Guía de Supervivencia
Within this project, the students were required to create and write a survival guide pertaining to a certain country. I was paired with Araaa, and we chose Iquitos, Peru as our destination. Our teacher gave us a rubric, which we followed while researching Iquitos. Using reliable resources such as lonelyplanet.com, Araaa and I chose specific subjects such as lodging, food, and transportation to research. As soon as we gathered enough information on the city, we started on writing the survival guide itself. This comprised of writing a dialogue, a vocabulary box, and a description of what to do within the situation for each topic. Then an introduction and Table of Contents was created as well as two maps of Iquitos and the surrounding area. After writing the packet itself, Araaa and I chose one specific dialogue to elaborate on. We chose how to ask for original Peruvian food from street vendors. After creating a lengthy dialogue, we then acted it out in a short skit at exhibition.
I learned that Iquitos, Peru is actually a pretty incredible, isolated city. It's located right on the Amazon river and it's a little bit of a undiscovered paradise. The food and culture there is unique to the rest of Peru because of it's location, and the locals eat a lot of meat and still seem to be quite healthy. (Which is totally counter to my vegan beliefs.) I also learned that are some pretty serious health risks when it comes to places like Iquitos. Travelers can be pick pocketed, but most importantly are super vulnerable to things such as dysentery and Hepatitis A and B. So, as a (hopeful) future traveller, this a wonderful reminder to be super aware of what you eat and your general sanitation.
Acting it out as a skit was actually really fun. It's a creative endeavor that you usually don't get to experience at Animas High School, especially as a final Exhibition presentation as well. It's just a nice to hear an audience clap after being up there for those really stressful five minutes. I enjoy speaking spanish specifically for the pronunciation part of it. I'm still not very good, but feeling and hearing those words slide off of your tongue at such a fast pace really gives you a good reminded that you've come along way since two or however many years ago. Rolling your R's, for example, makes you sound like you know what you're saying (for the people in the audience who don't know an inkling of what you are actually talking about). The greatest part of it though was getting that urge to go out and look at the world from a better view, up close. As I researched and collaborated on this project, I kept on visualizing what Iquitos looked like and how the air might feel if I was there. Would I have been uncomfortable or excited? There's really no better way to find out then to go discover the truth for yourself. It's given me the itch to travel, and not just to travel as a tourist who consumes, sleeps, and walks...but also as a traveler who's genuinely interested in the culture they've just stepped into. I think that's a pretty nice piece of wisdom to take from this project as a whole; ah the nuances of culture and traveling.
I learned that Iquitos, Peru is actually a pretty incredible, isolated city. It's located right on the Amazon river and it's a little bit of a undiscovered paradise. The food and culture there is unique to the rest of Peru because of it's location, and the locals eat a lot of meat and still seem to be quite healthy. (Which is totally counter to my vegan beliefs.) I also learned that are some pretty serious health risks when it comes to places like Iquitos. Travelers can be pick pocketed, but most importantly are super vulnerable to things such as dysentery and Hepatitis A and B. So, as a (hopeful) future traveller, this a wonderful reminder to be super aware of what you eat and your general sanitation.
Acting it out as a skit was actually really fun. It's a creative endeavor that you usually don't get to experience at Animas High School, especially as a final Exhibition presentation as well. It's just a nice to hear an audience clap after being up there for those really stressful five minutes. I enjoy speaking spanish specifically for the pronunciation part of it. I'm still not very good, but feeling and hearing those words slide off of your tongue at such a fast pace really gives you a good reminded that you've come along way since two or however many years ago. Rolling your R's, for example, makes you sound like you know what you're saying (for the people in the audience who don't know an inkling of what you are actually talking about). The greatest part of it though was getting that urge to go out and look at the world from a better view, up close. As I researched and collaborated on this project, I kept on visualizing what Iquitos looked like and how the air might feel if I was there. Would I have been uncomfortable or excited? There's really no better way to find out then to go discover the truth for yourself. It's given me the itch to travel, and not just to travel as a tourist who consumes, sleeps, and walks...but also as a traveler who's genuinely interested in the culture they've just stepped into. I think that's a pretty nice piece of wisdom to take from this project as a whole; ah the nuances of culture and traveling.
El Periodismo
El Periodismo Project was made to help the students consolidate their past tense verb skills with preterit and imperfect. It was also an opportunity for group coordination, teamwork, and the ability to research the culture of a particular Spanish speaking country that they were interested in. The groups were chosen randomly, in which they immediately agreed on a country to report on. Each student was then assigned different beats (news, entertainment, or ads.) as well as editorial responsibilities such as creating headlines, choosing font, and layout.
I had the privilege and the ability to really connect my experience and knowledge from journalism to this project within Spanish. As the Layout Editor for the school newspaper, I know the process that’s the most efficient, and I know how to make a newspaper itself look fairly good. So the familiarity there was comforting and made it more fun. My best moment throughout the project was once I was finally able to do the layout. It was exciting to show my skills, and I had a little bit more freedom with the design than I would have in the school newspaper. Being able to put that creative twist into the layout definitely made the project as a whole more rewarding. You work so hard on creating a newspaper, and so once it’s hot off the press you can’t help but experience an overall fantastic sense of accomplishment.
I actually had trouble with coordinating with some of my peers in my group. It’s really difficult to lay the newspaper out if you don’t have all of the content, and unfortunately there was one piece that was supposed to be on the front cover, and I didn’t get it until the day before it was due. I’m disappointed in myself, because I definitely showed a little impatience and anxiety towards one team member and they weren't really deserving of that. I think our personalities clashed a little because we definitely both like to decide on things, and we’re both fairly stubborn. All in all though, it was my responsibility to make sure that my participation was one of positivity and support.
I’ve learned quite a bit about myself through this project. Most of it is self-improvement, but that’s where it gets juicy. Observing myself throughout the project, I noticed that my perfectionism and opinionated ways can lead to me micromanaging other people and being more than slightly controlling. So as a collaborator, I need to step down my perfectionistic expectations about the outcome of the project and let people integrate their own piece of creativity and self-essence into what we’re doing. I think this, in general, will allow better collaboration as a team and therefore a better project all in all.
As someone learning Spanish, I still don’t have much of a grasp of the culture surrounding Spanish-speaking countries. It’s been so concentrated on things such as grammar and vocabulary, my awareness as to what their traditions are and their ways of life is weak. Yet, within this project, we were given the ability (and I the personal chance) to acquaint ourselves with the current events of our country. News can cover mass amounts of topics spanning from national politics to the pop-culture of a country. So as we started to study, research, and report on our countries, we were able to look into a window that had previously been shuttered. Through gaining knowledge of current events and culture you become more in sync with the movement (being it’s struggles and triumphs) of the country itself and therefor the people. Being able to have that level of consciousness is important in the language of communication.
Note: I did the layout for this newspaper in Adobe InDesign, and created my own template as well.
I had the privilege and the ability to really connect my experience and knowledge from journalism to this project within Spanish. As the Layout Editor for the school newspaper, I know the process that’s the most efficient, and I know how to make a newspaper itself look fairly good. So the familiarity there was comforting and made it more fun. My best moment throughout the project was once I was finally able to do the layout. It was exciting to show my skills, and I had a little bit more freedom with the design than I would have in the school newspaper. Being able to put that creative twist into the layout definitely made the project as a whole more rewarding. You work so hard on creating a newspaper, and so once it’s hot off the press you can’t help but experience an overall fantastic sense of accomplishment.
I actually had trouble with coordinating with some of my peers in my group. It’s really difficult to lay the newspaper out if you don’t have all of the content, and unfortunately there was one piece that was supposed to be on the front cover, and I didn’t get it until the day before it was due. I’m disappointed in myself, because I definitely showed a little impatience and anxiety towards one team member and they weren't really deserving of that. I think our personalities clashed a little because we definitely both like to decide on things, and we’re both fairly stubborn. All in all though, it was my responsibility to make sure that my participation was one of positivity and support.
I’ve learned quite a bit about myself through this project. Most of it is self-improvement, but that’s where it gets juicy. Observing myself throughout the project, I noticed that my perfectionism and opinionated ways can lead to me micromanaging other people and being more than slightly controlling. So as a collaborator, I need to step down my perfectionistic expectations about the outcome of the project and let people integrate their own piece of creativity and self-essence into what we’re doing. I think this, in general, will allow better collaboration as a team and therefore a better project all in all.
As someone learning Spanish, I still don’t have much of a grasp of the culture surrounding Spanish-speaking countries. It’s been so concentrated on things such as grammar and vocabulary, my awareness as to what their traditions are and their ways of life is weak. Yet, within this project, we were given the ability (and I the personal chance) to acquaint ourselves with the current events of our country. News can cover mass amounts of topics spanning from national politics to the pop-culture of a country. So as we started to study, research, and report on our countries, we were able to look into a window that had previously been shuttered. Through gaining knowledge of current events and culture you become more in sync with the movement (being it’s struggles and triumphs) of the country itself and therefor the people. Being able to have that level of consciousness is important in the language of communication.
Note: I did the layout for this newspaper in Adobe InDesign, and created my own template as well.
Proyecto de Día de los Muertos
Within this project, students studied the culture surrounding one of the most famous Mexican celebrations, Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead. This project consisted of students learning the history behind the holiday, including how the Catholic religion of the Spaniards combined with the natives of Mexico helped to create it. Students made a class altar, wrote two paragraphs in spanish about a deceased loved one, and created a piece of artwork representing that loved one.
En la Memoria de Grandma Jean para Días de los Muertos
Mi abuela se llamaba Elizabeth Jean Wieser. Ella es la mama de mi papa. Nació en Los Estados Unidos, pero su familia es de Scotland originalmente. Llamaba su Grandma Jean y tenío ochenta y dos años cuando murió. Mi abuela trabajaba como una enfermera. Amaba trabajar en la jardín y plantar flores mas. También, tenia un afición coser colchas. Las Navidades estaban su tiempo favorito de el año porque ella gustaba dar regalos también recibía los regalos. Ella amaba tener la familia venir y cocinar para nosotros. Coleccionaba ornamentos diferentes cada año para navidades. Uno año estuvo hombres de nieves, y una otra año estuvo San Nicolás. Mis memorias mejor de Grandma Jean estaban durante navidades.
Unas memorias especificas tengo de Grandma Jean son cuando ella me daba galletas navidades. Ella ponía la galletas en la congelador en la sótano. Yo llegaba para Durango con mi papa y pregunté tener uno. Una otra memoria de Grandma Jean estaba cuando mi abuelo, Papa Hank, jugaba de palabras tiempos muchos. Grandma Jean arrugaba su nariz y hablaba "Oh Hank.”
Mi abuela se llamaba Elizabeth Jean Wieser. Ella es la mama de mi papa. Nació en Los Estados Unidos, pero su familia es de Scotland originalmente. Llamaba su Grandma Jean y tenío ochenta y dos años cuando murió. Mi abuela trabajaba como una enfermera. Amaba trabajar en la jardín y plantar flores mas. También, tenia un afición coser colchas. Las Navidades estaban su tiempo favorito de el año porque ella gustaba dar regalos también recibía los regalos. Ella amaba tener la familia venir y cocinar para nosotros. Coleccionaba ornamentos diferentes cada año para navidades. Uno año estuvo hombres de nieves, y una otra año estuvo San Nicolás. Mis memorias mejor de Grandma Jean estaban durante navidades.
Unas memorias especificas tengo de Grandma Jean son cuando ella me daba galletas navidades. Ella ponía la galletas en la congelador en la sótano. Yo llegaba para Durango con mi papa y pregunté tener uno. Una otra memoria de Grandma Jean estaba cuando mi abuelo, Papa Hank, jugaba de palabras tiempos muchos. Grandma Jean arrugaba su nariz y hablaba "Oh Hank.”
Reflexion de el proyecto (Project Reflection)
This project was a fun and super engaging way for me to experience a part of the Spanish/Mexican culture while still learning and using my spanish language skills. Being able to apply the content of what we're learning in Spanish to an actual cultural event that people celebrate really brings a reality to my education with Spanish. Also, being able to have the artistic license with the project really let me explore my abilities with my piece of artwork. I wanted to push the limits of my artistic abilities, which resulted in some unrefined elements. The artwork was definitely the most difficult because of this, and how large the piece actually was. I've never had any real challenge with art, and creating one for myself motivates me only to improve further.
One of the most interesting things I discovered about this holiday while doing this project was how the Mexican people perceive death. To them, life starts only after death, for which they celebrate for three days
One of the most interesting things I discovered about this holiday while doing this project was how the Mexican people perceive death. To them, life starts only after death, for which they celebrate for three days
All Souls Procession in Tucson, Arizona...
During the Day of the Dead project, I was blessed enough to go to the All Souls Procession in Tucson Arizona. There were tens of thousands of people participating in this Day of the Dead parade. It was a sobering, but fun experience. It seemed as a whole, the procession was more about celebrating the dead than mourning them, which was really powerful. I took quite a few pictures, and thought it would be interesting to share them within the DP.