On March 19, Indiana Wesleyan University students shared some of their Spanish skills at the Noche Mexicana event.
Nancy Reyes, assistant professor of Spanish, organized the event to give students the opportunity to present songs, presentations and recitations in Spanish. The event was open to all students and featured opportunities to participate by singing along.
“This event is to give the students an opportunity to use the Spanish they’ve been learning in class,” said Reyes.
Reyes is finishing up her second semester of teaching at Indiana Wesleyan University. She is currently teaching 25 students in four Spanish classes, all of which participated in the performance.
“I think it’s singing and participating in things like poetry and Bible verses that become a part of our mentality,” Reyes said.
Having grown up in Mexico for 20 years, Reyes said learning songs in Spanish helped improve her vocabulary and helps when beginning to speak the language. She stressed the importance of learning another language by listing the benefits of being bilingual.
“Research shows that people who speak more than one language have a better academic career,” Reyes said.
Apart from giving outside students a chance to learn Spanish, the event also let Spanish students practice public speaking in a different language.
Some of the students in the upper level Spanish classes were tasked with giving capstone presentations.
Lauren Richards is a junior year English and applied Spanish and Hispanic cultures major. Lauren gave an entire presentation in Spanish about immigration laws in America.
“I think that knowing how to speak Spanish is really important because more and more people in the states are speaking Spanish and it’s important to be able to communicate with them,” said Richards.
The event allowed students to learn some Spanish by singing along with the music slides.
One of the event attendees, Morgan Parrish, came to support friends in the program. Despite not speaking any Spanish, Morgan still expressed having enjoyed the event. She said she was able to take away valuable information about the immigration process in the U.S.A.
