SUMMER ASSIGNMENT
PRE-AP 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:
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.
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