"Success is no accident.  It is hard work, perseverance, learning, studying, sacrifice, and most of all love of what you are doing or learning to do."
                                                - Pele
AP SPANISH COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT

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BILINGUAL POLICE OFFICER VISIT
Students were surprised the first day of school when a former student
dressed as a criminal entered the classroom and stole their summer homework that they diligently had done the first week of summer
vacation. :)   After a quick call for help to a bilingual police officer (arranged ahead of time), he arrived and interrogated the class to get a description of the criminal and a narration in Spanish of what occurred.  After the students learned about the importance of being bilingual to best serve our community and listening to stories about the impact these brave officers have made, they posed for a selfie with their new friend.
BILINGUAL DOCTOR VISIT
Another highlight of Spanish Four AP was when we studied our health and medical unit.  An amazing bilingual ER doctor from Ecuador and a former student who now works as a medical translator visited to tell us about their profession.  The students learned about the importance of being bilingual to best serve patients and they watched a clip from ER.  The students also listened to experiences about the impact these two professionals have made in the lives of the people they work with and learned a wealth of new medical vocabulary and facts about Hispanics in the medical community.  Many students left with a desire to become bilingual doctors and nurses.  It was a meaningful and great learning experience for all!
José Vargas, originally from the Dominican Republic, visited us to teach about the peloteros from the Dominican Republic who come to the US to play in the Major Leagues.  José also shared with us the importance of being bilingual.  José does marketing and works with the players on the Dayton Dragons Baseball team as they get acclimated to life in the United States when they first arrive to play professional baseball.  The movie, Sugar, and the documentary, Pelotero, are both perfect to accompany a unit on the Dominican Republic, sports, and/or on the importance of baseball in the Caribbean.
Andrés Gamba Ríos gave a presentation about Costa Rica and he taught us about his campaign against childhood obesity in Latin America.  Andrés just received a young entrepreneur award for creating an APP that encourages young people to choose physical activities and sports to stay healthy.  Andrés also enlightened us about current events in Colombia since he lived there before moving to Costa Rica a few years ago.  Andrés shared his perspective on the recent peace treaty that ended the 53 year civil war between FARC and the Colombian government. Los Colores de la Montaña and María, Llena Eres de Gracia are the best movies to show to teach about many of the issues in Colombia such as the narcos, the land mines, the poverty, and the violence that have plagued this region for years.
After studying Argentina, a member of the Argentine Army came to visit our classes to talk about the traditions, customs, people, and contemporary life of the Argentine people.  We learned a lot about the dirty war and we watched the movies, Cautiva and La Historia Oficial to prepare us for his visit.  Our guest even taught us how to make mate and we all got the chance to try some!