WHS’s Spanish 5 ECE students, led by Mrs.Cyr, got the opportunity to visit Yale University to continue their study of the language, and learn more about Spanish in post secondary education.
Spanish 5 is a UConn ECE course that offers students the opportunity to earn 6 college credits, while covering both compositional and conversational Spanish. Students who qualify for the class must take 4 years of honors Spanish and be recommended to pursue the language at the next level. This is an exclusive opportunity for the most passionate students. This year, Spanish 5 has a record-high 16 students, which granted them the opportunity to take a field trip to Yale.
On this trip, students visited the Yale Poorvu Center for Teaching and Learning in New Haven. They had the opportunity to meet with Yale faculty regarding the creation of the online repository Yale en primera persona: Narrativas hispanas.
The repository is a, “collection of first-person digital narratives, presented in Spanish by members of the Spanish-speaking community at Yale.” This program highlights both learners of the language, and native Spanish speakers worldwide. The goal of the program is to increase visibility, and grow appreciation for the beautiful and diverse language of Spanish. Students in UConn 5 ECE have been watching these videos over the course of a few months, and then got to learn in person the importance of the program.
Afterwards, students attended a Q&A panel, conversed, and mingled with Yale students, professors, and Yale faculty regarding the creation of the repository, understanding and learning language perspectives, and opportunities. Overall, the Spanish 5 ECE students were very excited to immerse themselves further into the Spanish language, while visiting one of the most prestigious universities in the world.
