The End of the Semester

By Darik Olson

I enjoy the end of the semester. Not just because it means that we are even closer to a much deserved summer break, but also because it provides an opportunity for me to appreciate how far the students have come since we began school back in the fall. The linguist in me, of course, enjoys seeing how they are able to express more complex ideas and thoughts using different grammatical structures we have learned during the year and use them with more confidence. But as a teacher at The Downtown School, I appreciate witnessing the growth they demonstrate in their cultural awareness and literacy, one of the goals we have in the Spanish program.

This semester, Spanish 3 students were provided with opportunities to explore multiple perspectives, experiences and resources important to developing this cultural awareness and literacy. They explored the themes of history and identity in Central America, and they also examined the diversity of experience and identity of different immigrant groups in the U.S. They read and analyzed poetry, compared and contrasted music, read and listened to interviews, and watched documentaries and movies. To better understand concepts like religious syncretism and African diaspora, we welcomed a music anthropologist who illustrated these concepts through music and dance. The students also listened to a lawyer from the Office of the Attorney General of Washington, who spoke with them about immigration law and some ways in which those laws have affected our immigrant communities here in Washington State.

So when it came to the end of the semester, I was once again taken aback by the learning the students demonstrated. Of course I was pleased that in their final writing and speaking assessments, they synthesized what they had learned by citing specific examples from the sources they had been exposed to this semester. I was also impressed that they shared their opinions and then illustrated them through examples of what they had seen, read and heard. But I was not necessarily expecting that many of the students would illustrate their understanding by drawing comparisons and looking to contrast what they had learned during first semester too: the history of Mexico and Mexican identity and the role of Spain in the Spanish-speaking Caribbean amongst other themes.

Our school year at DTS is not finished yet. But as usual I will go into the summer grateful and appreciative for the learning and effort my students showed this year.