Hiya. Interesting you should ask Carol if we teach about Hispanic festivals in our classes. Well, the truth is, we touch on them. We are very driven by the formal curriculum, and unfortunately don't have anywhere near the amount of time I would like to spend on the culture and lifestyle of the countries we are learning about. (There is no great distinction between Spain Spain and the rest of the Hispanic world, we are indiscriminately rushed!) I'm hearing great things about how this is going to change soon, but I'm not holding my breath.
Even within the context of the current race towards assessments, I do make a point of bringing out some of the highlights, even if I do have to shoe-horn it in briefly while the pupils are packing up at the end of the lesson etc.
My first years (11, 12 yrs.) did manage to do some work on the Day of the Dead, and they enjoyed learning about the offerings on the shrines for the deceased, but their favourite concept about it was the idea of confronting death, and taking the sting out of it by treating images of death irreverently. As such I thought you might like to see some folk art in the naive style which a couple of my budding artists produced at home...hope you like them...thanks very much for the insight into what happens in your area Carol, I'll use that next year, hee hee. x K
1 comment:
I am so glad that you are able to talk of this festival with your students. I think learning about the cultures and traditions of others is as important as the learning of the actual language! Next year I will look out for some decorative sugar skulls and send them off to you in advance. Thanks for sharing the art work. I love to see childrens art. Student #2 really got the idea about the laughing at death.
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