When Brittany Koteles, senior in LAS, came back this fall after studying abroad in Bilbao, Spain, during the spring semester, she knew she had gained something valuable that she didn’t want to lose.

“After finally feeling that I achieved a level of fluency, I was afraid that I would lose it if I did not continue to employ it on a regular basis,” Koteles said.

Koteles decided to join a Spanish conversation club on campus, where she became the group leader of one of the advanced conversation groups.

Started in 2008, Mi Pueblo is a student-run organization where fluent Spanish speakers volunteer their time to lead one-hour conversations at different times and places around campus every week.

Lara Sanoica, a sophomore in LAS who presides as the coordinator (president) of Mi Pueblo, said Mi Pueblo was started after staff at the Spanish department and study abroad office expressed an interest in starting a club that would allow students to practice their Spanish oral skills.

“There are tons of people that want to practice it orally, and we basically only have one class that allows people to practice,” Sanoica said. “With language in general, you have to have a practical aspect to it.”

With Mi Pueblo, Sanoica said, people get to converse and learn Spanish in a safe and organized environment with others that share the similar interest in progressive language.

“It transcends the classroom experience,” Sanoica said.

Currently, Mi Pueblo has over 20 group facilitators that lead three different levels of conversation groups: novice, intermediate and advanced. Typically, groups range from three to eleven people, with facilitators often combining groups to avoid one-on-one sessions.

“I’ve done one-on-one before, and [it] can be kind of awkward … you have that first blind date type of deal,” Sanoica said.

While most of the group facilitators and members of the club are students that have studied abroad or are planning to study abroad, people join the club for various reasons.

From the desire to learn the mother tongue of their lovers and families abroad, to individuals wanting to learn their seventh language, to native Spanish speakers looking to improve their English in exchange for teaching Spanish, Sanoica and Koteles said Mi Pueblo attracts an eclectic group of people.

At the weekly group gatherings, the conversation varies accordingly to the group facilitator’s planned agenda.

“Some people want to become Spanish teaching majors, so they’ll come with a set agenda, and bring in a vocabulary list,” Sanoica said. “Some people bring in laptops and will show bits and aspects of Spanish culture they want to talk about.”

Others, Sanoica said, simply enjoy each other’s company over coffee and talk about a wide variety of topics, ranging from life to politics, or in some other cases, chat in Spanish while playing cards.

The most important thing, Sanoica said, is to provide the opportunity for people to practice their Spanish skills in a social setting.

Mary McCormack, a junior in LAS and previous coordinator of Mi Pueblo, said in an e-mail interview that since joining the club her freshman year, she has realized the value of practicing Spanish beyond class lectures.

“The more you practice a language outside of the classroom, the better you get, and the more comfortable you are when you go to a country where that language is spoken,” said McCormack, who is studying abroad in Ecuador.

Most recently, members of Mi Pueblo have branched out beyond the usual coffee shop meetings and started volunteering as a group at the Wesley Evening Food Pantry.

“They asked us for Spanish-speaking volunteers because they have Spanish-speaking families coming to the food pantry,” Sanoica said.

Sanoica said other groups have also opted for meeting outside coffee shops, choosing to attend lectures that are conducted in Spanish.

The next big goal for Mi Pueblo, Sanoica said, is to expand the conversation groups into the dining halls.

“It would help the dining hall’s business since students will have another reason to eat there,” Sanoica said. “Kids won’t even have to leave the dorms to practice Spanish.”

For now, Sanoica said she hopes the more flexible schedule implemented this fall will draw more participants.

To be able to communicate effectively in Spanish, Sanoica and other group facilitators said, is a valuable skill to have in life.

“Learning a language – any language – allows you to build relationships to an entirely new group of people,” Koteles said. “It’s about making connections and understanding a little bit more about life beyond yourself.”