ETA Emilie Tomas and co-teachers Pak Rinto Tampubolon and Ibu Rohana Gultom were excited to find ways to discuss Hispanic Heritage Month in the classroom. They found the perfect opportunity when the 11th-grade class studied reported speech. Emilie gathered Youtube videos and online articles on the theme and transposed them into five interviews. They covered the difference between Hispanic, Latinx, and Spanish, how Hispanic Heritage Month is celebrated in the United States, and features on singer Camila Cabello, neurosurgeon Alfredo Quinones-Hinojosa, and astronaut Ellen Ochoa.

The class was divided into groups and told they were now reporting teams for their own class newspaper. Using reported speech, each group converted an interview into an article and posted it onto the ‘front page’. Each class even designed their own newspaper name and logo. Emilie was amazed to see her students rise to the challenge – her students brought up a lot of great questions about Hispanic-Americans and are excited to celebrate even more heritage months in the lessons ahead!

Emilie Tomas is currently teaching at SMA Unggul Del in Laguboti, North Sumatra.