Oakton Elementary and Northwestern students collaborate on semester-long project

“Say your name and a word in Spanish that begins with that letter”: That’s how Mayra Velázquez's Two-Way Immersion (TWI) students at Oakton Elementary started a recent class. Introductions were necessary because they had some special classmates at their table: Northwestern University students!

Professor Denise Bouras’ Spanish students are visiting Oakton's fifth and third grade classes — Ms. Mancera and Ms. Velázquez — for a semester-long project about “artivism,” a combination of the words “art” and “activism” to describe art that conveys a message. Together the students are examining murals and songs to determine their messages, then creating their own artifact (a drawing, painting, poem, or other creative endeavor) that shows their understanding of the concept. All of this learning takes place in Spanish.

On their third visit together, students played an adapted version of the game “Headbands” to practice their Spanish vocabulary. They also played a trivia game about Spanish-speaking countries, which got quite competitive! The students will continue to work together until the project concludes in May.