| LEARNING CONNECTIONS
Spicing Up Spanish Class
L ooking for a “habanero” (
extremely hot) lesson to engage
first-year Spanish language students in an in-depth study of Spanish-speaking countries? Read on to learn
how we used 21st-century tools to get
students excited about the not-so-new
assignment of reporting on the people
and culture of another country.
Chances are, we have all done some
version of this assignment in our
youth. Whether in social studies class
or foreign language study, most students have gathered facts about a culture and put them together in a report
accompanied by some supplemental
photos or graphics.
In this new take on a dusty old assignment, we used online databases,
graphic organizers, e-mail, wikis,
PowerPoint, and Photo Story to give a
21st-century sheen to a country report.
The Project
The project consisted of one week in
the library media center gathering information and one week in the classroom synthesizing and presenting the
information.
Students used books, reference sets,
and encyclopedias, including a Spanish language set, to complete a graphic
organizer with an overview of their
country. Using the computer lab, students accessed the online databases,
Culturegrams, and Grolier Online.
The students developed their outlines
as they found new information from
each resource. We required them to
cite their references using the Modern
Language Association format.
We gave each student an e-mail
address through the ePALs program,
which offers safe and protected e-mail.
The students wrote to each other in
Spanish to provide two facts about
countries using the narration feature,
so each photo was complete with an
audio component.
Each student then gave a live presentation using a single PowerPoint
slide and script. We taped the presentations so the students could review
their performances. Then students
shared their knowledge of their countries with each other through these
presentations. As they practiced and
presented their projects orally, their
Spanish language skills improved
dramatically.
Students continued to update their
wikis on a weekly basis to include current events for each country. As they
developed their reading and writing
skills, they began providing news in
Spanish.
One homebound student was able
to stay connected by using the student
e-mail program, and we were able to
send him examples of the other students’ presentations on DVD.
By Cawood Cornelius and Terri Vest
their country. Each student also found
the e-mail addresses of their country’s embassy or consulate so they
could request more information. The
materials arrived promptly, and the
students were able to use them in their
presentations and to create displays in
the classroom.
The students created their own wiki
using the online tool PBwiki, and they
integrated information from the print
and online resources.
During the second week in the
classroom, students had access to
a mobile cart of wireless laptops
checked out from the library media
center. Students created one PowerPoint slide with at least five images
that conveyed the subject areas from
the outline form. The only writing on
the slide was the name of the country.
Students used these images to write
scripts describing their countries in
Spanish.
The students practiced their presentations with each other and the
teacher. We converted each slide into
a photo and imported it into Photo
Story. The students described their
Assessment
As an evaluation of the two-week
project, students devised a meter of
