Many people struggle with reading in their native language; therefore, reading in a foreign language is a very difficult task. My Spanish II students have learned this as we have struggled and muddled our way through a 38-page novel in Spanish. Since mid-January, these 41 students have been skimming, reading, re-reading, looking up wordsand re-reading again in order to finish reading the book "Una mano en la arena" by Fernando Uría. This past week we finally finished the book and it has been a cause for celebration!
"Una mano en la arena" is a mystery written about Rafael and Virginia, a boyfriend and girlfriend pair whose relaxing afternoon at the beach quickly turned horrific when Virginia found, "una mano en la arena" (a hand in the sand). Through seven chapters, we read about the police, drug traffickers, stolen cars, missing people and bodies buried in the sand!
As mentioned earlier, reading in a foreign language is not easy. However, my students did a great job of realizing that major points, not little details, were the things I was worried about them understanding. We clarified even further in class discussions, which happened completely in Spanish and involved a lot of drawing pictures and maps of where characters went and what happened in each location. Some of these pictures are attached to this blog.
Not only were we able to practice using the preterit, our main focus this year, but also we learned a lot of new and useful vocabulary from the novel. We discussed literary terms such as género, protagonista, tema, hipérbole and more! These are great terms they have learned in English classes but that they will also use in AP Spanish Literature if they choose to take that course later in their Spanish careers at Darlington.
As a culminating project, the students worked in groups to re-tell the story in their own words. They were graded on their use of the preterit, accurately describing the major events, and creativity. A lot of great projects were turned in proving that the students really knew more and understood more than they may have thought. A PowerPoint project by Harlan Dulaney, Noah Brown and Trent Glass has been attached to this blog.
As we all know, not only can you derive pleasure from reading but also your vocabulary and imagination grow. I have seen this happen with my students from chapter 1 to chapter 7 of "Una mano en la arena." While I know they're relieved we have finished the book, I think and I hope that they're proud of themselves for all of their hard work. They really rose to the challenge and their Spanish abilities have grown a lot!
