Christmas is here! To get in the holiday mood, Señorita Perera’s Spanish classes (periods 2-5) made a pesebre. This was part of a project they had to do. The project required looking up certain Spanish words and finding their definitions. The words were related to Christmas and included the Spanish forms of “Baby Jesus,” “cows,” “donkey,” “the Virgin Mary,” “Joseph,” and many more. Students also had to research how Christmas is celebrated in four Spanish-speaking countries, and they had to answer questions about this. Finally, as a class they had to decorate a table to make a pesebre.

You might be wondering what a pesebre is. In English, A oesebre means “a nativity,” so the classes had to make a nativity scene from anything that anyone brought. I, Sahil Patel, am part of Señorita Perera’s fourth period class. I enjoyed looking at periods 2 and 3 and seeing how their projects all turned out. I enjoyed how both classes captured the meaning of a pesebre and included the traditions that the Spanish-speaking countries like to include.

I went back to see period 5, and theirs was also great! Everyone’s was just muy bien (very good). Our class’s pesebre (in my opinion) was fantastic. We all worked together and got things accomplished, and our pesebre looked magnificent.

“I loved how everyone got along and worked things out,” said Logan Strange, a sophomore in Perera’s fourth period class. “We had a hard time a first, but it turned out well. We made a live nativity, which they do in the country of Colombia, and I enjoyed how our nativity turned out.”

Señorita Perera made this project a competition.

“Whatever class designs the best pesebre gets ice cream cake on Friday for their class only,” she said. “Also, if everyone works together and accomplishes this, then they get a party overall.”

Her fourth period won the pesebre competition in the end. Students in this class include Adam Dills, Kyra Warren, Ally Turner, Maddie Fortman, Sahil Patel, Logan Strange, Shad Neace, Zach Hollis, Shelby Targgart, and some others. Congratulations, fourth period, on your victory, and congratulations to everyone who participated in this fun activity.

Señorita Perera also put up a poll on Twitter and Facebook so people can vote for their favorite nativity. She also had judges from around the school look at our pesebres and provide feedback. In the end, fourth period won the online poll as well. The judges decided that third period and fourth period tied for first. That being said, it i’s safe to say that everyone involved did their best and is a winner.

So this fun activity was amazing, and a lot of people had fun decorating, voting, and designing. Learning a second language is fun. Doing cool projects like this one is magnificent. It was neat to compare the Christmas traditions of Spanish-speaking countries and the United States. I learned so many new things, and Perera’s other students did, too.

Congratulations again to period four, and to all of Perera’s students: Enjoy your parties! Feliz Navidad (Merry Christmas) to everyone, and have a safe break!