This month, our second graders took a virtual trip to Granada, Spain, to explore the breathtaking Alhambra palace and fortress. They learned about the region's unique cultural heritage and used that journey as inspiration to create their own mosaic tiles. 

In Primary School, world language class students discover the cultural diversity of the world’s French- and Spanish-speaking countries, learning vocabulary, conversational phrases, songs, and games. Second graders learned about the history of Andalusia in Spain, where the art and architecture are heavily influenced by several centuries spent under Muslim rule. When the Arabs departed, their influence on the art, landscape, and language remained. Unlike Western art, which often features humans and animals, students also learned that animals and humans are not depicted in Islamic art because it is considered disrespectful. Instead, they often used geometric patterns and bright colors to create intricate patterned mosaic tiles.  Students learned about the Alhambra in Granada, the famous fortress that exemplifies Islamic architecture and which contains many examples of mosaic art.  

As students learned about mosaic tiles, they learned the vocabulary for the different geometric shapes, like triangles, squares, and circles, that are the foundation of each pattern. Students were given a photo of a mosaic tile and used tracing paper to outline as many shapes as they could find within the tile while keeping the symmetry unique to this style of art. Once students created their own mosaic tile pattern, world language teacher Erin Overstreet enlarged and photocopied the tiles, and students used a specific palette of watercolors to paint the shapes and background of their tiles, reinforcing Spanish color vocabulary. Once complete, all the second grade mosaics will be combined to create an oversized mosaic in the Primary School hallway. 

As she does throughout the year, Erin uses projects to introduce the students to simple sentences in the target language, such as “In Granada, there is the Alhambra. It is a palace” or “It is hot in Granada.” Through repetition, students begin to learn sentence structure, recognize common vocabulary, and gain confidence speaking another language.