Brianna Maylone

Instead of a comprehensive final for my Spanish 201 class, our professor gave us a final project. We were given the task to write a children’s book in Spanish. The books that we wrote are going to be donated to local Spanish-speaking students in Kindergarten through Fifth Grade. For my libro infantil, I wrote about the experiences that a brother and sister had in a culture other than their own. The story starts out with children in their geography class in a small town in Costa Rica. The teacher begins to talk about Spanish culture and suddenly the two children are transported to Spain. They begin to appreciate a culture that is not their own while they explore the wonders of Spain: bull running in Pamplona and Flamenco dancing and tapas in Southern Spain. After a while of exploring the streets, the children wish to go home. The siblings are transported back to their classroom where nothing has happened in the eyes of the teacher and their teacher. There were multiple steps in the process of making the book, which included writing a proposal, writing three drafts, seeing a Spanish tutor, illustrating, and formatting the book. It was an extensive process; however, I believe that it was the most beneficial assignment of the semester because my knowledge of Spanish improved immensely. I liked being challenged by the process, it helped me grow in creativity and pushed me to really try hard. I hope that my book gives the students that receive it a deeper understanding of how to appreciate other cultures.