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Kindergarten - Grade 9 in Southborough, MA
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Spanish 2B's Dining Etiquette

Daintry Zaterka
Spanish 2B students have been learning about mandatos, formal and informal commands in Spanish. To practice the command form, they made an instructional video to teach their fellow Fay students the do’s and don’ts of Dining Room etiquette! 

Spanish teacher David Olano introduced the project by showing his students an Iberian Airlines in-flight safety video which contains a variety of commands regarding the steps that passengers should take in case of an emergency. Then he asked students to study the Fay School handbook and think about how they would instruct fellow students on the sequential steps and essential rules of our family-style dining tradition. At Fay, Upper School students are assigned to a different dining table every two weeks so they have the opportunity to eat with a variety of students and faculty members over the course of the year. Students also serve as waiters on a rotating basis, bringing out the food from the kitchen, clearing the tables, and setting them for the next meal. Many behaviors such as washing hands before meals and waiting to eat until everyone has been served are common courtesy. However, other rules such as not running up the stairs to the Dining Room Building and waiting for permission to remove blazers at lunch are specific to Fay. 

Olga, Sissi, and Raquel, the three students in Spanish 2B, divided up the list of do’s and don’ts and translated them into the appropriate Spanish command form. David points out that the translations are unexpectedly complex. “You have to know the present tense to be able to form the imperative, and there are a lot of irregular verbs, so you have to be able to draw upon what you already know. It’s a lot of mental gymnastics!” 

The students planned out the shots they would need for their video and then spent a class period in the Dining Room getting footage. “They did a great job filming and had a lot of fun,” says David. “It’s a good project for this time of year as we shift from learning to applying language skills.” Working in Adobe Premiere Pro, students added instructional audio to the footage as well as music and sound effects. After the break, they hope to share it with the entire Upper School to give everyone a refresher on Dining Room etiquette for the Spring Term as we plan to return to Family Style Dining on March 28!
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48 MAIN STREET
SOUTHBOROUGH, MA 01772
main number 508-490-8250
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