Lights, Camera, Phoenix!
High School Spanish students at RIS recently created a series of short video projects that showcase their creativity, collaboration, and growing confidence in using Spanish in real-world contexts. Guided by High School Spanish teacher Ms. Susana Socorro, the projects were designed to help students apply vocabulary, grammar, and conversational skills through storytelling, roleplay, and everyday situations connected to their classroom units.
“This project was a wonderful way to celebrate students’ work and share it with the wider RIS community,” shared Ms. Susana. “I also wanted to give more visibility to the Spanish program and allow visitors to see some of the engaging activities happening in our classes. Hopefully, viewers may even learn a little Spanish along the way.”
From ethical dilemmas and dramatic telenovela-inspired scenes to daily routines and school-life interactions, each video reflects a different aspect of language learning brought to life through performance and creativity.
🎥 I want a breakup. I have another woman. And you are ugly.
In this dramatic scene, a husband confronts his partner and says he wants a divorce after becoming involved with another woman. The video explores the unit “Moral Responsibility,” focusing on the role of honesty, especially in relationships. While the character chooses to tell the truth, the delivery raises questions about empathy, respect, and how our actions affect others.
🎥 Moral Responsibility – The jacket
This clip presents an ethical dilemma: a student tells a friend that her jacket looks nice, but later criticizes it behind her back. When the friend overhears the conversation, the situation escalates into conflict. Connected to the unit “Moral Responsibility,” the film highlights honesty, lying, and social pressure to “save face,” while encouraging reflection on how words can affect others.
🎥 Jay, Canoe, Maitri
In this project, students move around the school describing different activities they do throughout the day. Tied to the unit “How do I manage my time?”, it emphasizes the use of present-tense verbs and conjugations to talk about schedules, routines, and school life in a practical and engaging way.
🎥 Jazzy, Joonseo, Kevin
This short takes viewers through a student’s daily routine, acting out scenes both at home and at school. Through interactions with classmates and teachers, the project reinforces the unit “How do I manage my time?”, giving students the opportunity to practice verb usage while describing everyday actions in context.
🎥 Joyce, Tanish
A hands-on demonstration of learned vocabulary, this film shows students performing everyday school-related actions. For example: going to the library, walking up the stairs, and eating in the cafeteria. Connected to “How do I manage my time?”, the focus is on accurately using verbs and conjugations in real-life scenarios.
🎥 Reyansh, Sena, Tony
Set at school’s cafes, this film follows students as they order food, sit down, and have conversations. The project applies the unit “How do I manage my time?”, reinforcing functional language skills like ordering, interacting, and describing routine activities using correct verb forms.
🎥 Ridhant, Sara
This film portrays a student navigating a chaotic day filled with unexpected and unfortunate events. Through this narrative, the project connects to “How do I manage my time?”, allowing students to practice describing sequences of actions and daily routines while highlighting how plans can change.
Together, these videos showcase how students are not only learning Spanish, but actively using it to communicate ideas, tell stories, and reflect on real-life situations. By connecting language learning to meaningful contexts—whether ethical dilemmas or everyday routines—students develop both their linguistic skills and their ability to think critically and creatively.
