Equipping Bilingual Social Work Students from the Inside Out: Cultural Sensitivity, Self-awareness, and Language

ABSTRACT

This article discusses the course design and strategies for a graduate-level Spanish social work practice course developed by faculty at a southern California MSW program. The primary focus of the course is to develop and improve clinical and professional vocabulary and, in the process, increase cultural knowledge and understanding. An overview of the curriculum design, along with a description of strategies, are presented. Elements of the model include (a) making the switch from English to Spanish; (b) understanding culture and assimilation; (c) language development-integration of Spanish clinical vocabulary; and (d) application, reflection, and evaluation.

KEYWORDS:

• social work education
• bilingual/bicultural practice
• pedagogy

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.