(Mrs. Mari Grobschmidt, 3rd Grade & Mrs. Alice Place, Spanish Teacher) – How nice is to know that we can have friends around the world and communicate with them. We are able to do it by learning another language.
Learning a new language might not be all that easy at the beginning but when you can understand what another person says in a different language … you feel happy and proud.
Third grade had the opportunity to travel (virtually) to Argentina and Guatemala in just one hour, meet friends their age, and practice their Spanish skills while learning about their customs, and life.
We first connected with Victoria, a wonderful 10 year old girl from Buenos Aires, Argentina. She was so happy to hear our third grade sing our welcome song.
Victoria was excited to dialogue with our third graders , who were able to practice their Spanish conversation skills by asking questions such us ¿Cómo te llamas (what is your name? ), ¿cuántos años tienes? (how old are you?), ¿dónde vives? ( where do you live?), etc.
Given the high engagement of the of the students with this activity, we are inspired to repeat the experience with her in the future.
Then, we travelled to Guatemala and had a unique experience by visiting an authentic Mayan community school in Chimimaya and interact with its students.
We again practiced our spanish vocabulary and conversational skills while we learned about their culture, daily activities, and challenges related to water supply and its impact in their lives.
As part of the the third grade water unit and in preparation for this year’s museum project including special exhibit, “The 7 Wonders of the Water World” students have been comparing and contrasting water resources in order to better understand water distribution and challenges. This also served as a great opportunity to practice their Spanish skills!