Exploring Cultural Diversity in Spanish

Spanish is the official language in twenty countries, and even within those cultures, there is a wide variety of traditions, accents, and landscapes that influence how people live and use the language. “There's just so much diversity across Spanish-speaking cultures,” says World Language Chair Kara Mertz. “In Fay’s Spanish curriculum, we take an expansive approach, but when we focus on specific countries, we also take an in-depth look at aspects of the culture that aren’t common knowledge.” 

In Primary School, where students study Spanish for the first half of the year, they “visit '' different countries to learn about the people, celebrations, climate, and wildlife that make each place unique. When second graders were learning about Puerto Rico this fall, they learned about baseball hero Roberto Clemente and his experience as an Afro-Latino. They read a story featuring Clemente called Coquí in the City, about a little boy who moves from Puerto Rico to the U.S. mainland and misses his friend Coquí, a tiny frog native to Puerto Rico. Students finished the unit with an origami project led by World Language teacher Erin Overstreet where they each folded and made their own tiny Coquí. Soon, second graders will shift gears to explore the biodiversity of Costa Rica. 

In sixth grade and Upper School, the Spanish textbooks are organized geographically with cultural readings and videos featuring native speakers so that students can hear different Spanish accents. Boarding students from Spanish-speaking countries also visit with language classes to share their first-hand perspectives and experiences. Hearing from fellow students who live in the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, or Mexico builds a bridge across academic divisions and cultures. 

Mabela Paoli ‘24, an eighth grader from Mexico City, visited a fourth grade Spanish class this fall to share how her family and neighborhood celebrate the Day of the Dead. Then Kara talked about the holiday’s indigenous roots and how it is celebrated in smaller villages in Mexico. “Daily life is different depending on who you are and where you are in the country,” she explains, “and we’re trying to give students a broader perspective on different aspects of Spanish-speaking culture.”

Fifth grade Spanish students connected to the Day of the Dead’s theme of remembrance and the tradition of building an altar to departed family members by researching the life of Eliza B. Fay, Fay School’s co-founder, and building a traditional altar with items that would have been important to her. They presented their ideas to the class, sharing why items like la hermana (her sister with whom she founded the school), el alce (Fay’s moose mascot), and esfuerzo sincero (Fay’s core value of earnest effort) would have been especially meaningful. 

In Upper School, Spanish students taught the Upper School community about the Day of the Dead at Morning Meeting. They spoke about holiday traditions, shared a poem by Netzahualcoyotl, a 15th-century philosopher/poet, and presented a song with brightly painted skulls. In Spanish 1A, students shared presentations on famous couples from Spanish-speaking countries worldwide (and throughout history), including King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain, Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo of Mexico, and Eva and Juan Peron of Argentina. This fall, students in Alina Argueta’s Spanish 2B class also explored their identity through poetry in the style of Cuban poet and freedom fighter José Martí. Martí started writing at age 16, advocating for Cuban independence from Spain. His words were so powerful that he was jailed and exiled from Cuba. Verses from several of his poems were combined to create “Guantanamera,” one of Cuba’s best-known patriotic songs. Alina’s students learned about Martí, studied his poetry, and then wrote their own poems in the same style.

“We’re trying to elevate a variety of voices,” says Kara, “which is why we incorporate so many different resources, from music, poetry, and textbooks to our own student population.”