Upper School Curriculum

Grades: 9, 10, 11, 12
Spring

PREREQ: Students are offered placement into WL ADV courses by their current teacher, in consultation with the department. Performance in previous courses, end-of-year assessments, overall language proficiency, and student skills are factors in offering placement to students.

This Advanced course explores the Latin American Boom from the 20th century, when Latin American writers took the world of Spanish letters by storm with an explosion of talent that was universally recognized. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez — considered by many to be the best novel ever written in Spanish or in any language — will be at the focus of our study, along with other Boom authors and women authors whose contributions to the Boom have been more recently recognized. This course develops Spanish proficiency from the Advanced Low to the Advanced Mid levels, according to ACTFL proficiency guidelines. 

Throughout this course, students will read the works and literary analysis while searching for nuance and developing original interpretations. Most classes will be in the form of structured discussions or literary salons — frequently led by students — during which they will discuss their original ideas and ask probing questions. Students will write frequent short essays with elaborate and detailed language. Students will also make presentations connecting the texts to other works of art or aspects of history. The course will conclude with each student creating a multi-sensory project in which they present their original take on the texts and draw connections guided by their self-inquiry.