Native Spanish Speaking Student Talks to Spanish One Class

By: Emmaline Perkins

On January 30 and 31, junior at Princeville High School and native spanish speaker, Dulce Fortuno presented to the Spanish I class describing her quinceanera, which is the Spanish celebration of a child's fifteenth birthday. The Spanish class had been learning about Spanish heritage the following weeks and were eager to hear from a native. 

Teacher of the Spanish I class, Laura Walcott,  said the reason she wanted Dulce to present was that “a couple of years ago Dulce had come to her and showed her her quinceanera book so she knew that she had one. Since that was what the students were learning about she thought it would be perfect for the students to have a real-life presentation from someone who got to experience a quinceanera.'' 

Mrs. Walcott also challenged the kids to ask Dulce questions, but they had to present the questions in Spanish. In an interview with a student, Alex Delwiche said, “the hardest part of the questions was learning how to pronounce them. But the students had an easy time creating the questions due to all the notes they had taken so far this semester.” 

When Dulce reflected on the moment, she said  “When answering the student’s questions, you just had to be patient with them because they were speaking in a new language.'' Mrs. Walcott said that the main reason that she had the students present the questions in Spanish was to practice speaking with someone who speaks the native language. 

The kids weren’t the only ones that had struggles in this presentation however. Dulce presented the whole time in Spanish so when asked what the hardest thing was about the presentation she had to keep in mind “how to deliver it and have them not understand it from the cultural side.” In the long run, she believes that the presentation has helped her as well. Not only did it allow her to connect with some of her peers on a matter that is important to her, but also it gave her the opportunity to work on her presenting skills in general.

In the interview, Dulce was asked what she thought that the kids took away from the presentation. She stated that she felt the most important factor they learned was “more about the culture and the experience of talking to someone that is originally from Mexico and getting them to practice their language.”

Freshman, Seth Stalter stated that “he learned some new words and how to piece together some sentences based on what he already knew.”  

Alex Delwiche and Destinee Hardwood also echoed his classmates' thoughts. Mrs. Walcott had hoped that the kids would “get a look at the culture and how different it is from the way we celebrate birthdays.” 

When it was all said and done the kids that interviewed all said that “the presentation made them want to do better in the Spanish class and maybe one day be as fluent in it as Dulce.”