Life is pure theater… just like Spanish class in middle and high school, where students improvise, take part in dramatized readings and do expression exercises to communicate effectively.
Teenagers in middle and high school, halfway between childhood and academic specialization, look first of all to their peers, their classmates, their friends; at the same time, they live with the fear of looking foolish, with a changing body they don’t yet feel is their own and a personality still taking shape. Doing drama activities as a group gives them other techniques to improve how they communicate. Those skills show in the debates and presentations that fill a good part of every class, which the absence of a textbook makes possible while also demanding material that is always being created and developed.
Our experience in these classrooms confirms, once again, that reading is essential to knowing a language and its culture better. Having the time and the spaces to read together is one of the things that sets teaching at Dragón apart.
It may seem obvious, but reading and writing are the essential foundations of learning. Reading aloud, in a group and on your own, improves intonation, comprehension, discussion, spelling and vocabulary. Writing, and of course speaking, trains the ability to convey nuances, details and shades far richer than the inherent simplicity of everyday messages.
Teenagers may well spend too much time on their phones, but they also enjoy performing Blood Wedding or Story of a Staircase.
Teresa Negrete, Spanish Language and Literature teacher.
