How to Instill a Love of Learning in Students

"Everyone had their cameras on and showed up having read the texts. My fellow readers challenged my perspectives, and I gained a deeper understanding of the stories through their interpretations. Some people were native speakers. Others, me included, weren't. But whatever language limitations existed didn't prevent us from questioning the message of Borges's "Las Ruinas Circulares" or appreciating the beauty of Monica Ojeda's "Las Voladoras.""

"Our reading group was one of dozens organized by the Catherine Project, a grassroots learning community started by Zena Hitz, a tutor at St. John's College. Hitz's efforts to form small reading groups online during the pandemic has blossomed into a network of more than 260 reading groups, seminars and tutorials that serve more than 2,000 unique readers."

"Named after St. Catherine of Alexandria, the patron saint of philosophers, the project's mission is to build "communities where learners can find guidance, focus, and friendship in the pursuit of learning for its own sake." Last year participants engaged with writers such as Hannah Arendt, Aristotle, Rainer Maria Rilke and Robert Frost."

"As an English major, I was drawn to group discussions and to interpreting texts with others-the challenge of doing it all in Spanish was a bonus. I didn't ask my fellow readers why they signed up, but you don't commit to an eight-week reading group if you're not interested in friendship, focus and learning for its own sake."

A group of about twelve readers met on Zoom every Saturday lunchtime in March and April to discuss short stories by Latin American authors in Spanish. Participants included people from different backgrounds, with cameras on and having read the assigned texts. Native and non-native Spanish speakers questioned story messages and gained deeper understanding through differing interpretations. The group examined works such as Borges’s “Las Ruinas Circulares” and Monica Ojeda’s “Las Voladoras,” showing that language limitations did not stop meaningful analysis or appreciation. The meetings were part of a larger network organized by the Catherine Project, which grew from pandemic-era small reading groups into more than 260 groups serving over 2,000 unique readers, aiming to support learning for its own sake.

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