{"id":4347,"date":"2018-04-05T16:29:39","date_gmt":"2018-04-05T21:29:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/for-wisconsin\/?post_type=campus_story&p=4347"},"modified":"2018-04-05T16:29:39","modified_gmt":"2018-04-05T21:29:39","slug":"uw-la-crosse-language-resource-center-collaborating-with-gundersen-global-partners","status":"publish","type":"campus_story","link":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/story\/uw-la-crosse-language-resource-center-collaborating-with-gundersen-global-partners\/","title":{"rendered":"UW-La Crosse Language Resource Center collaborating with Gundersen Global Partners"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Photo<\/a>
The area of Nicaragua where Gundersen Global Partners sends volunteers. A collaboration with UW-La Crosse allows health providers volunteering to the Central American country to improve their Spanish skills by conversing on a one-on-one basis with an advanced, Spanish-speaking student at UWL who plans to work in the medical field.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The UW-La Crosse (UWL) Global Cultures and Languages Department<\/a> has teamed up with La Crosse’s\u00a0Gundersen Health System\u2019s Global Partners<\/a> to\u00a0provide language conversation sessions for those wanting to improve their Spanish before volunteering to Nicaragua.<\/p>\n

The partnership stretches back nearly two years when\u00a0Laurence Couturier, director of the UWL Language Resource Center, met with Liz Arnold, director of Global Partners, to discuss Gundersen\u00a0Health System\u2019s\u00a0interests\u00a0and needs\u00a0for languages\u00a0and culture.<\/p>\n

Arnold talked extensively about service trips to the Central American country where health providers volunteer every year. Based on the results of a survey completed by the providers, Arnold, Couturier and Megan Strom, UWL Spanish faculty member, decided to pilot a project using the existing Language Resource Center conversation partner program.<\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/a>
UWL senior Kaley Heiman, left, a pre-physician assistant and biology major with a Spanish minor who plans to graduate in May, works as a conversation partner with Gundersen Health System\u2019s Nurse Educator Stephanie Grove. The sessions offer an opportunity for health providers to improve their Spanish by conversing on a one-on-one basis with an advanced, Spanish-speaking student who plans to work in the medical field.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

UWL students\u00a0already staffed a conversation program\u00a0to practice languages with a peer every week.\u00a0Couturier saw the opportunity to\u00a0extend the program\u00a0to health providers.<\/p>\n

Beginning in February, the effort\u00a0morphed into a 10-week program,\u00a0with\u00a0conversations lasting 30 minutes.\u00a0The main goal of the sessions consists of offering a framework allowing health providers to improve their Spanish skills by conversing on a one-on-one basis with an advanced, Spanish-speaking student who plans to work in the medical field.<\/p>\n

Each session includes a review of\u00a0language foundations and\u00a0time for conversation geared toward specific simulations of\u00a0real-life\u00a0conversations between\u00a0patients\u00a0and\u00a0providers.\u00a0The language sessions are designed according to each health provider’s interests and medical specialization.\u00a0A registration fee allows UWL students to receive a stipend for their work.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe health providers and advanced students learn from each other\u00a0and share language and cultural experiences that are applicable in their professional life,\u201d notes Couturier.<\/p>\n

The UWL Department of Global Cultures and Languages offers education majors and minors and business concentrations in French<\/a>, German studies<\/a> and Spanish<\/a>. There is also a minor in\u00a0Chinese studies<\/a>, along with certificates in\u00a0French studies<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Russian studies<\/a>, and courses in\u00a0Arabic<\/a>,\u00a0Japanese<\/a> and\u00a0Hmong<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Gundersen Global Partners was created in 2008 to develop long-term, sustainable relationships and community-to-community partnerships beyond the health system\u2019s typical borders. Partnerships in South Dakota, Nicaragua, Ethiopia, and Hamilton<\/a> Elementary School in La Crosse work to improve the overall health of the region, education of the citizens and quality of life for people in those communities.<\/p>\n

The UWL Language Resource Center and Global Partners plan to continue the project next semester after evaluating it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The UW-La Crosse (UWL) Global Cultures and Languages Department has teamed up with La Crosse’s\u00a0Gundersen Health System\u2019s Global Partners to\u00a0provide language conversation sessions for those wanting to improve their Spanish before volunteering to Nicaragua. The partnership stretches back nearly two years when\u00a0Laurence Couturier, director of the UWL Language Resource Center, met with Liz Arnold, director […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":4349,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","institution":[104],"story_category":[],"class_list":["post-4347","campus_story","type-campus_story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","institution-uw-la-crosse"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/campus_story\/4347","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/campus_story"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/campus_story"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4347"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4349"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"institution","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/institution?post=4347"},{"taxonomy":"story_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/story_category?post=4347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}