Angela Jordan, Spanish Department
At the end of last semester I received a CfT mini-grant for the students in my SPAN 204 class to have a meal together at the Latinas Dos Restaurant and Hispanic grocery in Winchester.
My students were all very happy because it was the end of the semester and we were practicing what we had learned during the semester. They were surprised with a place like this in Winchester. Eight of the Hispanic students from Sewanee joined us. They felt very honored to be invited to this event.
At each table we had at least one Hispanic student. My students had a piece of paper with five questions to ask the Hispanic students. They returned them to me to be graded as part of the final exam. At the end, some of the Hispanic students expressed their surprise at some of the questions my students were asking. For example: one of my students asked a Puerto Rican “How long did it take you to get your US citizenship?” even though we had learned in class that Puerto Rico is part of the US.
This was a very interesting, fun and academic event for everyone. They got to practice their language skills, they learned about culture and now they all have new friends. Some of my students and the Hispanic students bought a few items to eat to take with them.