Spanish Class Gets Cooking

June 19, 2020

Academics

GNS

IB Spanish 11 finished their year off with a tasty treat. The students, along with Señor Dylan Reeves, got together virtually to make Tortilla de Patatas (Spanish tortilla), which is a traditional dish from Spain. The tortilla is an omelette made of eggs and potatoes, and can also include onion.

“I generally always like to do something to celebrate the end of the year in ‘real’ class and I have always wanted to cook with the students,” said Señor Reeves. “The ‘virtual’ classroom was the best and easiest way to do this. If we were at school, it would have been impossible for each student to make their tortilla—I think it worked out pretty well.”

The tortilla is a quintessential Spanish dish that can be found in bars and restaurants across the country. It is eaten at least once per week in Spanish households, and the ingredients are readily available and inexpensive.

“The Tortilla española represents human ingenuity—a simple recipe with basic ingredients that tastes and looks (most of the time) incredible,” said Señor Reeves. “One of the most important idiomatic expressions in Spanish is ‘Dar una vuelta a la tortilla,’ which means to turn over the tortilla—the crux moves when preparing this dish—so that the tortilla can be cooked on both sides. The saying in English would translate as ‘to turn things around / to turn the tables’ and I think that is what we did this term—we worked hard through an unprecedented situation and were still able to learn a great deal about the culture and the Spanish language.”

During the Spring term, the class has been discussing human ingenuity, where they explored how individuals in the Spanish-speaking world from a wide variety of backgrounds applied their knowledge and interest to the development of scientific and technological initiatives, or to express their culture through artistic pursuits.

Throughout the term, students researched and presented on Spanish-speaking artists, and each even took on the persona of an individual, who in the students’ view, has demonstrated Human Ingenuity. Students chose to take on the roles of writers, revolutionaries, astronauts, musicians, scientists and architects.

It’s a bittersweet moment for Señor Reeves with this class, as they represent the pioneers of MYP Spanish at GNS. The students started Spanish in Grade 6 when it was first introduced to the Middle School in 2014/2015. Previous to this implementation in Middle School students were not given the choice of learning Spanish until Grade 9.

“While some are completing their Spanish careers, for the time being, we have a great group who will continue until the end of the IB Spanish Programme next year,” added Señor Reeves.