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Show 4 The Daily Utah Chronicle, januaiy - Spanish for Chicanes accepted optimistical, ' . . this vallev are from 16 Century that thev (,. . dlat they deserve, fonnanceofthej w BY DAVE EHRET Chronicle Staff A long awaited experimental Spanish class for Chicano students has been started one quarter ahead of schedule. The class has been considered for some time now due to the sizable Chicano community in the Salt Lake area, and was finally given the "go ahead" in December (instead of following the predicted plans for commencement in March.) Mr. William Gonzales of the Department ,of Spanish, who is leaching the class this quarter, proudly reported the success of the new program. "We have a lesponsibility to these people," Mr. Gonzales insisted, "and we realize it." The purpose of the class was started last October by Dr. Ned J. Davidson of the Department De-partment of Spanish: As an "awareness of cultural background back-ground available through knowledge know-ledge of the Spanish language," and "to preserve the Spanish heritage heri-tage by recognizing the validity of the Spanish culture in America." Mr. Gonzales is converting this blue print into a successful cur-riculm. cur-riculm. Students Determine Success As with any attempt to facilitate facili-tate curriculum changes, the success suc-cess or failure of this class is greatly influenced by the participating partici-pating students. The enthusiasm shown toward the class and toward to-ward Mr. Gonzales by the Chicanes Chi-canes was fantastic. Since the class is available to students of Chicano descent only, they seem to feel a unity being created among them. They wish to expand the program to include classes on Chicano literature. "We have our own writers now," one girl said, "and we should become familiar with them." They praised Mr. Gonzales and Dr. Davidson for the new program. Basically Language The class, listed in the catalog as Spanish 104, is basically a language class. By offering one section of the fourth quarter Spanish to Chicano students only, Mr'. Gonzales maintains he can deal with their particular problems. prob-lems. "Some expressions used in this valley are from 16 Century Spanish," he reports. Though he is not trying to change basic communication com-munication patterns, Mr. Gonzales hopes to make his students aware of the archaic expressions in their speech. He is also stressing the importance of achieving an oral as well as written knowledge of standard stan-dard Spanish. Program Flexible Mr. Gonzales called his program a flexible one. In order to achieve his proposed goals, he finds himself him-self assuming the role of a history teacher as well as a language teacher. teac-her. "Though I am not a certified teacher of history," he admitted with a smile, "I am willing to give them the knowledge I have (in Spanish, of course)." The class usually starts with five to ten minutes of verb drills, and then the students set the course of action. Dr. Robert E. Helbling, chairman chair-man of the Department of Languages Lan-guages and Dr. Ned J. Davidson, professor of Spanish, are the coordinators co-ordinators and facilitators responsible respon-sible for the implementation of the program. Mr. Gonzales insists |