Classroom Project

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Imagine stepping into an abandoned school. Maybe it's a school that they quit using twenty years ago after a re-structuring or consolidation in the district. As you enter the last room on the left, desks are strewn about the floor. Some a... MORE

Imagine stepping into an abandoned school. Maybe it's a school that they quit using twenty years ago after a re-structuring or consolidation in the district. As you enter the last room on the left, desks are strewn about the floor. Some are traditional desks. Some are old green and yellow desks with storage on the right side and mismatched chairs for seats. Others are lab tables with names and symbols etched into tops. The back wall is plywood that is spray painted black.

Welcome to my classroom. I teach Spanish I and II at a critical needs school in Mississippi. Most of my students are juniors and seniors, and I also teach a few sophomores. My class is most likely the first exposure my students have had to any world outside of this small, rural town.

A classroom with conditions such as these is not conducive to foreign language learning. Foreign language teachers have more limitations than those of any other subject area. We only have 50 minutes a day to expose our students to the language. Also, a foreign language has to be experienced. It cannot just be pictures in a book or words on a page. It has to come to life.

Sadly, it is extremely difficult to learn a foreign language with a scratched up white board and pictures in a book.

The situation in which these students live and study creates quite an obstacle for learning, especially language learning. Distractions such as poverty and teen pregnancy prevent many of the students from ever experiencing anything but their small community.

The solution? An LCD projector. This projector will provide a gateway to Latin America. Through watching a Spanish news channel, cultural documentary, or a movie in Spanish, the students will be introduced to a new world and the language will come to life. Then, the language can be taught more effectively and the students will see the value in second language learning.

The LCD projector is a gateway to learning at a level that is not available through a scratched whiteboard and a book. In addition, learning Spanish is a gateway in many ways. For some, it will make them stand out and allow them to get into college. For others, it will expose them to a different world they will never experience otherwise. Still for others, it will empower them to have job opportunities they never would have had.

Through your generosity, a whole new world is available to the students at this critical needs school. HIDE