The Advanced Spanish class has benefited this year from a small class size of only three students. Building on what we did last year, Sophie, Josie, and Thomas have already written some high quality essays on important topics… and yes, 100% EN ESPAÑOL!
All three of them have made enormous progress in their levels of fluency and are now reading short stories and political commentaries written by and for native Spanish speakers. They have been practicing reading articles and developing well organized arguments about important and relevant topics in the Spanish speaking world such as immigration reform, media censorship, democracy, and U.S. foreign policy.
Their semester project requires them to write a six-page essay in Spanish on the topic of their choice using multiple Spanish language sources and proper citations. We’ve also been taking advantage of Google Documents to allow for real-time, live updating, where students can share their work with each other and with me, as we make corrections and give feedback in a collaborative way. Each student can see all the other students’ papers, as well as make comments on them, and see the comments I have made. We’re still experimenting with the possibilities and limitations of Google Documents, but for anyone interested in the process, or in practicing their Spanish… You can check out all three students’ papers at the following links:
Thomas’ Essay in progress
Josie’s Essay in progress
Sophie’s Essay in progress
Great job! Thank you for sharing your progress with us!