Twelve Perham High School Spanish I students and 42 Pelican Rapids High School Spanish I students met in March to learn about six Spanish speaking countries in South America.
The meeting was an opportunity for students to get to know each other. They spent time researching the different countries online and creating T-shirt designs to represent each country.
Countries the students are studying include: Costa Rica, Colombia, Cuba, Guatemala, Chile and Argentina.
Perham Spanish teacher Amy Haire and Pelican Rapids Spanish teacher Bridgette Holl coordinated the project with the support of the West Central Minnesota Multi-District Cultural Collaborative.
The collaborative is made up of 10 districts (Pelican Rapids, Fergus Falls, Underwood, Battle Lake, Perham, Frazee-Vergas, Detroit Lakes, Lake Park-Audubon, Hawley and Barnesville), that partner with one another to raise cultural awareness, provide additional language learning opportunities and increase academic performance.
ADVERTISEMENT
For the six weeks after their initial face-to-face meeting, Perham and Pelican Rapids students will continue to meet and conduct research online, using course management software called Moodle. They are working in mixed groups to research the culture of a country, specifically focusing on food, family, art, dance, sports and music.
After the research phase, students will generate cultural trivia questions. On May 4, Perham students will travel back to Pelican Rapids to compete in the Cultural Trivia Olympics.
There will be one written round, followed by two oral rounds of competition. Student-developed questions will be used. The winning school will take home a traveling 'trophy,' a banana piñata.
