El Espectáculo de la Cocina
For this project, we were required to write out a Cuban, Mexican, or Caribbean recipe in Spanish. I wrote out the recipe for Bermudan Spanish Rice and my partner, Sterling, wrote out Green Chile Enchiladas. After we had the recipes written out in Spanish, we wrote out introductions for our videos. We were also required to make a video, a cooking show, for our dishes. Sterling and I made both of our dishes, but we ended up going with mine, Bermudan Spanish Rice. Enjoy!
El Proyecto de la Biografía
The project, El Proyecto de la Biografía, is exactly what it says it is, the biography project. We were to pick a famous Mexican or Hispanic person to write a short biography of and make a video of. I chose the Hispanic singer Ritchie Valens, who was an early Rock and Roll musician. We went through different drafts of our biographies, and got them down into note cards so we could memorize them for our videos. The videos had to be at least a minute in length. We also had to make an art piece for our person. I painted a portrait of him. We were supposed to mention our art and show our art in the videos as well.
El Día de los Muertos
For this project, we we're to pick someone or something, i.e. an animal, to write a obituary about. I chose my grandfather. Once we had obituaries written, we hung them with a picture of our special someone on an alter. Besides this we wrote two Calaveras, which are Spanish poems about the dead. They are meant to satirize or parody people. For our project though, we were to write about people who are alive. Mine were about a cashier, or cajero, and Kanye West. I chose Kanye because he is a joke.
Our process of refinement was extensive for this project. For the obituary, we had a sheet that we wrote everything out on. Then we put it onto our final papers, except I added a little more words. The Calaveras on the other hand, were harder and more refined. I went through around three or four drafts for the cajero poem and the Kanye West poem. The cajero poem was my best one I think. I made it perfect the first time I wrote it and then lost it. I rewrote it the best I could from memory, but it still didn't turn out the same. I'm still proud of it though.
My understanding of Mexican culture has not grown much through this project. I had learned about the day of the dead a few years before hand, and had really liked it. Not to say that I didn't get anything out of this project, I just knew most of it. It was nice to review it though. I think the most interesting part of the holiday is that it's a Mexican holiday and has Christian influences in it, yet it still seems to be mainly Mexican. They have maintained this holiday to be as close to the original as possible, even with European influence, something that didn't work with other prominent holidays such as Christmas.
Our process of refinement was extensive for this project. For the obituary, we had a sheet that we wrote everything out on. Then we put it onto our final papers, except I added a little more words. The Calaveras on the other hand, were harder and more refined. I went through around three or four drafts for the cajero poem and the Kanye West poem. The cajero poem was my best one I think. I made it perfect the first time I wrote it and then lost it. I rewrote it the best I could from memory, but it still didn't turn out the same. I'm still proud of it though.
My understanding of Mexican culture has not grown much through this project. I had learned about the day of the dead a few years before hand, and had really liked it. Not to say that I didn't get anything out of this project, I just knew most of it. It was nice to review it though. I think the most interesting part of the holiday is that it's a Mexican holiday and has Christian influences in it, yet it still seems to be mainly Mexican. They have maintained this holiday to be as close to the original as possible, even with European influence, something that didn't work with other prominent holidays such as Christmas.
El Raro Que Soy
In this project, we learned about different describing words. We practiced describing the room and other people. We then put our knowledge to work and wrote letters about ourselves, describing ourselves. We then drew pictures that define us. We had to make most of it out of Spanish words. My picture could be seen as the Death Star from Star Wars, because I like Star Wars, or a record, because I collect records. The letter is being sent to a school in Mexico.
What is one specific concept or skill that you learned over the course of this project?
One specific concept or skill I learned over the course of this project is the ability to describe someone. I know it's a little broad, but I know I did improve on describing people and objects.
In what way did your ability to describe people in Spanish improve?
I learned multiple new words that made describing people easier.
How is your art representative of "beautiful work"?
Personally, I don't think it's that good. I don't really like my work. I could've done so much better on it.
If given an opportunity to redo or refine, what specifically would you do differently?
I would choose a different image for my art piece. I don't know what I'd do, but it wouldn't be my face. I could've done better on the art piece.
What is one specific concept or skill that you learned over the course of this project?
One specific concept or skill I learned over the course of this project is the ability to describe someone. I know it's a little broad, but I know I did improve on describing people and objects.
In what way did your ability to describe people in Spanish improve?
I learned multiple new words that made describing people easier.
How is your art representative of "beautiful work"?
Personally, I don't think it's that good. I don't really like my work. I could've done so much better on it.
If given an opportunity to redo or refine, what specifically would you do differently?
I would choose a different image for my art piece. I don't know what I'd do, but it wouldn't be my face. I could've done better on the art piece.