The Foundation for a Meaningful Life
Kindergarten - Grade 9 in Southborough, MA

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El Arte Mexicano

Daintry Zaterka
Spanish students explore - and create their own - Mexican art
Fay’s Spanish students recently had the opportunity to show off a different set of skills in language class: artistic ones.

As an introduction to a unit on Mexican culture, sixth graders and first-year, upper school Spanish students selected a famous Mexican artist to study. Students chose from a range of options, including muralist Diego Rivera, painters Frida Kahlo and Maria Izquierdo, and weaver Arnulfo Mendoza. Each student created an oral presentation addressing the artist’s life and work, as well as the student’s own opinions about the artist.

The project provided students with the opportunity to practice basic Spanish phrases as well as to introduce a new set of art-centric words and phrases into their working vocabulary. Using a feedback application called Kaizena, students recorded their presentations for Spanish teachers Kara Mertz and Jessica Pezdek to listen to. The application allows the teachers to provide feedback and corrections on pronunciation and grammar, enabling students to make continuous improvements to their presentations in the process.

The final challenge for students was to recreate a piece of the artist’s work to accompany their presentations. The walls outside the Spanish classrooms have been transformed by the results. “The project was really successful,” Kara notes. “Students love learning about culture, and this helped them learn about Mexican artists and different styles of art.”
 
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