SUMMER ASSIGNMENT
for those entering
PAP Spanish III
Objective: to help maintain your Spanish skills throughout the summer
break
Materials you will need: a copy of ¿Dónde está Eduardo?, access to a
dictionary or translator, the comprehension questions provided in this
handout, and access to research resources, like the internet or the
library.
What you will do:
READ AND ANNOTATE: Over the summer, read ¿Dónde está Eduardo?, a sheltered-grammar
novelette by Blaine Ray. You can buy it from Amazon.com or from TPRS Publishing. Links to both are
on Sra. Gardner’s teacher webpage, on the Spanish III class page. The book costs about $7.00.
Remember that the objective is to practice your Spanish skills throughout the summer, so don’t try to
do this all in one week. If you do a chapter a week, you will get through with plenty of time. Each
chapter will take about an hour.
As you read, underline the words you don’t know or the phrases you are not familiar with. Look these
up in a Spanish-English dictionary or an on-line translator. Be sure that the translation you find makes
sense, given the context. In the margins of the book, write the translation for that word or phrase.
The first page is done for you as an example.
ANSWER THE COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS for each chapter. You don’t have to answer in complete
sentences, but you must answer these in Spanish. Be sure you understand the question and the
answer you write. Don’t “hunt and copy”. The questions packet will also help you review the story
before the QUIZ on this book at the beginning of the semester.
INTRODUCTION TO COSTA RICA: As you read, highlight any information about the culture of Costa
Rica. At the end of the book, you’ll need to gather all the highlighted information to write an
introduction to the culture and country o f Costa Rica. Write in English. This should be more than one
page but not more than two, in standard format style (same used for English essays). Include in this
introduction some research on any three of the following areas of interest, or two of the following
and one of your own. The facts given here are meant to get you intrigued. You will need to do some
research beyond these facts. Be sure to include a list of your sources on a separate page, but you do
not need to include parenthetical documentation.
Costa Rica’s biodiversity. Although it is only .03% of the earth’s surface, it contains 5% of
the earth species biodiversity.
Environmental Conservation. 25% of Costa Rica is set aside for national parks. It also aims
to be the world’s first “carbon neutral” country by 2021.
Every country has its local slang. In Costa Rica, a “soda” is not something you drink, “que
mala nota” doesn’t have anything to do with bad grades or music notes, and you might
see a “muerto” on the street. Find out what these mean, then find more differences like
this!
Throughout the book, the traditional dish gallo pinto is mentioned several times. Find out
what other foods are typical and give a description of some of them. To get you started,
one my webpage links for this project is a YouTube video of a Diner, Drive-ins, and Dives
trip to Costa Rican restaurant Irazú in Chicago.
Costa Rica said to be one of the happiest countries on Earth according to a British
organization called New Economic Foundation, which used the Happy Planet Index in an
independent study of 143 nations around the world. Why are people so content? Find out
what is meant by Pura Vida, the country’s motto.
Volcanic activity. Costa Rica is a popular destination for volcanologists and contains one of
the ten most active volcanoes on the planet.
There are many resources on the class webpage. Go to Sra. Gardner’s teacher website,
then find the Spanish III class page.
Be ready to turn in your annotated book, the answered questions, and the mini-introduction to Costa
Rica during the first three days of the fall semester. Late assignments will not be accepted after the
third day.
If any questions about this project arise over the summer, please email me at
[email protected].
¡Vamos a tener un año muy interesante y vamos
a aprender mucho español!
¡Te veo en agosto!
--Sra. Gardner