At some schools, foreign language classes are mostly about memorization. But at Haldane, they can be a day full of merengue, paella, and Senegalese drumming.
On April 10, 67 students travelled to the Taconic Outdoor Education Center for the foreign language department’s annual field trip, Immersion. The goal of Immersion is “to expose students to foreign culture and language in a different setting than the classroom,” said Giannina Ortiz, high school Spanish teacher and foreign language department chair. Students do this by participating in dance classes, music classes, cultural presentations, and more. Immersion is open to students taking Spanish IV, Spanish V, French IV, or French V, regardless of their grade.
The activities at Immersion change each year. “We don’t bring the same presenters back because we want the kids to have different experiences,” Ortiz said. This year, Spanish students learned merengue from dancers from Fred Astaire Dance Studios, listened to a presentation about the Dominican Republic by Haldane parent Annelie Martinez de Nova, and watched dancers from Pentagrama Musical perform cumbia from Peru, Mexico, and Colombia. French students participated in a storytelling workshop led by professional storyteller Elizabeth Rowe and listened to a presentation about French culture by 18-year-old French high school student Coralie Lamia.
Students were then served a lunch of Spanish and French cuisine prepared by chefs Michael Gasparri, Anthony Paesano, and Taggart Lake, complete with quiche, paella, chorizo, macarons, eclairs, and more. Afterward, they participated in a “coffee house”, where they performed songs and poems in their foreign language in front of their classmates.
Finally, both French and Spanish students took a Senegalese drumming class taught by Amadou Diallo, a drummer and Senegalese native. Students sat in a semicircle and played multiple drum rhythms while Diallo sang and played his gongoma, a West-African instrument made from a gourd. “The music lesson was so interesting and super fun,” junior Polina Buslovich said. “It was so awesome to make music with so many people who just learned it on the spot.”
Senegal was a French colony until 1960, and its inhabitants still speak French among other languages, so this final workshop aimed to expose students to the culture of French-speaking people outside of France. “I hope the students feel like I gave them knowledge of West Africa that they never knew before,” Diallo said. “Maybe this is going to inspire them to learn a little bit more about African music and culture.”
The first-ever Immersion trip took place in 1990, according to a 2015 Highlands Current article titled “Haldane’s 25 Years of Immersion”. The tradition was created by former Haldane Spanish teacher Phil D’Amato. “It was originally an overnight trip,” Ortiz said. “Now it’s nine to three, to keep it within the school day.”
For the foreign language teachers, planning Immersion is a yearlong process. “I’m already scheduling with the Taconic the date for next year’s Immersion,” Ortiz said. “Throughout the year, we reach out to local businesses, parents, and the community and invite them to share their knowledge about their culture and language.”
