The goal of the Spanish School co-curriculum is to tap into the interests, the talents, and the passions of our broad range of students and faculty, and then to build bridges between those capacities and the rich culture of the Hispanic world. Toward that end, we offer an enormous variety of lectures by writers, academics, and film directors, as well as sports activities, theatrical events (both spectator and participant), concerts and other performances, cooking and dance classes, yoga, hiking, art, poetry...the list goes on, and continues to grow with further student-sponsored activities that evolve after our arrival. This array of activities promises to present you with scheduling dilemmas, but is one of the secrets to the success of the Middlebury approach. These activities allow you to take your classroom knowledge into the field, immediately and constantly. Your pledge to speak only Spanish draws you out of your room and into a society and a culture that shares your ambitions. Welcome to the active world of the Spanish School!

In 2006 the Spanish School celebrated Las Fallas in the Valencian tradition. Click here to watch a short video produced by Ezra Axelrod of the gala event.

SPECIAL EVENTS

During the summer of 2006, students and faculty participated in some exceptional events that brought the entire school together.

Fallas The Spanish School kicked off the summer with a spirited celebration of las Fallas, an event that brings together music, dancing, and the symbolic burning of “ninots,” caricatures of well-known political and/or cultural figures. Members of the Spanish School enjoyed listening to traditional Valencian music and took notes from Valencian in residence, Professor Agustín Reyes Torres. This year’s theme combined Shakespeare’s famous line with something of particular relevance to students of Spanish: “Ser o Estar: Esa es la cuestión.”

Urama-Shikan

Members of the Ecuadorian music group Urama-Shikan, which means “something different from the South,” introduced Spanish School students to traditional and modern Andean music, instruments from the region, and even shared dance steps with a few brave participants.


Spanish School students take the saying “Life is a cabaret” to heart, no matter the language. At no other moment was this more apparent than at this year’s cabaret and talent show, which featured the many talents and interests of the School’s students and staff.

Costume party

From Peter Pan to the Movida madrileña, pirates of the Caribbean to Pablo Neruda, members of the Middlebury College Spanish School wore many different masks the night of the annual costume party.  

INVITED GUESTS

The Spanish School invites some remarkable lecturers and performers to share their talents with us every summer. The following are some of 2006’s distinguished guests.

Well-known Spanish cultural figures Elvira Lindo and Antonio Muñoz-Molina spoke to the Spanish School about finding one’s voice in writing and the role of memory in fiction. The couple also participated in live radio interviews, attended classes, and mingled with faculty and students during meals while visiting the School.

Juan Epple, professor of Spanish at the University of Oregon, offered a workshop on microcuentos to Spanish School students. Dr. Epple, who has written extensively on this topic, ended the week-long event with a dynamic presentation on the importance of this genre in Latin American literature and its inclusion in the canon.

Professor J. Eliseo Valle, of the Universidad de Virginia en Valencia, gave a speech to the Spanish School entitled España: conflicto de identidades. El nacionalismo español frente a los nacionalismos periféricos, in which he addressed the historical and political implications of nationalism in contemporary Spain.


Four distinguished members of the Spanish School community—three faculty members and an alumnus of the School—offered a round-table discussion on terrorism as part of a university-wide colloquium on the subject. Peruvian journalist Ricardo Ramos-Tremolada, Spanish historians Carmen de la Guardia and Juan Maldonado, and Sub- director of the International Terrorism Group Don Gentile spoke about terrorism according to their respective fields of expertise.

The Spanish School offers several performances throughout the summer, many of which give students and faculty members the opportunity to perform together in Spanish.



Recital De Poesia Y Musica

The Annual Poetry and Music Recital. Each year this event is a truly inspired collaboration that brings poetry and music to life.

Fuenteovejuna & La Zarzuela Each summer, students have the opportunity to appear in two distinct plays: a Hispanic drama and a zarzuela. Well-known Peruvian director and playwright Alonso Alegría directed a classic play by Lope de Vega, Fuenteovejuna. This year’s zarzuela, which is a type of Spanish light opera, was El chaleco blanco, a story of love, luck, and… laundry. The annual zarzuela is a colorful and entertaining musical performed by students and faculty members.

CO-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES

Get involved! There are so many ways to participate outside of class! Below are just a few of the many activities that are open to students of all levels and give you additional opportunities to learn and use Spanish. Additional activities that aren’t pictured below include: Cooking Club, Art, Radio, Phonetics Workshop, Yoga, and Karate.



AnteOjos de Pasión

The faculty and students offered a diverse weekly radio program, including interviews with visiting writers or faculty, as well as the phenomenally popular radionovela, AnteOjos de Pasión, which indeed became the passion of its listening audience.


   
Art exposition

A weekly art workshop centered around the creativity inspired by the letters of the alphabet, in particular the uniquely Spanish “ñ”. The culmination of the summer’s work was a public exposition that emphasized the beauty of the written word.



Club de Senderismo

Enjoy Vermont’s breathtaking landscapes while making new friends.