Whatever you learn, do it purposefully

Redesigning Language Learning Through Projects

How can students personalize their language learning through a passion-based project that suits their individual needs and learning style?

The Why

Throughout my experience as a Language Specialist in education, I've come to realize that traditional language learning methods don't always work for every student. That's why I've developed a new approach that puts students in control of their language learning journey. Instead of forcing them to learn a language they may not find useful, or teaching them in a way that doesn't suit their learning style, I empower students to decide what language they want to learn, and how they want to learn it. By putting the WHY of their learning process in their hands, I've seen my students become more motivated, engaged, and successful in their language learning. Join me in revolutionizing the way we teach languages.

  • Purposeful language learning, where learners have a clear understanding of why they are learning a language and what they want to achieve, is strongly linked to intrinsic motivation. When learners are intrinsically motivated, they are more likely to engage in learning activities with a sense of enjoyment and satisfaction, rather than just completing tasks for external rewards or to meet expectations. By connecting language learning to learners' personal goals and interests, they are more likely to be motivated to continue learning, even when faced with challenges. This motivation can result in a deeper, more meaningful learning experience and ultimately, greater success in achieving language proficiency.

  • Understanding the goals behind language learning is crucial to the success of the project. Learning a language should be tailored to meet specific needs, such as reading a book or understanding song lyrics, rather than just focusing on general language skills. By identifying and prioritizing individual goals, learners can create a more efficient and effective language learning plan.

  • Understanding and enjoying the culture of the language can deepen learners' connection to the learning process. Language and culture are intricately linked, and by immersing oneself in the cultural aspects of the language, learners gain a richer understanding of the language itself. Moreover, learning about the culture can help learners relate to the language in a more personal way, making the learning experience more meaningful and enjoyable. Understanding cultural nuances and expressions can also help learners communicate more effectively and appropriately with native speakers, ultimately leading to greater language proficiency.

Educator-Led Spanish Projects

How can students improve their Spanish communication skills while they understand culture, history, and tradition, and become multicultural chefs?

Project Overview: For a whole year, students in the Advanced Spanish program traveled the world while learning Spanish through food. The program aimed to teach students about nutrition and its relationship with Traditional Chinese Medicine in China, the tradition in the kitchen, and the origin of their spices in Oman, or Indigenous food in Costa Rica. Throughout their travels, students had the opportunity to learn from locals, read recipes and research papers in Spanish, watch videos and documentaries about the topic, have discussions comparing and contrasting their learnings with their own countries, and write articles and letters in Spanish about what they had learned, all while fulfilling the requirements of the AP Spanish program. These requirements include demonstrating proficiency in speaking, reading, writing, and listening, as well as understanding cultural and literary works in Spanish. By exploring the relationship between food and culture, students were able to deepen their understanding of the Spanish language and culture, while also meeting the rigorous standards of the AP Spanish program.

Student-Led Language Projects

Welsh Language and Culture

  • How can I best learn the welsh language and its culture?

  • The final product that the student ended up going with was a Welsh love spoon accompanied by a poem that I orchestrated. Unfortunately due to time and schedule, she was unable to design the physical spoon but was able to draw what she had in mind.

    Each of the symbols represented a different value that she hold dear:

    Tree - To continue growing and developing as human

    Heart - To Love and be loved

    Lock - Safety and Security, a home

    Wheel - Hard work and perseverance

    Twist/hourglass - Fluidity and time, to keep adapting and changing

    Earth - Origins and self-care

    Space - To remember we are not alone and there is so much more to discover

  • The student wanted to explore what made languages so unique and interesting. The year prior she studied Spanish, simply because it was something she already had knowledge of and felt comfortable with. This year, however, she wanted to push that aside, she wanted to pick a language that firstly she knew nothing about, but also a language that others knew little about.

    She is not a linguist nor do I particularly enjoy learning the rules of language. She wanted to study mythology, history, and songs, these were what made Welsh so appealing. Being such an old language that is so unlike any other it was exciting to try and unearth its secrets.

Spanish Language and Fashion history

  • How can I create an amazing language project, show my progress, and keep myself accountable for my work?

  • For this project, the student combined some of her passions like photography, fashion, and Spanish culture. As you would be able to see in her final product, she used photography to tell the story of antique fashion in Spain from the 16th century until the 20th century and used everything she learned through the Spanish courses she took this year to write a few comments that described the pictures.

  • Her initial idea for this project was to illustrate the evolution of Spanish fashion from the 16th century up to now, and for that, she did a lot of research collecting pictures, and learning about Spanish culture and fashion. While doing that she also was learning Spanish at the same time, building her vocabulary which really helped her create her summative.

  • When she started building her portfolio and displaying all the pictures she realized that she really wanted to focus only on the antique Spanish fashion because the old photographs that she collected held so much history and beauty, and she didn't want to mix them with the recent pictures. Therefore she did even more research on that period of time and gathered more old beautiful photographs.

Food and Culture in Morocco in Spanish

  • First, the student hopes that people will learn more about Moroccan cuisine and culture through the blog and that they will see that there are many different and unconventional ways to learn a language. She personally always thought she had to take classes, or have a tutor before I could learn to speak Spanish, but this project proved her wrong.

  • Her initial plan was to have cooking videos with each recipe that is on the website, to show the process and explain the steps in further detail. She also thought it would be a good opportunity to work on her speaking. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out, and she ended up only having one video, but she still plans on adding more in the future.

  • Her biggest takeaway from this project is that languages can be fun. She always dreads starting to learn a new skill because it seems like a very daunting and long process, but she now knows that there are many ways to do that in a fun and enjoyable way.