Students in Mercer University’s advanced Spanish classes are learning the language and culture in a new and innovative way — through children’s literature and film.
As an associate professor of Spanish, Dr. Clara Mengolini noticed the readings in the program’s advanced Spanish textbook often were too complex, and students did not feel confident enough to discuss and analyze the material.
So, for a summer online course, Dr. Mengolini began assigning Spanish-language picture books to read and short films and cartoons to watch, using materials available online. Students responded with enthusiasm.
“I could see the students understood perfectly well, and then they’d get more motivated,” she said.
After a few years of teaching the summer elective, the provost’s office awarded Dr. Mengolini a seed grant to publish an advanced Spanish textbook using children’s literature and film as a basis for activities and discussion.
She obtained permission to republish the stories in the textbook, which is for use only at Mercer, and wrote the content while on sabbatical in the spring. This summer, she published Infancias, Learning Spanish Through Children’s Film and Literature. “Infancias” translates to “childhood” in English.
The textbook features a variety of literary genres, including picture books, excerpts from young adult novels, comics, poems, songs and short films. The material provides insight into unique aspects of Latin American and Spanish culture, enhances language skills and fosters a deeper understanding of historical and socio-political issues, Dr. Mengolini said.
For example, one picture book is about a little girl who moves to a new country with her parents, and everyone around her looks like insects. By the end of the book, the insects have turned into humans and look just like her.
“That’s what happens with immigrants,” Dr. Mengolini said. “When we move, it’s like a different planet. Everything looks different.”
Dr. Mengolini fell in love with children’s literature while pursuing her Ph.D. at Vanderbilt University. At Mercer, she got involved in the integrative studies program and used that passion to develop a course called “Politics and Ideology in World Children’s Literature” for INT 301: Engaging the World.
“I spent an entire summer looking for interesting picture books and short movies or cartoons from around the world,” she said. “And I found beautiful things. Really, really amazing things. I didn’t imagine I was going to find such interesting material for this class.”
The class challenged students to delve into the meanings and motivations of books from around the world, and for their final project, students created a children’s book, game or toy addressing a controversial or difficult topic.
In the years since, Dr. Mengolini has built on the success of that first INT class, now providing her colleagues with an advanced Spanish textbook that allows students to actively engage with the material.
