Middle School Spanish

Projects in 7^th & 8^th grade Spanish Sra. Hughes

Projects will be called Experiencia, which means “experience.” Learning vocabulary and grammar is nice, but being able to use the language and culture in a way that interests you is even better.

Each month, you’ll get a category for your projects, such as “food” or “music.” Projects will be your own choice, as long as they fit in the category of the month and follow the guidelines below.

Each project will consist of

doing an activity or creating something that somehow relates to Spanish language, history, or culture, and
writing at least 100 words about it (in English) describing

1) what you did, and

2) what you learned

3) how many points you think you should get and why

Points:

You will receive a certain number of points for each project. The minimum number of points you’ll receive is 5. If your project is more complicated or includes more Spanish, then you’ll receive more than the minimum number of points. For each month, I’ll expect you to earn 10 points. Each quarter, you may do extra projects for up to 15 points of extra credit.

Here’s how to earn more than 5 points for each project:

· write significantly more than 100 words,

· provide evidence that you learned a significant amount,

· show evidence of higher level thinking,

· be especially creative,

· include a significant amount of Spanish,

· create such an exemplary presentation that we could use it as a model for next year,

· include pictures or a visual aid,

· do a project we’ve never seen before, or

· make us laugh.

Due dates:

Projects for the month are due on the last day of the month, whether your Spanish class meets that day or not. Don’t wait until the last day of the month to start. Extra credit points need to be turned in on or before the last day of the quarter.

Partners or Groups:

You may do your projects individually, with a partner, or in a group of 3 or 4. The more people that involved in the project, the more impressive I’ll expect it to be. If you work with a partner or in a group, each person must do their own individual write up in order to receive points for the project.

Write Up:

The write up for each project must be at least 100 words. In the write up describe what you did, what you learned, and how many points you think you should get. Describing what you learned is more important than describing what you did, so a write up that is mostly description of what you did will probably earn the minimum, whereas a write up that has a more complex discussion about what you learned may earn more than the minimum.

Have fun. I’m looking forward to seeing what you create and reading about what you learn.

November Topic: Find Spanish in your day to day life

As you go to different places in your day to day activities, keep an eye out for Spanish you see.

Places to look for Spanish:

Stores
Post office
Anywhere that posts flyers (such as a library)
Food labels
Operating instructions
Announcements (such as on an airplane when they instruct you how to put on your seatbelt)

Possible Activities:

· There’s a HUGE list of possible project activities on the short wall in my classroom. It has over 100 suggestions of activities you can do with the information you learn. Please let me know if you’d like your own copy of it.

· Ask Mrs. Boshoven how you can add a technology piece to your project, if that interests you.

October Topic: a Hispanic celebration, holiday, or custom

Learn about a Hispanic celebration, holiday, or custom. Do an activity of your choice based on what you learn.

Sources of Information:

Use the Internet to learn about different celebrations or holidays

· Read the culture pages in your textbook

· Look at the posters outside the classroom

· Talk to Hispanic people you know or people who know a lot about Hispanic cultures

· Check out a book at the library (ask a librarian for help – they love to help students)

September Topic: Spanish-speaking part of the world

Investigate one or more parts of the world that have Spanish as their native language (see map in the classroom under the VCR).

You can look at countries, groups of countries (like Central America), cities, towns, or regions of your choice.

Possible Activities:

Learn facts about a Spanish-speaking area (population, climate, politics, geography, people)
Compare life in a Spanish-speaking area with your life here
Compare the demographics of one Spanish-speaking part of the world with another Spanish-speaking part of the world
Compare the accent from Spain with the accent from North America, Central America, or South America
Use the information on pages 1 & 4 in your textbook to create a project
Do any other activity that involves learning about a Spanish-speaking part of the world.
Since this topic has some overlap with social studies, Mr. Goody has some great ideas on what else you could do. Feel free to ask him for ideas when he’s not teaching.