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Letter to my penpal!

     During this Spanish one course, we have been learning the basics of Spanish. We learned verbs like ser and estar,  basic conversation, pronunciation, and even Spanish culture. While all of this was very new to me, I was able to draw comparisons between this and what I had been learning in the French courses I took throughout middle school so it was not completely new and overwhelming. A big part of what we did in class is practice Pronunciation we often would practice reading example conversations to see greetings and verbs are used. So for our action project, we tied this together by writing fake letters to penpals to teach them about Spanish culture. Also to practice speaking Spanish by creating an audio recording.


Dear Pen Pal,

I heard that you are about to visit Pilsen! This is some really great news because I am fairly familiar with the Pilsen area, and I want to offer some info on the area. First of all, it’s located right by the National Museum of Mexican Art, this is very important to note since the area is known for its art scene.  Pilsen is located on the lower west side of Chicago so you can take the pink line to 18th street station to get there. Once you get there, there are tons of things for you to check out in Pilsen, which is one of the leading Mexican neighborhoods, and it is one of the main places that celebrate the Day of the Dead, which by the way is today 11/1/2021 so you should definitely try and celebrate it while you're there!


Dear Pen pal,

It’s the first of November, so you know what that means!... Or not but that’s okay mi amigo/a because I would be delighted to tell you all about it. First of all what in essence is a day in which Mexicans celebrate the lives of families that have already passed, but it is not at all a sad occasion. Through tradition, Mexicans celebrate loved ones' life and death. According to Tom Schaddner’s “A Guide to Día de Los Muertos in Pilsen”, Some of the many traditions of Day of the Dead are Calaveras, or sugar skulls, an ofrenda, and pan de Muerto. , Pan de Muerto, is a sweetened, decorated with bones to represent the deceased person. Lastly the most important is the ofrenda. According to “A guide to Día de Los Muertos in Pilsen”, “Ofrendas, or offerings, are small, altar-like displays consisting of flowers, candles, photographs, clothing mementos and certain foods or drinks that are designed to welcome the spirits of the dead back to earth.” these are supposed to give those who passed the chance to experience the things they loved again. I hope this gave you a bit of an idea of what The day of the dead is. And how many people celebrate it.  Another thing about me is that holidays are a big deal for me and my family.  We love to celebrate, the holidays that we celebrate together as a family are Thanksgiving, Christmas, 4th of July, and New years. Often times we celebrate by just meeting up and eating together.  How do you celebrate holidays and which ones do you celebrate?

My script:

Me - ¡Hola amigo/a! ¡Buenas tardes!

Penpal - Buenas tardes

Mi nombre es Ethan se escribe E-T-H-A-N

Me - ¿cómo estás?

Penpal - Muy bien y tú  

Me - Estoy Bien

Me - yo soy moreno y joven

Me - adiós mi amigo

Penpal - adiós


Here's my recording!






Reflection:


Spanish 1 has taught me a lot not just how to speak basic Spanish but also about differerent aspects of Spanish culture.  This action project was interesting because it had us discover and research Spanish culture here in America.  I really enjoyed the perspective this project has offered me. Another thing I realized with this project was how I struggled with making sure everything for the script was in the right gender and number due to my limited Spanish knowledge.  Altogether this was a very interesting and challenging project.









Works cited

”Barrio Pilsen Chicago , Murales, Arte y Cultura”. Visitar Chicago,

 https://visitarchicago.com/pilsen-chicago/. Accessed 12 Oct. 2021.


Schaffner, Tom.  “A Guide to Día de los Muertos in Pilsen.”  LStopTours.  24 Sept. 2019, https://www.lstoptours.com/blog/celebrate-dia-de-los-muertos-in-pilse.  Accessed 12 Oct. 2021. 

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