“Mezcla, une y da identidad”

Abstract

This chapter describes a multimedia module on the history of the Spanish language designed for an advanced Spanish class for Latinx students. The module touches on some of the milestones and historical characters related to the development of the Spanish language. The goal of the module is to provide ample learning and reflection opportunities for students to not only question and problematize the status quo and language ideologies related to the Spanish language in the U.S. (Leema and Serafini, 2016), but also to understand the linguistic, cultural, social, and political processes that have led to and given shape to what we call today “the Spanish language.” In each section of the module, students engage with a variety of multimedia texts where they explore the richness of the language through its historical changes, geographical variations, and social dimensions. The module also explores how the Spanish language is represented in the media and the internet. For each section, students do a series of individual and collaborative assignments where they reflect upon the dynamism of the Spanish-speaking communities around the world and their role—as Spanish speakers in the U.S.—in the writing of the “latest chapter” of the history of the language. The final collaborative assignment is a creative project where, based on the historical or learning journey they have taken in the module, students design a new logo and motto for the Spanish language as a counternarrative of those wielded by the Real Academia de la Lengua Española.