02 February 2016

3rd quarter underway

THe thrid quarter is off to a great start.  Here is what we are currently working on:

Spanish 1:  We finished our unit on food by cooking a complete Hispanic meal.  Dishes students chose to make included such things as tostadas, chicken enchiladas, tropical fruit salad, cornbread, churros, and a variety of fruit drinks.  Everything turned out well and was delicious! After a couple of days working on our piñatas, we are now talking about going to the beach--probably not the most relevant topic while in the middle of a blizzard, but for some, it is leading to some wishful thinking.


Spanish 2:  We finished exploring Puerto Rico and decided that we would really like to visit there to check out some of the things we read/learned about--the bioluminesent  swimming/kayaking seemed to spark a lot of interest.  We are now talking about skiing in Portillo, Chile.  Yep, we have gone from warm and tropical to cold and snowy.  Students are currently working on a project dealing with positives and negatives.  Completed videos will be shared in the next post.

Spanish 3:  We had been talking about chores and household responsibilities.  From this topic, we compared our chores to those that might be different for someone living in an Hispanic country.  This lead us to the topic of water and how many people in certain areas of Latin America (and other areas of the world) do not have access to clean water without walking a long distance and the other problems this lack of access can bring about.  To gather some firsthand experience in what this daily water-gathering might be like, students did their own water-gatherng walk--carrying gallon jugs of water for 30 minutes.  It generated a very good discussion.  We have since gone on to talk about water access as a human right and what can happen when water sources are privatized.  We are currently watching the movie "Even the Rain" about  a situation in Bolivia dealing with water privatization.  We will next be talking about solutions to water access issues and creating public service announcements about the water crisis.  If I can convince them to try it, students may also be participating in their own 4-liter challenge--a challenge in which individuals agree to live for 24 hours on just 4 liters (about 1 gallon) of water.

Spanish 4:   We are continuing with our immigration unit. We have finished both reading "Enrique's Journey" and watching "Which Way Home".  We have listened to a wide variety of music that expresses very different attitudes towards immigration.  We have researched various myths surrounding immigration to learn if they were based on proven facts or based on fear and prejudice.  (Students were surprised by many of the things they learned.)  We are now discussing the American Dream and looking at how attitudes regarding immigration have changed through time.

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