, such as matching a student whose father is from Peru with a Peruvian woman.

The students were responsible for creating a list of questions. According to Ciocca, where the interviewee was from influenced the content of the interview. “We made sure to ask questions about what it was like to be a Spanish speaker in Vermont and to learn about how they hold on to their culture,” she says. The family of her interviewee, Maria Del Sol Nava, is from Mexico. Ciocca says this helped inspire questions about what attracted Maria to Vermont and how the culture in Vermont differs from the culture in Mexico.

“Most of the students were really stressed at the beginning,” Sanchez-Gutierrez says, “thinking that their interviewees wouldn’t be able to understand them, but the interviewees understood that the students were learning.” She explained to the students that they could use expressions like ‘Please repeat’ in Spanish—‘Por favor repita’—and she assured them that they could edit the final interview. “I told them to not be afraid to make mistakes, because that’s the way to learn.”

“Dr. Sanchez-Gutierrez allowed us to make corrections when we turned in our assignments,” Ciocca says, “and that was really a relief.” Van Mierlo adds that after each interview, they would go back and listen to their recordings so they could make those corrections and learn from any mistakes. “That helped my speaking skills a lot,” he says. 

Ciocca felt confident enough by the second and third interviews to simply prepare a few questions ahead of time and think of the rest as the conversation progressed. Recording and transcribing her own interviews enabled her to truly listen and learn about her interviewee. “Most of the questions for the second and third interviews were inspired by what was learned in the first one,” she says. She adds that the project increased her confidence in speaking Spanish because she had to work through what her interviewee was saying and respond, even if it wasn’t perfect.

Sanchez-Gutierrez notes that the students were more engaged after the first interview. “All that interaction that you have in a normal conversation was there and was very natural,” she says. “It was not something you can get from a book.”

“I designed “Hispanic Voices” in the most simple way,” Sanchez-Gutierrez says. “And I can’t believe the impact it’s having already.” More radio stations have asked to broadcast “Hispanic Voices,” so it will soon air on public radio in Indiana, Miami, and Madrid, in addition to Vermont. It also will air on the Saint Michael’s College radio station, on “The Cuban Bridge,” a show hosted by Toni Basanta, one of the Hispanic Voices interviewees.

Sanchez-Gutierrez believes it’s important to open a space to show how diverse Vermont is, and “Hispanic Voices” marks an important step in that direction. Beyond achieving the basic goal of allowing students to improve their Spanish-speaking skills, the project also gives voice to a diverse but often unheard population—and that’s a win for everyone. Y eso es una victoria para todos.