In middle schools you always see students wanting to be a part of something, and that’s when we find out the families are not close, so I’m trying my best to have the students work on something that will bring the families together.
Students in Diana Sanchez’s Spanish classes at Besteiro Middle School upstaged the BISD Children’s Charro Days Parade a little bit Thursday morning.
Carrying Mexican Lotería placards they designed themselves, the students staged a parade through Besteiro’s front hallways, complete with a drum line and accompaniment by the Besteiro choir.
“Our project is based off of Brownsville Latino Mexican heritage. We drew everything that in our Hispanic culture we celebrate, or what is considered an image of Mexicans,” student Diego Javier Fernando explained.
One placard was titled “La Chola, others depicted low rider culture and there was a rendition of the 1950s cartoon character Speedy Gonzalez.
“They created their own Loteria because it is a traditional family game, and I’ve always stressed my big love for family unity,” Sanchez said.
“In middle schools you always see students wanting to be a part of something, and that’s when we find out the families are not close, so I’m trying my best to have the students work on something that will bring the families together. That’s my main objective. They enjoyed doing it in the classroom. What we plan to do is reduce them in size and play the game in the classroom,” she said.
La Lotería Mexicana, sometimes called Mexican bingo, originated in 15th century Italy among soldiers looking for a way to pass the time. The game traveled to Spain and made its way to Mexico around 1769, Sanchez said.
The students said they enjoyed working on the project and look forward to playing the game using their own self-designed Lotería characters.
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