The Hayot Center for Innovation (HCI) is always abuzz with activity across grades and disciplines. Recently, the space enabled two World Languages to bring a technological component to their unit of study.
In Intensive Chinese II, Upper School students designed their own virtual Chinatown to supplement their new vocabulary and grammar unit that covered giving directions and different public spaces.
In addition to traditional Chinese architecture, students were required to include essential places they learned about including a senior activity center (老人活动中心), sports field (体育场), book store (书店), Restaurant (餐馆), coffee shop (咖啡店), farmer’s market (菜市场), supermarket (超市), subway station (地铁站), bus station (公交车站), hospital (医院), and school (学校). They also needed to include public facilities, including a gathering place for residents and visitors and/or a park.
“Ensure the streets are spacious and include designated areas for pedestrians and vehicles,” noted Chinese Teacher Jie Yang, underscoring the need for functionality and convenience. “Provide resting areas, such as benches and pavilions, and consider the needs of tourists and residents by adding facilities like restrooms and recycling bins.”
Students brought their spaces to life through the creation of a personal tour guide, who spoke to the viewer in Chinese about what they were seeing. The students also coded multiple characters who spoke aloud to one another to depict various scenes in different spaces.
While maintaining traditional style, students were encouraged to incorporate their own creative elements. In late January, the students shared their impressive work with Head of School Suzanne Fogarty, Associate Head of School Xiomara Hall and US faculty members through our VR headsets!
Meanwhile, Upper School Advanced Spanish students embarked on their own proyecto multidisciplinario!
Earlier in the year, the students read several short stories in Spanish including La casa de Adela by Mariana Enriquez, Emma Zunz by Jorge Luis Borges, Continuidad de los parques by Julio Cortázar and El vestido de terciopelo by Silvina Ocampo.
In an effort to give students a “voice and choice” in their work, and expand upon their reading, Spanish Teacher Laura de Toldeo and Director of the HCI Jon Olivera created an assignment with an array of options to choose from. Students could construct a physical item (using any of the tech available in the HCI) related to one of the books, build and program a virtual reality space that would immerse a viewer in a story, or create, record and edit a play using AV equipment and software such as iMovie. “The students have such wide-ranging skillsets that they can tap into,” Señora de Toldeo remarked.
One group, for example, laser cut and painted a gothic mansion based on descriptions in La casa de Adela that included various 3D printed people and items in each room of the house. Others devised their own interpretation of what happens at the end of a particular scene or crafted original backstories for characters in the novel, and created a visual representation of their ideas.
“They’re such active readers,” said Señora de Toldeo, oozing pride for her hardworking and creative students. “I’m so proud of them!”
