Middle School Spanish Class Takes Food Unit to Kitchen

The third floor of the Whitson Building was filled with the aroma of cultural foods as eighth-grade students in teacher Jill McLeavy’s Spanish class spiced up the conclusion of their unit of study with a food party. 

With norteño music in the background, the desks were moved together as a table to emulate a sit-down, family-style meal for the students and Ms. McLeavy to enjoy. The variety of food included pastelitos de guayaba (guava pastries), empanadas, churros, flan, arepas, tacos, lemonade, limeade, horchata, agua de jamaica, and more. 

The students had been studying the Food Unit in class and learning about traditional foods from Spanish-speaking countries, ingredients, flavors, basic food preparation, as well as cultural practices. Ms. McLeavy had also been discussing the holiday, Day of the Dead. While enjoying the food, the students participated in speaking activities with their partner to discuss what they already knew about the holiday using proper stem-change verbs, prepositions of place, and food vocabulary in Spanish. The class watched and described Day of the Dead videos, compared Day of the Dead altars, and watched trailers for El Libro de la Vida and Coco.

“One of my favorite parts of teaching Spanish is seeing students put everything together,” said Ms. McLeavy. “With one year of Spanish already under their belt, they can speak about so many more topics and can circumlocute to ¨get their point across¨  even if they don't have the words they want. It's great to see the students speak off-the-cuff and connect the dots!”