Esperanza Renace Novel/ Historical Fiction - Advanced Reading Course in Spanish

Welcome! This is a course that is focused around the novel "Esperanza Renace" ("Esperanza Rising" in English) by Pam Muñoz Ryan. We will be taking on one chapter from the book each week and dissecting it based on the new vocabulary terms, characters, themes, foreshadowing, predictions and overall comprehension. The required text for this class is the Spanish version of the novel. The story takes place in Mexico in the early 1920's shortly after the Mexican Revolution, this allows many cultural topics to also be discussed such as the wealthy vs the poor in Mexico at the time, the indigenous cultures and their roles in society, foods, celebrations such as "quinceañeras",  immigration to the United States and more. 

"Esperanza Rising" (the English edition) is targeted at students in late elementary school/early middle school. The Spanish version is still written at the same level, however for nonnative speakers or speakers of Spanish as a second language it is best suited for students at least at year 2 in high school Spanish. Students must be comfortable with the Spanish language at an intermediate to advanced level. The story in completely in Spanish however class discussion will be led in English with questions and responses in Spanish (when necessary). Native Spanish speakers are welcome, students that have previously read the novel in English and are looking to improve their Spanish are welcome, Spanish students of mine at levels 2 and 3 are welcome and anyone else that feels confident with Spanish sentence structure and verb conjugations. 

Each week students will receive a Google Slides presentation related to the specific chapter. The presentation will include a Spanish read along of the chapter, a list of new/challenging vocabulary words from the chapter, comprehension questions, and any extra activities or resources that I find useful in adding to the comprehension and language acquisition. During the first class each week we will discuss the new vocabulary words, watch a short clip or song that is related to the story, discuss possible predictions based on the new set of vocabulary, and I will select a passage or two from the new chapter to get students engaged. The second meeting of each week will begin with a game that helps students practice the new vocabulary terms (either Gim Kit, Quizziz or Blooket) and then we will continue with our class discussion led by comprehension questions about the chapter. 

The use of Spanish during our live discussions will be encouraged but not forced, I do not want a student to avoid contributing to the discussion or giving an answer/opinion simply because they do not know how to communicate it in Spanish. The main goal of this class is not to improve conversational Spanish it is to improve Spanish reading skills and to be able to comprehend the information/ acquire the language. Please note that students will gain confidence, vocabulary and reading skills in Spanish without a doubt, however the goal of this class is not to focus on conversational skills in Spanish, it will be part of it but not the focus. 

Each Chapter is about 20 pages in length and the first 2 chapters are combined into the first week. We will have our class on Mondays and Thursdays in order to allow in between time for reading. 

There are no required homework assignments for this class besides weekly reading of the novel. A certificate of completion will be offered upon successful completion of the course, however no letter grade is offered.