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University of Florida

Journalistic Genres from Latin America


UF Faculty: Emily Hind
Department: Department of Spanish & Portuguese
College: College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Partner Faculty: Nelly Palafox López
Department: Facultad de Letras Española
Partner Institution: Universidad Veracruzana
Title: Journalistic Genres from Latin America with Universidad Veracruzana Journalism Students
Project Description: Students from Universidad Veracruzana in Xalapa, Mexico, collaborated with students in the UF course by reading a shared list of nonfiction texts. UF students read as much as their Spanish reading level allowed. Many levels of proficiency could enroll in the UF course, as long as prerequisites were met. The professors facilitated live discussion on Zoom. Students at UF prepared questions for their counterparts in Mexico; those questions turned out to be one of the most popular interventions according to the end-of-semester poll of students in Mexico. Some UF student-prepared questions and student-prepared answers appeared by video on the Flip platform. Those Flip videos included individual reflection on one work discussed during the special tour of the art museum facilitated by director Eric Segal of the Latin American collection of photography, painting, and more. The remainder of the semester involved more traditional assignments of canonical poetry and short stories, some of which also appeared in the assigned readings shared with the students in Mexico. Those other weeks of more traditional coursework sandwiched the discussion with the UV students and thus allowed for adequate preparation and follow-up.
Learning Outcomes:
  • Advance in the acqusition of oral and reading comprehension skills. 
  • Improve writing: precise, concise, and with an interesting idea to express. 
  • Relate literary content to personal experiences. 
  • Increase opportunities to acquire and study specialized vocabulary. 
  • Develop the ability to interpret literary texts, and to also appreciate their historical value. 
  • Cultivate the ability to converse about course topics in a cosmopolitan and non-offensive manner.
Participating Countries: Mexico
Number of Participants: 24 UF students & 22 students from the partner institution
Discipline: World Languages
UF Course Code & Name: SPW3031 - Survey of Spanish-American Literature: From Independence to Contemporary Times
Project Duration: 7 weeks
Activity Type(s): Student-to-Student Dialogue
Time allotted to each activity:
  • Synchronous Activities: 1.5 hours per week
  • Individual work: 1 hour per week
Technology Tools:
  • Zoom
  • Flip
Sequence of Activities:
  • Icebreaker Activity: All coursework was conducted in Spanish. To prepare for oral discussion, UF students discussed possible cultural misunderstandings during the regular class period before the engagement with students in Mexico. After that discussion, UF students recorded 90-second videos on Flip that introduced themselves individually to students in Mexico.

  • Engagement Activity: From the classroom on the UF campus, UF students asked and answered questions about the shared readings with students in the Universidad Veracruzana classroom in real time.

  • Collaboration Activity: Students exchanged questions and answers about the readings.

  • Reflection Activity: Students wrote in-class assessments of the readings and the exchange; students also wrote a research essay following the exchange on one reading and wrote an essay on the exam. The research paper and the exam essay reflected each student's choice of topic and approach.