Café Mariposa is a listening and conversation practice and assessment for SPA102. It assesses CO1 and PLO4. ( CLO1: Students will be able to ask and answer oral questions to narrate in the past, present, or future, express emotional reactions, give instructions and commands, and participate in simple conversations. PLO4: Demonstrate comprehension of authentic written and oral passages that include detailed descriptions and narrations in the past, present, and future.)
I wanted an alternative to the final oral assessment in SPA102. Students tend to get very nervous when conducting 1-1 oral assessments. Despite promoting office hours and analyzing tutoring data as part of our program review, I realized students were not utilizing either.
Café Mariposa is intended as an assessment and a community-building, open pedagogy project. I wanted students to experience the language and interact with peers and native Spanish speakers in a relaxed setting. Café Mariposa is a conversation hangout that provides opportunity to build vocabulary, hone listening and conversation skills, and increase sense of belonging.
Students worked on an open pedagogy assignment. They created reusable learning objects to practice Spanish while sharing / practicing with the campus community via QR code or conversation prompts. Students created Kahoots, Quizlets, Google Slides, and conversation prompts based on their personal interests. Students interacted with guests while sharing snacks (with approved official function form) and played games in Spanish while practicing CLOs and PLOs.
So far, Café Mariposa has yielded better results than role-play scenarios or 1-1 interviews. Students are visibly relaxed, their affective filter lowers when in the company of their peers and when they are the ones demonstrating their level of mastery by sharing their passions and interests with others. Students from other classes were invited to attend. Students in 101 interacted with 102 students. Students in online classes stopped by.
Café Mariposa is an open pedagogy and experiential learning project. Students engage with the content and the campus community in a relaxed atmosphere where they can build Spanish vocabulary, and hone listening and interpersonal communication skills.