In this semester-long unit of study, we explored various myths, legends, and stories of magic from the Spanish-speaking world. We read a full mini novel in Spanish titled: El Ekeko: Un misterio boliviano. Read my description below of the book.
Book Report
In this project we read El Ekeko which is a story about a boy named Paco. Paco needs new shoes, so he works for money but has to use his grandpa's old boots. While he looks for the boots, he finds Ekeko which is a small ceramic figure. Pacos first wish is for a pair of Adidas, Paco's journey revolves around using Ekeko to get gifts for his family and friends. Paco's best friend Pepe is mentioned often along with his mother and 3 sisters Sofí, Marí, and Julí. The main antagonist of this story consists between Nicolás and Mateo. They tend to bully Paco because he is a poor indigenous boy. In the end Paco end up befriending Nicolás because Nicolás is being abused/bullied by his own father The biggest connections from the start of this project where we looked at Bolivia in every aspect. We looked at food, traditional clothing, work/work rights, history, religion and celebrations (festivals, fairs, etc.) The book showed a lot on work rights, tradition, and history. It connected traditional foods such as potatoes and beans, the book also told a lot on the blockade that occurred in 1815. The biggest values the book gave out was the sense of religion being in Mother-earth (Pachamama) and that family is the biggest way to show love. Reading the book, it made me realize that our labor laws allow us to grow up gradually while in Bolivia they start at ages 8-10 and they get a slice of life at a very young age. The book also made me realize that one of their meals seems to be the best meal in the world and I need to try it. The meal is called Papas Rellenas, which means stuffed potatoes. They take the potatoes and mash them and then they put meats, veggies, and other items then they freeze them and fry them. after they're fried, they get served with salsa. The most interesting thing about this project was that children have to work at a young age to survive, as Paco puts it they become men and women at a young age. It was interesting to me because they have to work their entire life if they aren't born into money. Here in America, we have people that have millions and billions amounts of money while in Bolivia there are people who make maybe 1-3 dollars a day. The most challenging thing within this project was that when I was writing my final writing assessment google kept correcting my work to the wrong conjugations based on what I know. I feel like I grew in every aspect in the spanish-speaking world. I can write better than when I was in Spanish 1, I can speak with a better flow than the beginning of the year. I can also read Spanish well, there are words I haven't been taught yet which is where I struggle. My final writing assessment is below I put a lot of time to make sure it was good; we had the option to write journal entries during the time paco had Ekeko. I combined it with the other options. Option 1 was that we could write journal entries. Option 2 was that we could write the sequel and option 3 was that we could create a kid's edition for the book. I combined all three options in the way that it is simple writing, it has plot twist from what happens in the book and Paco is growing up in my final entry.