🌎 My Spanish Texas
End-of-Semester My Spanish Texas Creative Project
Project Overview
At the end of each module, we have been completing critical tasks that relate to El mundo tejano. A task is defined as a communicative activity with a specific outcome that simulates a real-world scenario. The critical nature of the communicative activities we have been working on motivate us to reflect on the bilingual and bicultural reality of Texas and our relationship to it. Some of these tasks have included (1) composing an email to city council arguing for the importance of including Spanish language tours at the San Jose Mission in San Antonio; (2) creating a logo and a slogan promoting the importance of developing bilingual programs in Corpus Christi; (3) developing a brief presentation explaining the role that the arts play in highlighting the complexity of the border community in El Paso; and (4) producing a podcast that highlights the “Pido la Palabra” project in Austin, which offers university-level creative writing classes to incarcerated people who speak Spanish.
In the My Spanish Texas final project, your group (two to three members total) will expand on your personal and/or professional relationship to Spanish in Texas by designing and completing your own critical task in Spanish. The El mundo tejano tasks should serve as models:
- They demonstrate some of the types of tasks that can form the basis of your project (e.g., a presentation, an ad or other marketing material, a podcast, an itinerary, a short story, a recipe). Be creative!
- They demonstrate how research will be required to adequately situate your task in a real-world scenario that promotes Spanish and bilingualism in a Texas community of interest to you (e.g., campus town, hometown, or other).
- They demonstrate how you have all the linguistic tools you need to design and complete your task IN SPANISH.
In summary, the My Spanish Texas project submission will be a critical task in Spanish that broadens your knowledge of– and explores real-world connections to– Spanish and the Hispanic community in Texas. The project will shed light on the importance and value of bilingualism in Texas and your relationship to it.
Submission Steps: During the last month of the semester, you will be working on your project in a step-by-step format
- Step 1: In-class “Brainstorm”
- First you will submit a brainstorm assignment. Specifically you will align on (1) your personal/professional relationship to Spanish and bilingualism in different regions of Texas; (2) specific themes of interest in those regions that highlight Spanish and bilingualism; and (3) creative communicative activities that can be applied to your specific themes in an authentic way. (See ¡Manos a la obra! below for guidance.) This assignment will be submitted to your instructor for feedback.
- Step 2: In-class “Proposal”
- Then, you will submit a project proposal, where you consider in detail your most promising critical task. This step will also be submitted to your instructor for feedback.
- Step 3: “In-class writing 7”
- Every module concludes with an in-class writing activity. In the last module of the semester (Vol. 2 / Mod. 3), “In-class writing 7” will be themed around El Mundo Tejano and your My Spanish Texas project. The specific prompt will be shared on the day of the assignment.
- Step 4: “Project submission”
- Your My Spanish Texas project will be submitted at this time. This includes your critical task (in Spanish), in addition to a brief summary by each group member (in English) of (i) how they contributed to the project; (ii) their personal/professional relationship to the task; and (iii) what they learned from this project.
- Step 5: “¡Conversemos! 7”
- Every module concludes with an in-class ¡Conversemos! activity. In the last module of the semester (Vol. 2 / Mod. 3), “¡Conversemos! 7” will be themed around The My Spanish Texas project. Specifically, the class will be divided into two groups. Half the class will informally share their projects, while the other half will be the audience– imagine a poster presentation format at a conference or convention. Then the roles will be switched. As with all ¡Conversemos! activities, you will complete a pre-activity assignment that will help you prepare for your roles as both a presenter and an audience member.
¡Manos a la obra!
Personalization: Choose one of the following categories
- Spanish and bilingualism in your campus town
- Spanish and bilingualism in your hometown
- Spanish and bilingualism in another location of interest
Research: Research themes that are of interest to you and that highlight Spanish and bilingualism in your selected Texas community, in addition to any other topics that will help you situate your project in a real-world scenario. Below we include a few examples of research topics that were required to complete the design of the El mundo tejano tasks.
- San Antonio: San Jose Mission; The Alamo; and the logistics of their tours
- Corpus Christi: Bilingual programs in Corpus Christi schools
- El Paso: City demographics; Border Tuner by Rafael Lozano-Hemmer; grants offered by the Texas Commission on the Arts
- Austin: The Pido la Palabra project; UT Austin’s Teresa Lozano Long Institute of Latin American Studies (LLILAS); the Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Collection (LLILAS Benson); and the Texas Prison Education Initiative (TPEI)
Task: Choose a creative and relevant format for your project. As a reminder, your project will be to complete a communicative activity with a specific outcome that simulates a real-world scenario. It is “critical” in the sense that it should motivate you to reflect on the bilingual and bicultural reality of Texas and your relationship to it. Here are some examples of communicative activities that can be applied to your specific real-world scenarios. (Many other activities can be approved by your instructor.)
- A formal presentation
- An ad or other marketing material
- A podcast or short-form video content
- A short story or poem
- A website or blog
- Other (e.g., a travel itinerary, a recipe)
