QUINCEAÑERA
Spanish Project for Heritage
Learners
NHLRC/STARTALK 2012
Heritage Language Teacher
Workshop
July 20, 2012
Los Angeles, California
Susana Velazquez
Valdira Ueno
Vilma Peccin
30 High school students
 Spanish Heritage Language Learners
 Ages 14 and 15
 6 groups of 5 students grouped by
proficiency level and needs
 5 1-hour classes:
- 4 hours of preparation
- 1 hour of final culminating project, a
Quinceañera party for the students and their
families.


Background and exposure to HL: Intermediate,
but students are reluctant to use target language
in class.

Aural proficiency: High intermediate

Proficiency in reading and writing:
Intermediate.

Knowledge of the standard language: Low
intermediate.
 Parents
too busy to participate in meetings
and in students’ academic lives.
 Immigrant
parents with very little formal
instruction.
 Second
 Broad
generation heritage learners.
and narrow needs.
 Group
 Group
 Group
 Group
 Group
 Group
1–
2–
3–
4–
5–
6–
Decoration committee
Food committee
Music committee
Organizing committee
Interviewing committee
Invitation committee
Day 1: project introduction, video, instructions,
grouping.
 Days 2 and 3:
- 10 minutes - teacher instructions and
response to exit cards
- 25 minutes – students work in their groups
- 20 minutes – small groups - while the groups
are still working, student leaders from each
group meet in a separate group to share their
previous findings and listen to new ideas and
opinions.
- 5 minutes – teacher’s feedback and exit cards.

 Day
4: final arrangements, decoration, waltz
rehearsal.
 Day 5: Quinceañera party
Keeping in mind the 5 C’s:

Motivate students to use the target language in
class while they plan and prepare a
Quinceañera party, in a fun and meaningful way.

Involve the parents in students’ academic lives.
 Raise
cultural awareness by giving the students
an opportunity to use the target language in a
traditional celebration in their heritage culture.

Based on previous assessments, to create a
learning environment to fill students’ language
gaps so that they can improve their language
skills.

Formative assessment throughout the project for
immediate feedback and further planning.
By planning and organizing a Quinceañera party,
students will have the opportunity to integrate
the 4 skills and subskills and fulfill objectives
according to their specific needs.







Scaffolding – previewing, on-the-spot assessment,
recycling
Empasizing vocabulary - word sorts, vocabulary selfselection, word walls
Adapting content – adapted texts
Supplementing – pictures, video, related literature,
Internet
Strategies – summarizing, reciprocal teaching, visual
aids, paraphrasing, previewing and predicting
Promoting engagement – variable grouping,
roundtable
Practicing and integrating skills – guided practice
connections, independent practice, rewriting a text,
hands on the text

Accessing and evaluating – individual, group,
written, oral, pre-lesson assessment, progressassessment (exit cards), post-lesson evaluation

Differentiating instruction – content, pacing,
process, product, stations.
 Group
1 – Decoration committee Students will:
- Create short narrations to describe the
decoration items by using the right
vocabulary, incorporating the present tense
and connecting words.
Group 2 - Food committee - research typical
food recipes to assign dishes to be brought.
 Group 3 Music committee – research
appropriate music to be played, choose the
waltz, coordinate with school authorities for
approval, bring the music and other necessary
technological devices and make all other
arrangements.
 Group 4 - Organizing committee – organize the
logistics of the party and all the details,
including the doll and the dress. Articulate with
the other groups to fine tune the preparations.

Students will:
- Use the target language, demonstrate
critical thinking and ability to support their
decisions in a coherent way by using
compound sentences, comparing and
contrasting and the appropriate register.

Group 5 – Interviewing committee
Research celebration experiences, formulate
appropriate questions, prepare and conduct
interviews, synthesize their findings in a final
cultural project to be displayed at the party.

Group 6 – Invitation committee
Research previous invitations in newspapers to
support and discuss their findings in order to guide
the groups and help them write the invitations.
Students will:
Make decisions using critical thinking to develop
an interview, and enhanced leadership skills in
order to make recommendations and guide all
students to write the invitation by incorporating
key vocabulary, register, orthographic rules,
genres.