Location: Berkeley, CA

Position:  Legal Aid Intern/Translator

Description: Conducted intake interviews with individuals seeking legal, social, and psychiatric assistance. Completed residency, DACA, asylum, and work permit applications to file with USCIS and immigration court. Translated complex legal documents, personal testimonies, and official reports from Spanish to English. Assisted with general office responsibilities, including but not limited to making copies, refiling legal documents, delivering urgent documents to San Francisco Immigration Court, and more.

Language Requirement: Spanish

Language Use: see above

Impact on Language Skills: My conversational Spanish improved, and my legal Spanish also improved.

Opportunity Found Through: found the opportunity yourself

Paid: No

Application Process: I submitted a resume and cover letter to the general email; after that, I corresponded briefly with the director and was offered a position.

Contact Information: Sierra Fang-Horvath '22 (sierra_fang-horvath@brown.edu) 

Location: Mercedes, TX

Position:  Shadow

Description: responsible for calling patients in and observing multiple routine assessments

Language Requirement: Spanish

Language Use: Every patient only spoke Spanish. In order to understand their symptoms/ the procedure I had to know Spanish.

Impact on Language Skills: I was able to understand what the patients felt and what was going to be done about it.

Opportunity Found Through: found this opportunity myself

Paid: No

Application Process: Had to speak with the doctor I was shadowing, get required vaccinations, and fill out HIPPA forms.

Contact Information: Alisha Guerrero '24

Location: Escondido, CA

Position:  Clerk

Description: Handle merchandise, interact with guests, handle money

Language Requirement: Spanish

Language Use: To interact with guests that only spoke that language 

Impact on Language Skills: It allowed me to translate to co-workers and take their orders

Opportunity Found Through: found it yourself

Paid: Yes

Application Process: Required to submit resume and go through an interview 

Location: Puerto Rico

Position: Volunteer

Description: Does involve fairly intensive physical labor, so if that's not your prerogative I'd recommend finding something else

Language Requirement: Spanish

Language Use: Talked to the owner of the house for a while

Impact on Language Skills: Learned a more colloquial dialect of the language

Opportunity Found Through: found the opportunity themselves

Paid: Yes; housing may be provided

Application Process: Not extensive, think it was pretty simple to apply to volunteer, even for a day 

Contact Information: Miguel Rivera-Young (miguel_rivera_young@brown.edu)

Location: Bemidji, Minnesota 

Position: Cross Cultural Health Intern

Language Requirement: Spanish

Opportunity Found Through: Handshake/BrownConnect

Paid: Yes (housing and cultural experiences also provided)

Application Process: Short essays, recommendations 

Contact Information: Maya Azrieli (maya_azrieli@brown.edu) 

Location: Ollantaytambo, Cusco, Peru

Position: Volunteer

Description: Awamaki is a nonprofit social enterprise dedicated to connecting Andean artisan weavers with global markets. We collaborate with women artisans to support their efforts towards educational and financial independence. I worked on their social media/communication team, so i was in charge of post stories on their instagram, making a blog post for their website, editing pictures for their website, attending photoshoots, and any other marketing needs the organization had.

Language Requirement: Depending on your role at the organization, a conversational level of Spanish was needed.

Language Use: Living in Peru, I had to use Spanish on a daily basis to communicate with people in the street, in stores, in restaurants, etc. I spoke english at the office. I was in an environment where I was forced to speak spanish because most people in the village I was in didn’t speak any English.

Paid: No

Application Process: The application is a google form that asks comprehensive questions about why you want to work at Awamaki, what area you want to work in, and any past experience you have. then there is an interview with the director of the program. Only materials necessary: Resume.

Contact Information: Salomé Noufele (salome_noufele@brown.edu) 

Location: Barcelona, Spain

Position: Student

Description: Would you like to learn Spanish at a Spanish language school located in the very centre of Barcelona, on a high quality efficient Spanish course, with fully qualified native teachers? Would you like your accommodation to be right in the centre of Barcelona, in the same location as the school? Would you also like to enjoy cultural activities with Spanish teachers every day, including the weekends? I had a wonderful experience at this language school. It was a really encouraging and welcoming environment and I learned a lot. Obviously, we had some homework and there were tests so that you could move on to the next level. But overall I found that the school really focused on your communication ability and cultural knowledge.

Paid: No

Contact Information: Alina Watson (alina_watson@brown.edu) 

Casa Alitas (contact info on website - https://www.ccs-soaz.org/agencies-ministries - see Aid to Migrant Families)

Kino Border Initiative (contact Joana Williams - jwilliams@kinoborderinitiative.org)

• Contact: spencer_sheppe@brown.edu 

SEAHEC (https://www.seahec.org)

Tucson Samaritans (http://www.tucsonsamaritans.org)

AZJFON (https://www.azjfon.org/)

Border Community Alliance (https://bordercommunityalliance.org/)

Location: Fuente el Saz de Jarama, Madrid, Spain

Position: Volunteer in the Intensive Program

Description: Assist in primate diet preparation, disinfection of primate facilitaties, and monitoring of primate behavior for ethological studies

Language Requirement: Elementary Spanish

Language Use: Spanish is used throughout the workday

Impact on Language Skills: Conversational skills improved immensely 

Paid: No

Application Process: Written Application

Contact Information: Sonam Shulman (sonam_shulman@brown.edu)

Location: Providence, RI 

Position: volunteer tutor 

Description: biweekly tutor for Spanish-speaking elementary schoolers in the Providence public school system (40-minute sessions)

Language Requirement: Spanish

Language Use: The students primarily spoke Spanish and were learning English reading/pronunciation, so although the learning materials were in English, explanations and other parts of the sessions were in Spanish. 

Impact on Language Skills: I was able to put them to use in a different situation than a college class and with native speakers. My speaking skills improved. 

Opportunity Found Through: HISP750B requirement

Paid: No

Application Process: background check & application form 

Contact Information: Catherine Healy '22 (catherine_healy@brown.edu) 

Location: Providence, RI

Position:  Medical Translator

Description: Conduct intake interviews and medical screenings for uninsured, underserved members of immigrant and Latino communities in the Providence and greater Rhode Island areas. Serve as primary Spanish-to-English medical translator between patients and providers. Commit 5+ hours per week to role during school year. Complete complex medical paperwork and documents in alignment with HIPAA privacy rules. 

Language Requirement: Spanish

Language Use: See Above

Impact on Language Skills: conversational Spanish improved

Opportunity Found Through: HISP750B requirement

Paid: No

Application Process: N/A 

Contact Information: Contact Information: Sierra Fang-Horvath '22 (sierra_fang-horvath@brown.edu) 

Location: Providence, RI

Position:  Medical Interpreter 

Description: I do interpreting, train other volunteers, and assist with COVID-19 responses (conducting screeners at the vaccination site, scheduling testing appointments, assisting with outreach, etc.).

Language Requirement: Spanish

Language Use: I use my language skills every single shift. 

Impact on Language Skills: It's great interacting with patients from all different Latin American countries because I get to learn new words. 

Opportunity Found Through: HISP750B requirement

Paid: No

Application Process: You email the volunteer coordinator with a completed application, complete a short mock interpreting interview, and can begin volunteering. 

Contact Information: Samantha Plezia '22 (samantha_plezia@brown.edu)

Location: Providence, RI

Position:  Spanish Translation and Interpretation Intern

Description: Conducted intakes over the phone with Spanish-speaking clients and interpreted during pro bono legal clinic meetings at Providence community center between attorneys and Spanish-speaking clients. Translated legal documents into Spanish, including retainer agreement and know-your-rights brochure for immigrant detainees at the Wyatt Detention Center.

Language Requirement: Spanish 

Language Use: Phone interpretation and translation of legal documents into Spanish 

Impact on Language Skills: Improved greatly 

Opportunity Found Through: Opportunity recommended to you by professor/advisor

Paid: No 

Application Process: HISP 0710E Introduction to Translation and Interpretation facilitated a translation internship matching program with Providence nonprofits 

Contact Information: 

Location: Duarte, California

Position:  New Patient Services Volunteer

Description: Transport/guide new and existing patients to appointments; speak to patients in both English and Spanish; translate small amounts of medical terminology; facilitate communication across campuses.

Language Requirement: Spanish

Language Use: I had to speak to many nervous new cancer patients in Spanish conversationally, as well as aid in translation while I was walking them around the hospitals. 

Impact on Language Skills: Most of my peers spoke Mandarin rather than Spanish, so it was comforting for those who only spoke Spanish to have someone who understood them. It also made the new patient process go more smoothly instead of needing to wait for a translator each time. 

Opportunity Found Through: found the opportunity themselves

Paid: No

Application Process: Resume and a small questionnaire (I also used a letter of recommendation)

Contact Information: Lauren Meraz '25 (lauren_meraz@brown.edu)