At the end of the day, it is about what meaningful work students can DO with the language.
I have tried to select a varied representation of work. I tend to keep creating new projects and therefore have many to choose from.
Poems for a Cause
This collaboration with the poet laureate of Worcester, Juan Matos, produced an anthology peppered with student art that raised more than $1,000 for COVID relief. He shared his love of the langauge and poetry with the class, then we wrote our own to create this work.
Desafios: Podcast
In this recent project, students we asked to investigate a social or ecological challenge that the country which they have chosen to study over the entire year, is confronting. They then created a podcast to highlight what they had learned. There was a significant opportunity for extra credit if they included an interview with someone actually associated with the issue. Hear Nora speak to a young Spaniard about the youth unemployment situation.
Magic Treehouse
In Spanish 3 we slowly and collectively read a translation of a Magic Treehouse, a series that many students already know. Before we read the final chapter, we broke up into groups and imagined our own endings, trying to use the language and tropes of the original. They even re-created the hand-drawn illustrations.
Senior Capstone Project
For seniors who are not taking an AP exam, I allow them to essentially design their own final project. There are some minimums and check -ins along the way. But my experience is that the best projects come from student’s genuine interest. The variety and quality have been impressive. Here Naima adapts and reimagines a short story that caught her attention.
Alta mar
We often follow a series on Netflix throughout the year. Students enjoyed this period piece with plenty of twists and turns to discuss. Students were tasked with writing and producing their own scene in groups. It was also a competition in which all of the other Spanish students voted. This was the winner.
Peers as Audience
My experience is that students really respond to being given a real audience for their work (beyond just the teacher). Instead of using some canned program, I tasked more advanced students to come up with lessons in Latino History to teach less proficient students during Latino History Month. They wrote and produced simplified bios of famous Latinos and then provided the scaffolding necessary including vocabulary lists and comprehension questions.
The Seal of Biliteracy
I have worked with my students to earn the Global Seal of Biliteracy over the last 5 years. To date over 100 of them have earned the distinction of Functional Fluency and a smaller group has received Working Fluency.
Discovering Our Latino History
It started out as an innocent question: What is the Latino history of Worcester Academy? Frankly, it began with a bias that we would not find very much. But as we searched through old rosters and yearbooks, we came to realize that WA had a rich history of students from the Spanish-speaking world. We turned our work into a short documentary and evening program for the community. Perhaps the most exciting part was interviewing alums from many eras and hearing their stories. Below is just a short trailer, the entire playlist of interviews and history can be seen here.
Situaciones: Measuring proficiency Spanish II
I have not done traditional final exams (fill in the blank etc) for many years. Here is an example of part of a proficiency based final assessment for a Spanish II class. In this class we had also done many performance tasks such as performing job interviews, organizing a celebration of arts and food, and working with a local agency to design a health related announcement.
Feria de trabajo
In this Spanish II unit we worked on the theme of work and professions. As a culmination, students created fictitious resumes and attended a “job fair,” where other students interviewed and evaluated them for their suitability and professionalism. Some came dressed in formal interview clothing.
Fictional resume
Some Friendly Competition
Students love to compete, and I love to harness that energy towards useful and fun work. On many occasions I have created video competition projects that are judged by students in other Spanish classes and often from friends from around the world. In this first video competition project, we saw a really neat stop-animation video made by an Argentine director. When we made our own, we reached out to him via twitter and he helped judge our contest.
Here is another video competition that was based on creating new episodes of a “soap opera” that we had followed in class.
Aaron Stephenson's Portfolio 