Year Long Spanish 4
In Spanish IV this year, we had three major units of study that connected with the following mini-novels:
Selena by Nelly Andrade-Hughes
This book was about Selena Quintanilla and her rise to fame. It talked about her growing up as a Mexican-American and the discrimination that came along with it. The book focused on the up and downs of trying to become famous in a an in-between, being Mexican-American. One thing that stuck with my most form this book was the way she was also so confident. Selena was a hard person to upset. When she was discriminated against or told something negative, she would smile and look the other way which I admire. |
Vidas Imactantes by Kristy Placido
This book was about Hispanic Heritage Month (famous latinos), Roberto Clemente (Puerto Rico, Civil Rights Mvmt in the US, Baseball), Azucena Villaflor (Argentina, Los Desaparecidos), Celia Cruz (Cuba, Fidel Castro, Communism). I learned a lot about the importance of these people and the impacts they had on the hispanic culture, rights and milestones. The most impactful thing about this book was just the amount of Hispanic history that directly affected or impacted American history that I was never taught before. |
Vida y Muerte en la Mara Salvatrucha
I didn't get to finish this whole book due to leaving the school for my 3 week internship but starting it was very interesting. This book is about a boy who grew up in a dangerous place and ended up in a gang, MS-13. It focuses on the hardships of being in a gang and the culture of being in the Mara Salavatrucha-13 gang. It follows him as he handles his gang related responsibilities to then realize he wants to leave the gang. One thing that stuck with me the most was the age of the boy. He had lost his parents, killed someone, and joined a gang by the age of 10. I have always known about gangs and the dangers of them but it never occurred to me that people join them before they are even able to car for themselves. |
Overall this year in Spanish IV I learned a lot about different cultures and how to communicate correctly. We read books like the ones mentioned above that were very diverse while focusing on our conjugation and different tenses (present tense, past tense, etc.) My future plans for language include becoming fully fluent in Spanish. I plan on continuing to learn Spanish on my own time and I hope to become bilingual.