This year in Spanish 3 I learned so much! We read 2 books, watched documentaries learned about cultures from multiple countries and did so much more! My Reading, vocabulary, speaking, and writing skills significantly improved like never before and i'm very happy with my Spanish 3 class experience.
In Spanish III this year, we had two major units of study that connected with the following two mini-novels:
El Ekeko: Was about a little boy named Poco. He was very poor and lived in Bolivia. He came in encounter with a tailsman doll that are common in Bolivias culture. He goes on a mysterious adventure and learns many lessons along the way. Throughout this book we did lots of additional research on Bolivia's culture. We learned about traditional food dishes, religions, clothing, ruins and more. The book definitely had some connections to Bolivia and their celebrations and some of the witchy/ marketing history of the area. Out of the additional research we did I found it most interesting how it's common for Bolivians to really thank and worship the land for welcoming them. Their respectful to it and really use it to survive . They never try to concur it but thank it for letting them use it.
Testigo was about a boy named Bryan that lived in Guatemala. He lived in Colonio Febrero 4 in Guatemala witch is a very dangerous area. Theres lots of gangs there and killings and its very poor area. Bryan watches a horrific event and has to leave the country to stay safe from the gangs. The book documents his journey of escaping the country and the steps he went through. The book was actually really accurate to the real world sense it is a real world story. Additionally we watched a movie and listened to podcasts about the steps of escaping countries and fleeing to the United States. We looked at events that happen going along with crossing the border. Like getting caught, human trafficking, money, corrupt "traffickers" and more. The most interesting part of studying this for me was how many steps/how organized crossing the border can be. And going along with that how messy and unorganized it can be. I also found it crazy how well known it is by locals and officials that theres people leaving and how to contact a guide to help you cross and yet these things are not more controlled. It seems that they would rather just deal with the aftermath instead of preventing it or fixing whats causing it.
Final Project:
For are final project me and 3 of my classmates wrote a journal from Bryans point of view scrapbook style. We each were assigned pages of different events in the book. We found images that represented these events and wrote them as a journal from Bryans point of view.
Personal Reflection: This year my Spanish has improved a lot as well as my confidence. In the beginning of the year I struggled speaking Spanish and felt really unconfident. But as time went on and with the support of Jenny and my classmates I felt a lot more confident and started to believe in myself more! The first semester of Spanish was pretty good for me but I was not reaching my full potential or working my hardest. I was doing pretty average and kind of just getting buy. But the second semester I really tried to do my best on everything make sure everything was refined and correct and really tried to tune in and use my class time as efficiently as possible. I have learned a lot more this semester and had a much better experience. I have loved my small class and the way Jenny teaches!