(page under construction)
In this course we read two short novels, the second of which, Ardiente paciencia, has as one of its main characters Pablo Neruda, the great Chilean poet. In order to better understand the novel, we begin by reading a few of Neruda’s Elemental Odes. As a follow-up homework assignment, each student writes an ode to publish on the class Blog. These few examples speak for themselves.
Heritage students in particular have well-defined goals for language learning. For some, it is to communicate with family members, for others, a more pragmatic objective. For this purpose, as a final project I ask students to determine one specific task that they wish to accomplish in the heritage language and to develop a project that will allow them to draw nearer to these goals. Here are a few final projects that exemplify the diversity of interests over the years: the first, a portfolio honoring the grandmother by whom he was raised, and videos on Frida Kahlo, the story of my grandparents immigration, the evolution of names in Cuba, LGBTQ in México, Hugo Chavez and US as Sacrificial Lamb,