By Julie Montoya, Spanish Teacher and World Language TOSA, Summit High School
How do you usually finish this sentence: I always wish I spoke _________. I always wish I had learned French at some point since my father’s side of the family was from Quebec. I’m bilingual in English and Spanish, but that doesn’t stop me from wishing I spoke yet another language. Inherently, we know that each language we speak opens up authentic connections with a vast portion of the world, so we wish on…
Take Away #1: Learning multiple languages creates better learners. Period. As secondary teachers, regardless of which department we roost in, understanding the World-Readiness standards by ACTFL can help us all support our students in their journeys to learn languages and become culturally competent.
World Language standards have changed substantially in the last 10-20 years. To learn about the foundations of what we do in the World Language classroom, watch this 4 minute video.
Take Away #2: I am constantly amazed at the cross-curricular connections my students are making between the content they learn about in my Spanish class and what they are learning in their other classes. This is primarily by happenstance. I can only imagine how we might work together to intentionally support our student’s global readiness. We’d love to work with you! Here are a few examples I can think of.
- Music: We watch a documentary that studied the importance of Mariachi music to the Mexican-American communities in Texas with their fierce high school Mariachi competitions. We learned about the history of this genre, its key instruments, and its vocal features.
- US History: We studied the important connections in Oregon to the Bracero program that began in 1942, bringing 15,000 Mexican men to Oregon to aid in critical agricultural roles. These efforts helped aid hungry American families and supported the men fighting abroad.
- Literature: Thanks to the film study of Disney’s Encanto, even our beginning Spanish students know about magical realism, birthed by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Students can identify and explain the presence of magical realism and its purpose in story-telling.
- Math: Students learn how Chileans developed a mathematical formula to calculate the risk of certain geographical areas for earthquakes, which Chile experiences at an incredibly high rate.
- Science/Archeology: Students learn about the prolific archeological evidence of brain surgery practice in the Incan cultures of Perú. Through studies of how bones heal, we can better understand the success rates of these practices.
Take away #3 In our World Languages classes, we consider culture through the 3 P’s: products, practices, and perspectives. Our students know this language, so try framing cultural observations in your classes with these terms. An example of this framework might involve noticing how many yellow and red flags are draped over balconies in Barcelona, Spain. The flag is the cultural project, while the public display is the practice. This leads to a discussion of the perspective of cultural, historical, and linguistic autonomy that many Catalán people feel in this region of Spain.
In a nutshell, consider exploring the cross-curricular connections at your school. Our students will grow into Global Citizens they need to become to be ready for the world.
