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This teacher needs your help!

Ms. House from Millinocket, ME is requesting technology through DonorsChoose, the most trusted classroom funding site for teachers.

See what Ms. House is requesting

Bailamos--Technology to Teach Spanish

My students need 1 flat screen TV.

  • $1,065 goal

This project expired on June 30, 2010.

This project expired on June 30, 2010.

Classroom photo
Ms. House Stearns Junior Senior High School
Millinocket, ME Grades 9-12

Using Latin music and Mexican soap operas in rural Maine to bridge the language and cultural gap.

A former mill town ravished by the effects of its main employer, a paper mill, closing leaves my high school Spanish classes with limited funding for the technology that can bring spoken Spanish and real Mexican pop culture--the kinds kids are interested in learning about--to them. Currently I must "fight" for access from our library for the television/DVD to bring this kind of learning to my classroom. I have worked with Best Buy to determine that a large, flat screen TV with PC connections can economically be installed in my room so it is always available for short snippets or sound bites to reinforce learning. I have requested funding (and been denied) in my budget for 2 years now. There isn't enough money for each teacher to have a dedicated media center in his or her classroom.

Using technology and the high interest level of pop culture, my students have become hooked on the Mexican teen soap opera Rebelde. Every other Friday, I "invite" Mexico City teenagers to my classroom through this popular telenovela. Students listen to real spoken and sung Spanish and reinforce their textbook vocabulary by watching a 13 hour edited version of the soap with English sub- titles. In this soap, the characters form a pop band, RBD, which is an actual Latin pop band. I began teaching my students the lyrics to the their songs through purchasing a karaoke player and CD's out of my own pocket. Their pronunciation of the Spanish language develops much more rapidly when they repeat the rhythms and phrasing from this music. This year, I expanded on their interests by incorporating the PBS series Latin Music, USA into my course. Students are learning that music as art, is a window into the souls and lives of the Latin American community as it developed in American history. I recently invited a Mexican dancer to come to my classes and teach us some basic Latino dance steps. This week, some of my students will be performing Lou Bega's Mambo #5 in a community talent show.

What can I say about how it makes me feel when students want to bring classroom learning into their "real" worlds? I'd spend anything to achieve that goal. Yet, it is frustrating as a teacher to find something that has so much teaching value and interest level for my students to be limited by the realities of my own teacher's salary, not to mention, state budget crises, declining subsidies, and district-wide values which place multiculturalism, diversity, and foreign language low on priority lists. I have students (who never do homework) come up to me and tell me how many Latino songs they now have downloaded on their iPods. Some tell me how they watch movies at home now like we do in class--with Spanish audio and English subtitles. I am looking for donors who want to help me bring Latino language and culture to my rural Maine Spanish class by purchasing this big ticket media center for us.

This project will directly impact historically underfunded classrooms.

More than half of students from low‑income households

Never Before Funded 50 students impacted
Ms. House Stearns Junior Senior High School Grades 9-12

This project will directly impact historically underfunded classrooms.

Millinocket, ME View local requests

More than half of students from low‑income households Data about students' economic need comes from the National Center for Education Statistics, via our partners at MDR Education. Learn more

Never Before Funded 50 students impacted

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Where Your Donation Goes

Where your donation goes
Materials Cost Quantity Total
VIDEO TUBE TELEVISION 30 + CRT 7622076 • Best Buy $799.99 1 $799.99

Materials cost

$799.99

Vendor shipping charges

 $12.00

Sales tax

 $40.00

3rd party payment processing fee

$12.00

Fulfillment labor & materials

$9.00

Total project cost

$872.99

Suggested donation to help DonorsChoose reach more classrooms

$191.63

Total project goal

$1,064.62

Our team works hard to negotiate the best pricing and selections available.

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As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Ms. House and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.

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