Spanish 2 students learn commands to improve understanding of the language

Eva Benore, Writer

Learning about positive and negative commands, Spanish teacher Nickole Smelis assigned a command project to examine how well her students understood the material she was teaching.

“Learning commands are important to learn in any language,“ Smelis said. “ Because commands are what we do to give suggestions, advice, directions, orders, etc. I am always changing the way I teach, but it depends on the topic and if my students are understanding the material or not.”

Learning the new material about commands in Spanish 2, the project was to create a slideshow. The slides should contain the current vocabulary words that have been previously taught. Both positive and negative commands with three questions about the commands.

“I had mixed feelings about this assignment,” freshman Alyssa Lawrence said.” I did enjoy learning more about Spanish because I know that it will help me continue learning the language, but I didn’t really enjoy presenting in front of the class, or listening to others presentations because I already understood the material.”

While some students may have not enjoyed the project as much, others have a more positive opinion towards the project.

“In my opinion the purpose of this project is helpful,” freshman Michael Visniski said. “Class projects like these are sometimes not the most interesting assignments, but I feel they do help with learning the material. Plus, I like to see what others chose to present.”

Making sure that her students understand the material that she’s teaching, Nickole Smelis is always making changes to her lesson plans to help her students. She feels like her students understood the negative and positive commands that she was teaching.