Spanish 8 project explores the world

Learning another language opens a world of possibilities, and for Fort Plain High School Spanish 8 students, researching and marketing places where that language is spoken provided a unique opportunity to tap into history, culture and opportunities to explore.

Spanish teacher Melanie Pombrio and Library Media Specialist Tariyka Chaulk partnered to challenge the students to produce travel brochures for vacations in Spanish-speaking countries, territories and cities. Besides studying a destination’s past and present and identifying interesting activities, the students had to research the logistics and costs of travel to, from and within each destination, meals, and excursions, and then establish a trip budget. They also had to research requirements for entry, such as passports, visas and vaccinations.

Airports, transfers, hotels, day trips, festivals, local fare, street maps, rental cars, natural attractions, native animals, art, cultural and historic sites, special events – the students researched all of this and more. Once they gathered their information, they used Adobe Spark to create colorful and information-packed travel brochures.

The project tapped a wide range of skills for the students, integrating study of Spanish language and culture with English, social studies, technology, visual presentation, science, math, marketing and more, as a creative – and fun – way to learn.

Pombrio and Chaulk said the project was an eye-opening experience for many students as they discovered the many differences in daily life around the world. “Some of the students were surprised by things such as challenges getting from one place to another in their chosen countries compared to what they know from living here, or by costs and requirements of traveling and visiting other countries,” they said.

The project also piqued the students’ interest in places to visit in the future. “They had to sell their destination to their classmates with their brochures, and many of the students now want to travel to the places they researched,” Pombrio and Chaulk said. “They had a really good time with the project.”

Here are a few of the students’ brochures: