This project is for both social studies and Spanish. This book is about post civil war life in Spain. It focuses on a teenage girl named Angela who goes to live with her aunt and uncles to continue her schooling. It deals with family dynamics and Angela’s struggle to be happy and fit in with her new home.
“Había también más referencias a la guerra y cosas políticas en España. Subraya palabras que son vocabulario nuevo y referencias políticas. Después de terminar de escribir mi ensayo sobre educacion sexual para mi credito de estudias sociales, puedo investigar las cosas en en el libro para mi estudias sociales,” (BLOG, Feb 23).
(Translation: “There was also many references of the war and political things in Spain [in Nada]. I underline words that are new vocabulary and political references. After the end of writing my essay about sex education for my social studies credit, I can research the things in the book for social studies.”)
The book is in Spanish. I have a version in English to help me understand. I timed out sections of the book to read at the beginning of the process. I took notes on references to political parties and events of the war. Things like this are what I have researched to help me learn the greater context of book. I have also been taking notes on vocab. I planned to make vocab quizzes for myself to solidify my understanding of them so I can use them and recognize them. I did make one vocab quiz, but I did not pursue this learning technique as much I thought I would. It has definitely been helpful to be writing words down, and it is also helpful to try and find other ways to say things using my current Spanish vocabulary.
“Conocí con Ben, Adam, y Caroline. Ben y yo decidimos que debo especificar mi estudios. Adam me dio un libro que se llama "Nada" por Carmen Laforet. El libro es sobre una chica y su familia en la guerra civil de España. Estudiaré las problemas que surgen en el libro. Hice un calendario por las páginas del libro debo leer cada semana,” (BLOG, Feb 10). (Translation: “I met with Ben, Adam, and Caroline. Ben and I decided that I should specify my studies. Adam gave me a book called “Nada” by Carmen Laforet. The book is about a girl and her family in the Spanish civil war. I will study the problem that arise in the book. I made a calendar for the pages of the I should read each week.”)
I met with Ben to discuss what I can do with what I am researching. We decided that I could make bookmarks that future Spanish 5 classes could use to understand historical context within Nada. I know that gaining a basic understanding of what was happening in Spain at the time helped me understand the circumstances in which the characters were living in the novel. “The thing is this info that I find helpful for readers is not info they can get from the book. So I thought of writing about this background info and its relevance to book, but that didn't sound very interactive. Ben suggested I make bookmarks that can have a page number on it that corresponds to a certain time in the book when the info on that bookmark could be used to better understand the context of the events occuring. I liked that idea. We decided that there will be 1) a page number, 2) topic, 3) bullet points/blurb of context, and 4) a discussion question on the bookmark,” (BLOG 5/11). I am enjoying learning Spanish and I have enjoyed the story of Nada. I plan to listen to more Spanish music and I choreographed to a Spanish song last week. By hearing and reading the language and by researching history, I feel like I have gained a better understanding of Spain’s culture. I am not expert, but I feel like I have a more solid perspective of how Spain fits into my understanding the world in the 1930’s and 40’s.
Outside of the Pilot, I hope to travel. I how to learn more about other countries’ cultures, because knowing what I know about world history is mostly American history, so it is a very limited. There is so much that I think I could learn from other cultures with different customs and circumstances that I am used to.