Students participating in this unit are 10th, 11th and 12th graders enrolled in Spanish NHS-2, that is, Spanish for native and heritage students at James Hillhouse High School, in New Haven, Connecticut. According to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), more than 50 % of the students attending this school are Black, Latino and/or Native American, and more than 50% come from low-income households. As a result of students coming from a variety of backgrounds, in the classroom there is a mixture of ethnicities, economic strata, different levels of background knowledge and experiences. This unit has been devised according to the features of this student population, as every unit should cater for the specific needs of the students it is aimed at.
In this school, Spanish lessons and events play an important role, as they are widely offered in the curriculum so that students can continue learning the language throughout their high school years as well as to be part of the Spanish Honor Society and to obtain the Seal of Biliteracy upon Graduation with the language combination English Spanish (CSDE, 2024)
1. Also, the Hispanic Heritage Month is widely recognized and celebrated by New Haven Public Schools2, highlighting the student voices and allowing students to participate in the celebrations.
Most of the students enrolled in NHS-2 were born in a Spanish-speaking country and moved to the United States either recently or a few years ago. In addition, there are the students who were either born in the US or moved here at an early age, the heritage learners, which could be divided into two categories: the students who speak Spanish at home and with some members of the community, would be considered bilingual speakers. On the other hand, there is a minority of students who have been less exposed to the language and usually only understand Spanish but do not speak it as fluently as they speak English, so they feel more comfortable with English. All in all, we will be working with students who have knowledge of both Spanish and English at different levels. Therefore, given the homogeneity of the group, different resources and scaffolding will be provided to cater for diversity.
Prior to this unit, the students will either have some knowledge of Hispanic literature if they have attended Elementary and Middle School in either their origin countries or in a school with a bilingual curriculum. Otherwise, it is expected that most of the students do not have any prior knowledge of Hispanic literature. To better assess the students’ background knowledge, they will be given a survey at the beginning of the unit. Therefore, to cater for diversity, students will be working in groups where the members have different skills that complement each other’s learning styles.
