I am a part of the Intermediate Spanish group at MAMS. Language classes at Mass Academy are fully immersive and taught by Mrs. Wildfong. During class, we are not allowed to use any English. I came into this class with no experience in Spanish and now feel comfortable with a lot of the basics. Not being able to use English helped me to learn useful phrases fast. This class is also set up in table groups so that peers of different experience levels can work together. We play board games, sing songs, and do fun activities in class to help us learn the language. It’s a fun and rewarding class that I’m glad to be able to experience.
In order to get a better understanding of Spanish culture, Mrs. Wildfong organized an assignment where everyone in the class made a piece of cuisine from a Spanish-speaking country and brought it in for the class to try. This was then followed up with a presentation of our recipe in Spanish. Considering that I knew no Spanish at the beginning of the year, it really surprised me that I was able to present and explain a whole recipe using only Spanish. Sadly I ended up finding out that I am likely allergic to the kind of peppers I was using in my recipe, but all the comments on the dish said that it turned out well.
As part of the class, each student is required to log 20+ minutes of Spanish listening twice per week. This can be done with music, TV shows, or even having a conversation with a native Spanish speaker. The log also has to be done in Spanish if you are able to. The assignment shown is my B-term listening log that describes the shows I watched on Netflix and the music I listened to.