I create assignments that spark students' intellectual curiosity about Hispanic culture and that counterbalance stereotyping narratives that sometimes appear in the course textbook.
For example, in the "Proyecto sobre la historia y la cultura española," students situate what they learned about Spanish bullfighting in the textbook, drawing on their study of Spanish cultural artifacts dating from the rise of fascism to the present. Working in pairs, students draw on their knowledge of European history to discuss and write about their impressions of Spain's history, and specifically the complex place of bullfighting culture in that history.
Class Preparation Assignment: GOING BEYOND SUPERFICIAL TREATMENTS OF Spanish CULTURE
I developed the reading assignment shown below to offer students a socio-historical view of the culture of bullfighting from the perspective of a Spanish scholar. Although the reading level of this text is distinguished on the ACTFL scale, student responses show that they comprehend it well enough to elicit thoughtful responses. I quoted some of their responses in a multimedia presentation I gave for the class, which included a look at bullfighters' "traje de luces" and a writing exercise that called for the use of reflexive verbs and double object pronouns.
Class Preparation Assignments: Using social annotation tools to create dialogue
I use knowledge tools, such as social annotation applications like Perusall, to create assignments that spark a dialogue among the students prior to class meetings. In the example below, students annotate a short film using newly acquired vocabulary. I prepare my classes by selecting student comments and incorporating them into the next day's class presentation. Students react to the selected quotes and develop their ideas further. A reading of the student comments in the assignment allows me to provide general feedback about grammar usage for effective communication. I offer personal feedback to students on their writing using their individual Google notebooks.
