For the very first time in over twenty years, Becton’s Spanish teacher Mrs. Debbie Sanchez and Italian teacher Mrs. Paola Bonnano will be taking forty students overseas to visit France, Spain, and Italy! The classes will leave on May 25 and return on June 3.
On top of this exciting trip coming up, the language classes have also attended some other interesting events over the school year.
In December, the Spanish 3 and 4 Honors classes attended the Spanish comedy play La Gringa at Repertorio Espanol in New York City. The play follows a girl traveling to her hometown in Puerto Rico and portrays themes like finding one’s identity, connecting with one’s culture, and being bilingual and bicultural in the U.S..
Because many students at Becton speak more than one language at home themselves, Mrs. Sanchez hoped that the play would connect with some of them. “Having field trips helps the students hear the target language in action and connect to the Spanish culture in a ‘real’ manner,” she notes.
Junior Rodolfo Ortega, an attendee of the La Gringa trip, explains that at the time of the show, their class was learning about traveling to different Hispanic countries. The play itself was in Spanish, and for those who weren’t able to understand by ear were able to follow along with the English subtitles displayed on a television screen near the stage.
“The place was small but so nice,” Ortega expresses. “We sat in the top area of the audience. For being a small theater it was a really great experience. The show lasted maybe an hour or two. I would definitely go again to the same place if I had the opportunity.”
Similarly, the Italian students viewed Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet at the Metropolitan Opera House in NYC. Opera, originating in Italy during the Renaissance, is a large part of Mrs. Bonanno’s culture and she wished to “expose the cultural aspect to students.”
They also took a trip to the Museum of Modern Art in New York where students got to see the works of famous artists like Van Gogh, Picasso, Frida Kahlo, and more. The theme was identity, as Mrs. Bonanno explained, and the students were interactive and got to delve deeper into the identity of each artist.
During the overseas trip, which will be spent mainly in Italy, the students will have a stacked schedule– visiting important landmarks, trying the local food, visiting museums, and even paying a visit to the Vatican!
All the students and staff attending the abroad trip are anxiously awaiting and are more than grateful for the opportunity. Mrs. Bonanno hopes that Becton will be able to repeat this trip as a yearly or bi-yearly tradition.
“Everything I do, I do for the students,” Mrs. Bonanno indulges. “To give them a special, unique experience and give them something to remember forever. Because the job of a teacher goes beyond the classroom.”
