Hispanic Heritage Month/Day of the Dead

"Students and their families have been exposed to people, programs, resources, and connections that can open doors for them, and they are able to navigate and access those opportunities" (Johns Hopkins, n.d.).

Introduction

Intro

In maintaining a goal to provide my students will opportunities to celebrate diversity and inclusion, I spend a significant amount of time preparing activities for Hispanic Heritage Month and Day of the Dead. Hispanic Heritage Month runs from September 15th to October 15th, celebrating Hispanic Americans and their contributions to the United States. This is something that I found important to highlight in my classes, as our school's population is 40.8% Latino, yet only 5.7% of the teachers are Latino. The students do not get exposed to educational content that reflects them often, and if not for a few other teachers and myself, Hispanic Heritage Month would barely get a mention during the school year. I brought in an organization that partners with my school called BuildOn to work with my classes. In the classes, we planned different activities and lessons that provided students opportunities to learn about and appreciate different aspects of Hispanic culture. Day of the Dead, a celebration that takes place primarily in Mexico and with Mexican descendants, takes place about a week after Hispanic Heritage Month ends. The holiday celebrates the lives of loved ones that have passed away. I find this another cultural topic to incorporate into my classroom and provide students access and connections to the large Hispanic population in our community, as well as around the country.

BuildOn Logo

BuildOn works with students in six different US cities, including Bridgeport. They have an office in the basement of our school. They are more than willing to come into classes based on the content and availability. Since my first year teaching, I have taken advantage of this and have had them come in to talk about a number of issues, such as climate change and access to food and water in urban communities, undocumented immigrants, Hispanic Heritage Month, volunteer opportunities in the community, and service trip opportunities in Latin America and other areas around the world.

BuildOn Locations

School Demographics

40.8% of students identify as Hispanic or Latino at our school. However, only 5.7% of teachers at the school identify as Hispanic or Latino.

Connection to Standards

Standards Hispanic

Like the Multicultural Night event, bringing in BuildOn to talk about and celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month and Day of the Dead aligns with the ACFTL World Language Standard of Culture. As I teach the Spanish language, I need to push students to "interact with cultural competence and understanding" (ACTFL, n.d.). Hispanic Heritage Month puts a spotlight on all the contributions of Hispanic Americans, while Day of the Dead is a large celebration that is celebrated in Mexico and by their descendants. Students that learn about these two celebrations will "reflect on the relationship between the practices and perspectives," as well as "products and practices" of different cultures (ACTFL, n.d.). This is an important lesson if our goal as educators is to break down barriers and bring more cross-cultural understanding.

ACTFL World Language Standards on Culture

I teach Spanish levels one and two, so my students are mostly novice and intermediate learners. ACTFL sets benchmarks for learners of all levels as seen below. On top of understanding and identifying the language at certain levels, it sets benchmarks for Intercultural Communication. At a novice level that means to "interact at a survival level in some familiar contexts," while at an intermediate level that means to "interact at a functional level in some familiar contexts" (ACTFL, n.d.). In our lessons, the students investigated and interacted in both English and the target language to learn about Hispanic Heritage Month and Day of the Dead. They were able to apply what they learn in class in a different type of lesson.

ACTFL Proficiency Benchmarks for Novice and Intermediate Learners

Underneath the proficiency benchmarks for Intercultural Communication, there are performance indicators (photo below) to help guide teachers and students in their language and cultural journey. When the students participated in the BuildOn lessons, they used language and behaviors to interact with each other. Looking at language, novice-level students "communicate with others from the target culture in familiar everyday situations, using memorized language and showing basic cultural awareness," while intermediate learners "converse with peers from the target culture in familiar situations at school, work, or play, and show interest in basic similarities and differences" (ACTFL, n.d.). This event was a great opportunity for my students to dive more into culture. I do include culture in many of my lessons, but this was a chance to spend more time and focus on cultural topics. Looking at behavior, novice-level students "use appropriate rehearsed behaviors and recognize some obviously inappropriate behaviors in familiar everyday situations, while intermediate learners "recognize that significant differences in behaviors exist among cultures, use appropriate language learned behaviors and avoid major social blunders" (ACTFL, n.d.). During the lesson, the students had many opportunities to interact and discuss the differences among their experiences and those of Mexicans and Hispanic Americans.

ACTFL Proficiency Benchmarks for Novice and Intermediate Learners

Hispanic Heritage Month

As we grow in our understanding of the world, we strive for a high level of Global Competence. ACTFL (2014) describes this as "the ability to communicate with respect and cultural understanding in more than one language... This competence is developed and demonstrated by investigating the world, recognizing and weighing perspectives, acquiring and applying disciplinary and interdisciplinary knowledge, communicating ideas, and taking action." I felt that investigating a large part of the world through Hispanic Heritage Month would help build Global Competencies in my students. I invited BuildOn — an organization that works to "engage high school students in service and empower them to tackle the community issues that matter the most to them" (BuildOn, n.d.) — into the classroom. We planned a lesson for students to learn more about the Spanish language and Hispanic history, geography and culture. This is a lesson that was specifically planned for my classes.

BuildOn Website

Importance of Learning Spanish

One of the activities we facilitated was for the students to break into groups and brainstorm reasons why it is important to learn Spanish. The question regarding the importance of learning Spanish is one that I get regularly in my class and what better way than researching and discussing its importance. The groups came across similar reasons, but there were many that came up in our discussion. Students mentioned a boost in the number of people that they could talk to, increased job opportunities, better travel opportunities, improved cognitive skills and maintaining a healthy brain. With around half a billion native speakers around the world between 20+ countries, Spanish is an increasingly useful language. It is also the second most spoken language in the U.S. As Ramirez and Planas (2019) mention, "Whether you want to improve your job prospects, keep your mind sharp, or explore new cultures without having to rely on Siri to ask for directions, Spanish is the one tool that will help you achieve all of that and more." This activity was necessary in achieving more student buy-in, as well as providing more incentives for my students to become lifelong learners of Spanish. This is something that I reinforce in my classes, but having BuildOn help facilitate the lesson added another voice to motivate students. In the photo below are the posters that the students created after discussing the importance of Spanish in their lives.

Student Work - Why is Spanish important? (under Nuestro Trabajo. Translation: "Our Work")

Hispanic History and Geography

History and Geography

Another topic we covered during the BuildOn lesson was geography of the Spanish-speaking world. We felt this was important in giving students more context on the Spanish-speaking world. Knowing more about the geography and history of Hispanic populations could help students understand why certain Spanish-speaking groups live in our community and in other cities, states or countries. It could also give students ideas to travel, study, work and/or live abroad. Below is BuildOn's PowerPoint for the lesson. It includes having the students list all the Spanish-speaking countries and capitals, as well as a competition where the students search up the answers to questions about Hispanic history.

BuildOn PowerPoint with History and Geography Activities

Day of the Dead

After our Hispanic Heritage lesson with BuildOn, we felt the movie Coco (2017) was a beautiful depiction of Day of the Dead that many of my students had never seen. Upon watching the film, the students learned more about the holiday and reflected on the similarities and differences between other holidays and celebrations in the US and around the world, as well as familial values, which is recommended by the ACTFL Standards on Culture. It is a beautiful and entertaining depiction of Day of the Dead that the students enjoyed. I played the video in Spanish to also increase language exposure. By doing this, the students learned about culture, while also increasing their comprehension of the Spanish language.

Disney and Pixar's Coco (2017)

In the samples below, the students responded to questions that related to the movie. There were questions centered around customs and traditions. The student below talked about how in the movie, the characters put pictures of their deceased family members on altars, remembering and celebrating their lives. We discussed traditions and customs, and the students talked about some of their customs, as well as the differences they see between the depiction in the movie and their own lives. Watching this video and discussing it were opportunities that the students do not regularly get in their other classes.

Student Copy of Movie Guide

Student Copy Page 2

Student Copy Page 3

BuildOn Community Service Event

Service Event

After our lesson, the students had the option to receive extra credit and participate in a community service activity. Many of my students mentioned that they did not have plans over the weekend, so this was a great chance for the students to spend a few hours of their time and great extra credit for our class. In this activity, the students would spend their Saturday afternoon spending time with younger children and playing games with them. They would make Calaveras, which are colorful skulls often seen in Mexican culture and movies like Coco. Although I was unable to attend the event, BuildOn sent me the names of the students that attended the event. I discussed the event with them, and they mentioned that they found the event worthwhile and fun. It was a great way for them to apply the material we learned in class, with Day of the Dead festivities and Calavera skull-making. Not only did it provide access to a cultural enriching opportunity for my students, but it also was beneficial for the younger children that attended. As ACTFL (2014) mentions, "Global competence is vital to successful interactions among diverse groups of people locally, nationally, and internationally. This diversity continues to grow as people move from city to city and country to country. The need to communicate with someone of a different language or culture may arise at any time; knowing more than one language prepares one to know how, when, and why to say what to whom." In this event, along with our lessons in class, the students had the chance to communicate with others about Hispanic cultures and holidays, contributing to their global competence.

Day of the Dead Service Activity for Students

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"Activity 4 - Do you want to do something to help your community?"

Wakeman Boys and Girls Club

Calavera Skulls made by the students for Day of the Dead

Reflection

Reflection Day of the Dead

My goal of working with BuildOn was to provide the students access to lessons on diversity that were culturally relevant. As I mentioned above, my school has a Hispanic population of 40.8%, yet the teachers are 5.7% Hispanic. On top of this, most of the staff does not speak Spanish, so many of my Hispanic students have expressed frustration learning in a setting that is not culturally relevant. Throughout the lessons on Hispanic Heritage Month and Day of the Dead, the students generally had an enjoyable experience, as the majority stayed invested and participated in the activities. I had the students reflect on the lesson. The students enjoyed having BuildOn in the classroom, as well, as they often see it as a change in pace with our normal lessons. On top of this, I had the students who attended the BuildOn event write me a short reflection of it in order to receive extra credit. There were common responses, talking about the Spanish theme with music and movies in the background. In having BuildOn help me plan these lessons, the students were able to further widen their cultural understanding and develop their global competency. My Hispanic students were generally very invested in the material, and my non-Hispanic were invested, too. They discussed why it is important to learn Spanish, the impact and history of Hispanic Americans in this country, an important holiday for Mexicans and Mexican Americans, as well as had the opportunity to attend an extra credit activity that they spent with children in the community making Calavera Skulls.

Student Reflection on Lesson