Honors Spanish class creates a city simulation
High school students in Mrs. Martinez’s Honors Spanish III class created a simulated city for the speaking portion of their test in the “la ciudad” or “city” unit.
Students were challenged to design a shop or storefornt, and the creations included a supermercado (supermarket), a heladería (ice cream shop), a joyería (jewelry store), and a taquería (taco stand). Students prepared a list of vocabulary phrases relevant to their shop and created store-front signs using phrases they had learned from the unit. They also designed menus or created descriptions of the products available.
In preparation for the assignment, students were asked to imagine five different scenarios that might take place when shopping in their class-created simulated city. They wrote these scenarios in Spanish, using vocabulary words associated with making purchases, describing products, and determining costs, and then they rehearsed the scenarios with a partner.
During the assessment, students acted out a randomly selected scenario. They demonstrated their knowledge of the unit by improvising if something unexpected happened when acting out the scenario.
“This activity is the closest to real life that you can get in a classroom,” explained Whitney Martinez, high school modern and classical languages teacher. “Students have the opportunity to collaborate and improvise, forcing them to use language skills and vocabulary in unexpected ways.”
Bien hecho, Spanish students!
