Guía de Supervivencia
For this project, students were paired up to create a survival guide for the Spanish-speaking country of their choice. Each survival guide had to supply information about transportation, food, shopping, and accommodations. In addition, each pair got to choose one additional topic such as how to survive being arrested or theft and robbery to write about. The guide also had to include an introduction to speak generally about the country, a maps page, a table of contents, and a bibliography and had to be written in English and Spanish. Finally, each group chose a dialogue about one topic to extend and then had to perform it for the class and at exhibition. My partner and I chose to create a survival guide for the Spanish-speaking country Colombia and to perform a skit about theft and robbery.
This project taught me a lot about the country Colombia. I learned that the two major cities in Colombia are Cartagena and Bogota and that the country is very diverse in its landscape. You can find picturesque beaches on the coast and lush green mountains further inland. Colombia is most famous for its mining and exports of emeralds, but also produces surpluses of many other items such as pottery and hammocks. I was also unaware of the great variety of hotels available in Colombia; there are campsites, hostels, hotels, and resorts available to stay at. Overall, this was a very informative project and I learned a lot about a new country I hadn’t studied in depth before.
This project also helped me practice speaking Spanish, especially in front of other people. It improved my confidence with my pronunciation and is helping me move out of my Spanish-speaking “silent period”. Performing the skit was by far my favorite part of this project. It felt great to get up on the stage with confidence and perform a skit with enthusiasm that the audience loved. Finally, I loved being able to study a country in great depth while specifically focusing on important and unique areas of the culture. I also enjoyed this project because I got to work with a great partner and my survival guide looked very polished and I felt very confident with my work.
This project taught me a lot about the country Colombia. I learned that the two major cities in Colombia are Cartagena and Bogota and that the country is very diverse in its landscape. You can find picturesque beaches on the coast and lush green mountains further inland. Colombia is most famous for its mining and exports of emeralds, but also produces surpluses of many other items such as pottery and hammocks. I was also unaware of the great variety of hotels available in Colombia; there are campsites, hostels, hotels, and resorts available to stay at. Overall, this was a very informative project and I learned a lot about a new country I hadn’t studied in depth before.
This project also helped me practice speaking Spanish, especially in front of other people. It improved my confidence with my pronunciation and is helping me move out of my Spanish-speaking “silent period”. Performing the skit was by far my favorite part of this project. It felt great to get up on the stage with confidence and perform a skit with enthusiasm that the audience loved. Finally, I loved being able to study a country in great depth while specifically focusing on important and unique areas of the culture. I also enjoyed this project because I got to work with a great partner and my survival guide looked very polished and I felt very confident with my work.
El Periodismo
final_draft.pdf | |
File Size: | 1383 kb |
File Type: |
Reflection
For this project, students were put into groups of three or four and each group chose one Spanish-speaking country to write newspaper articles on. In each group, each person wrote one article, either on current events, sports, pop culture, or an interview. The articles would be compiled in a video broadcast or a physical newspaper. My group chose to make a Colombian newspaper and I wrote an article on pop culture, which was about the release of Shakira’s new album.
My favorite part of this project was being able to pick the topic I wanted to focus on. Being able to write about something that I personally connected to and was interested in helped me engage with the project. I also appreciated this project because it allowed me to practice using the preterite and imperfect tenses, which I had struggled with a little bit. I also like the idea of creating a newspaper, which will be distributed throughout the community.
This project was difficult for me because there weren’t a lot of resources for the specific topic that I chose. I had to find a lot of fluffy information to fill in around the edges to fulfill the word count requirement for the project. However, as soon as I knew what I wanted to say, the writing process went smoothly. The most difficult part of the writing process was determining whether to use the preterite or imperfect tense.
This project helped me realize the importance of attention to detail in Spanish. It also helped me begin to advocate for myself more during Spanish class. For example, when I got the revisions from Janae on my rough draft of my article, I had to ask her about some of the revisions because I didn’t know what I did wrong or how to fix it. Janae was very helpful and by advocating for myself I improved my grade and personally improved on my grasp of the habits of heart and mind.
After spending a month focusing on current events in Spanish-speaking countries, I realized that writing is a very important part of learning Spanish. After you learn a grammar concept or rule, it is important to use it in various settings of writing. For example, in this project I used the preterite and imperfect when I was writing about Shakira and when I was writing an advice column about friendship. These two different solidified my understanding of the preterite and imperfect. However, I still think that it’s important to read, speak, and listen in order to make progress on the language-learning journey.
My favorite part of this project was being able to pick the topic I wanted to focus on. Being able to write about something that I personally connected to and was interested in helped me engage with the project. I also appreciated this project because it allowed me to practice using the preterite and imperfect tenses, which I had struggled with a little bit. I also like the idea of creating a newspaper, which will be distributed throughout the community.
This project was difficult for me because there weren’t a lot of resources for the specific topic that I chose. I had to find a lot of fluffy information to fill in around the edges to fulfill the word count requirement for the project. However, as soon as I knew what I wanted to say, the writing process went smoothly. The most difficult part of the writing process was determining whether to use the preterite or imperfect tense.
This project helped me realize the importance of attention to detail in Spanish. It also helped me begin to advocate for myself more during Spanish class. For example, when I got the revisions from Janae on my rough draft of my article, I had to ask her about some of the revisions because I didn’t know what I did wrong or how to fix it. Janae was very helpful and by advocating for myself I improved my grade and personally improved on my grasp of the habits of heart and mind.
After spending a month focusing on current events in Spanish-speaking countries, I realized that writing is a very important part of learning Spanish. After you learn a grammar concept or rule, it is important to use it in various settings of writing. For example, in this project I used the preterite and imperfect when I was writing about Shakira and when I was writing an advice column about friendship. These two different solidified my understanding of the preterite and imperfect. However, I still think that it’s important to read, speak, and listen in order to make progress on the language-learning journey.
Día de los Muertos
For this project, we studied the Day of the Dead and brought this unique experience into our classroom. Each student chose one family member or friend to memorialize for this project. Every student wrote a two-paragraph summary of the person's life and created an art piece to represent the person's life. On November 1, the day of the Dead, we built an altar in class to remember our lost loved ones and experience the culture of the holiday. I did my project on my great aunt Gussie.
Mi EscrituraMi tía abuelo se llamaba Patricia Maria Gussie Lawton. La madre de Gussie era de España y el papa de Gussie era de Ireland. Gussie nació en Bellflower, California en 1929 y murió en La Habra, California en febrero de 2013. Tenía tres hermanos y una hermana. Fui a preparatoria a la preaportaría de St. Anthony. El esposo de Gussie se llamaba Philip Lawton. Philip era un agente del FBI y un abogado. Gussie y Philip tenían seis niños. Se llaman Pattie, Mark, Michael, Matt, Maria, y Lisa. Gussie no trabajaba, pero se gustaba arte. Después de Philip y Gussie se casaron, Gussie trabajaba en una iglesia y servía café.
Yo no recuerdo mucho de mi bisabuelo Gussie, pero mi abuela tiene muchas memorias de Gussie. Mi abuela, Joanna, tuvo un amistad fabuloso con Gussie y recuerde pasaban tiempo con Gussie en sus infancia. Pero, yo recuerdo pasando tiempo con Gussie a Día de Acción de Gracias en 2011. Escuché la risa de Gussie a varios cuartos desviarse. Ella era amigable, elegante, cómica, y inteligente. A ella gustaba viajar y tuvo gusto fabuloso. Ella era una anfitriona estupendo y muchas personas adoran Gussie. |
Project Reflection
The Day of the Dead is a holiday celebrated mainly in Mexico and is a combination of Aztec and Catholic cultures. During this three-day celebration, families memorialize the loved ones they have lost and invite them back to Earth. People create altars and place food, water, flowers, candles, and many other items on the altars to invite the souls back down to Earth. In class, we created our own altar. Everyone brought one item that represented the person they were memorializing. I didn’t feel the presence of the souls in the room, but it was touching to see all of the people remembering the people they have lost.
I am very proud of how my art piece turned out for this project. At first, I struggled to come up with an idea for my art piece. I didn’t know my Great Aunt Gussie that well, so I decided to make a paper mache sculpture for my art piece. As soon as I began painting my sculpture, I knew I wouldn’t be satisfied with the final product so I decided to make a Photoshop project. I put a lot of time, thought, and refinement into my Photoshop project and I am very proud of how it turned out. The most difficult part of the project was the writing. As I mentioned before, I didn’t know a lot about Gussie, and created my writing based off of one email from my Grandma. I struggled to find the content for my writing, but as soon as I knew what I wanted to say, the writing came more easily. If I could do this project again, I would work on gathering more information before I wrote my piece and adding more details to my visual.
I am very proud of how my art piece turned out for this project. At first, I struggled to come up with an idea for my art piece. I didn’t know my Great Aunt Gussie that well, so I decided to make a paper mache sculpture for my art piece. As soon as I began painting my sculpture, I knew I wouldn’t be satisfied with the final product so I decided to make a Photoshop project. I put a lot of time, thought, and refinement into my Photoshop project and I am very proud of how it turned out. The most difficult part of the project was the writing. As I mentioned before, I didn’t know a lot about Gussie, and created my writing based off of one email from my Grandma. I struggled to find the content for my writing, but as soon as I knew what I wanted to say, the writing came more easily. If I could do this project again, I would work on gathering more information before I wrote my piece and adding more details to my visual.