I’ve always been excited to share quince (Salvadoran Independence Day) with my students. On September 15th this year, we actually played handball (see my last English-language post!), so we postponed our quince celebration for Monday, September 18th. My first year to celebrate quince, we did a cultural Bingo I was sooo excited about. I laid out all kinds of things I had related to El Salvador; from souvenirs I somehow never gave away, maps, and my high school ID, to pieces of Fernando Llort art, Hilasal towels, and my Dad’s rewards cards from The Coffee Cup (they say “Don James”!). Students walked around the room with clipboards and a Bingo game I wrote en español with clues based on all the cultural artifacts. How cool, right? Realia! Authentic material! Man, just writing this down makes me want to be a student in my class! But it went horribly. They hated it. I was crushed. That first year was a trying one because I was figuring out how to assert myself as a teacher, and they were figuring out what their limits were in the space we shared. I assumed that if I was excited about something, my students would be, too. While it is very, very true that a teacher’s energy can set the tone for a classroom environment, the above is not. Assume nothing with teenagers. 😝 Additionally, my first year teaching was challenging because I had very little experience as a disciplinarian. I do not claim now to know everything about positively redirecting undesirable student behavior, but our space is so much better managed now, it’s really night and day. I try to set and communicate clear expectations for my students and follow through with defined consequences when something’s not working. Most of the time we do ok. 👍 But back to quince! After the crash-and-burn scenario of Year One, we did a scaled down celebration Year 2 that focused on quince as a part of Hispanic Heritage Month. But Year 3 we went all out (see a pattern?) and tried something I was definitely too scared to do before: cook in the classroom. If you’ve never cooked with students, I’ll tell you now, it will be a huge mess, you will be exhausted, and something will go wrong. But it is worth it. I decided we would make pupusas. A pupusa, the national dish of El Salvador, is kind of like a stuffed corn tortilla, usually with cheese and refried red beans inside. I practiced the whole thing from start to finish at home before I attempted it in the classroom. The magic part where you’re supposed to close up the corn masa and nothing falls out is, well, a bit tricky…Having made pupusas with students to celebrate quince for two years now, I still haven’t mastered curtido (a cabbage and carrot slaw), but my pupusas are no longer strangely square. Progress!
In terms of classroom logistics, we start with a few videos as listening comprehension activities and I model how to make a pupusa. (These resources are available as free downloads on my Teachers Pay Teachers Page. We ❤️ Lupita’s kitchen and have used her how-to video both years.) Then everyone goes and washes their hands. While they’re doing that, I put out wax paper on each desk and give each student the masa, queso, and aceite (oil) they’ll need. The actual pupusa-making is a happy free-for-all, my favorite kind of classroom. Another piece of advice about cooking in the classroom: enlist help from parents. I sent an email inviting parents to join and/or consider loaning us electric pancake griddles (these work great for any kind of cooking in a classroom setting). Last year, one student even brought pupusas that a Salvadoran friend of her mother’s made! Her curtido was much better than mine… My students from last year were so pumped to make pupusas again. New students were hooked. My seniors even hablaron en español the whole time and asked to make a second pupusa! We’ve come a long way from unhappy Bingo. ¡Feliz (belated) quince!
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AuthorSC native, Salvadoran at heart, Spanish teacher, trivia nerd, and novice blogger. Archives
January 2018
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