Spanish Students Design AMAZON’s New Headquarters

 

After reading the articles, which were found in American publications for Spanish-speaking communities, the students were encouraged to think about what would attract AMAZON to their city in a very competitive field. The specific needs included a population base of a million, a stable business environment that could attract and retain talent, available real estate for employees, an innovative mind-set, and a large campus with a readily-developed infrastructure.

 

Four pairs of students delivered the key selling points in Spanish for the cities of “Santo Futuro,” created by Nico Campana ’20 and Jackie Benjes ’20; “Prosperidad” by Emilia DeJesus ’19 and Dylan Keusch ’19; “Amazontopia” by Isabel Salvin ’20 and Keira Harder ’22; and finally “Raggie”—a play on words by the two presenters, Rachel Mann ’20 and Maggie Barrow ’20. The powerpoints showed aerial views of proposed building sites, lists of museums and other cultural amenities, athletic facilities, and available educational opportunities for the employees and their families.

 

The AMAZON project was the focal point of a Spanish III unit on cities where the topics for discussion included the economy, quality of life, sociology, unemployment, sustainability, and environmental issues.

 

“Both Jackie and I agree that this was a fun way to practice our city vocab and practice navigating a city while being able to do a project with our friends,” said Nico Campana. “Our favorite part was watching other people's cities come to life.”

 

“The text we use is very ‘meaty,’ and requires the use of sophisticated vocabulary,” said Ms. Ryan. “They’re not discussing where the train station is, and how to buy fruit in the market. With this project, the students had to read the articles, glean what was important to the targeted city, and then prepare both a verbal presentation and a powerpoint to visually highlight the attractive features of their city.

 

“In this course, we cover everything from Washington Irving’s “Tales of the Alhambra” to news stories about the recent earthquake in Mexico,” said Ms. Ryan. “Spain and the Spanish-speaking countries around the world have a rich history of art, literature, and music, but they are also vibrant living cities and communities. That’s what we want the students to understand and appreciate.”