Guggenheim Museum Bilbao (image by Mark Neal, Pexels)

Hispanic Studies

Museum For Me/Un Museo Para Mí Schools Activity (part of a larger, externally-funded project) 

Professor Claire Taylor and Dr Lucia Brandi

Overview

These schools activities should last approximately 3 hours of classroom time, comprising one hour delivered by the University of Liverpool staff (Claire Taylor/Lucia Brandi), and 2 hours of additional class time or homework. In these activities, students will work with activity packs informed by work done at the Museo Nacional in Colombia, and by researchers on the project. They will learn to curate their own materials, think about the objects and images that represent them and their memories, and create their own mini museum in the course of the workshop. The workshop will get students thinking and talking in particular about issues such as museums and identity; museums as part of national or transnational identity; and the curation of memory.

Claire Taylor and participants in the Museo Para Mí project

Resources we provide for free

  • Videos showing how to make the mini-museums
  • Video of Mujer Diáspora (Martha) talking about how she made the museum to represent her memory as a Colombian exile (available in English and Spanish)
  • Video of participants in the lockdown in Colombia, about how they made museums to represent their experiences of the Colombian conflict (available in English and Spanish)
  • PDF of museum kit packs
  • Print version of the museum kit packs (one per student, plus a few to spare)
  • PPT introducing the activity that teachers could use, and/or we deliver
  • Certificate for all those who complete the activity, which confirms they have participated in this activity which is part of UKRI-funded research project

Materials used in the Museo Para Mí project

What we deliver

  • Synchronous session where we teach the students how to use the materials (delivered through the medium of Spanish), either online if lockdown continues, or f2f if schools are open
  • Students then work through the materials in their own time/with teacher
  • Students then record a brief presentation in Spanish about their museum (on their mobile phones if lockdown continues)

Topics of the session, relevance to A Level syllabus, and pitch for why to take part

  • Discuss culture, identity, memory and belonging
  • Focus on issues of gender and inclusion
  • Focus on work with victims’ groups and women’s groups
  • An activity in which they will engage with cutting-edge research
  • Their museums will be displayed as part of the research project in due course

Workshop on Gender and Spanish Film/Television

Dr Abigail Loxham

Overview

These sessions can be delivered to either GCSE or A-level cohorts on different aspects of Spain and gender representation in film and television, including the following topics:

  • The historical position of women and feminism in Spain
  • Films directed by women
  • Case studies on media treatment of women in the public eye
  • Popular television drama

These seminar-style sessions can be tailored for students of Spanish (i.e. with Spanish-language resources) or for mixed groups, including students of media and film (i.e. with resources in Spanish and English). Other topics relating to Spain (including specific films/texts) may also be possible, subject to discussion.

What we provide/deliver:

  • Delivery of a session (between 45 and 90 minutes, depending on requirements)
  • PowerPoint slides with background materials
  • Analysis of scenes from films/television

Presentation & Interactive Workshop: Christians, Jews & Muslims and the Cultures of Medieval Spain

Dr Sizen Yiacoup  

Overview

This interactive workshop is designed for A-level or GCSE students of Spanish and/or History (the activity includes Spanish language resources alongside their English translations) but can de adapted for learners at different stages. The workshop usually consists of three stages (which can be adapted according to requirements), which together last between 60-90 minutes: 

  1. Presentation on the histories and cultures of Christians, Jews and Muslims in medieval Spain, their interaction and cultural legacies, including examples of music, poetry and historical chronicles produced in the Middle Ages and discussion of the Muslim and Jewish contribution to Spanish art, architecture, cuisine and language.
  2. Quiz in which pupils work in teams to answer questions on topics covered in the presentation and solve riddles originally written by Arabic poets in medieval Spain.
  3. Writing workshop in which students work in pairs – with guidance - to write a riddle in Spanish in the style of the riddles discussed in the presentation.

What we provide/deliver

  • Delivery of first session and facilitation of stages two and three. The preliminary session can be provided face-to-face or online, although the following sessions are considerably easier face-to-face.
  • PowerPoint slides with resources
  • Teamwork challenge sheets (these can be used during a facilitated workshop, or employed independently by teachers with pupils).

Topics covered / relevance to GCSE and A-level syllabus

  • Discussion of key moments in medieval and early modern Spanish history which helped shape contemporary Spanish identity and culture
  • The role of minority cultures and religions in Spanish life and how these relate to broader debates around national and global identities and cultures, memory and belonging
  • Provides an insight into cutting-edge research and materials studied on undergraduate modules

Presentation & Interactive Workshop: The Spanish Conquest of the Americas

Dr Sizen Yiacoup  

Overview

This interactive workshop is designed for A-level or GCSE students of Spanish and/or History (the activity includes Spanish language resources alongside their English translations) but can be adapted for learners at different stages. The workshop usually consists of three stages (which can be adapted, according to requirements), which together last between 60-90 minutes:

  1. Presentation on the historical events leading up to and including Christopher Columbus’s first voyage to the ‘New World’ in addition to a discussion of the impact of the European conquest and colonisation of the Americas and of how these processes have had a direct impact on the world we live in today.
  2. Quiz in which pupils work in teams to answer questions on topics covered in the presentation as well as general knowledge questions on Latin American culture and language.
  3. Translation workshop in which students work in pairs – with guidance - to translate extracts from Columbus’s journal of the first voyage as well as from historical accounts written in Spanish by both Spanish and native chroniclers of the Americas.

What we provide/deliver

  • Delivery of first session and facilitation of stages two and three. The first and second session can be provided face-to-face or online, although the third session is considerably easier face-to-face.
  • PowerPoint slides with resources
  • Teamwork challenge sheets and translation sheets (these can be used during a facilitated workshop, or employed independently by teachers with pupils).

Topics covered / relevance to GCSE and A-level syllabus

  • Discussion of key moments in early modern Spanish history which helped shape the contemporary world including the Transatlantic Slave Trade
  • Conquest, colonialism and slavery and how these relate to broader debates around national and global identities and cultures and human rights
  • Provides an insight into cutting-edge research and materials studied on undergraduate modules

Presentation & Interactive Workshop: The Renaissance: the Italian phenomenon that went global

Dr Sizen Yiacoup   

Overview

This interactive workshop is designed for A-level or GCSE students of Modern Languages and/or History but can be adapted for learners at different stages. The workshop usually consists of three stages (which can be adapted, according to requirements), which together last between 60-90 minutes:

  1. Presentation on the events that brought about the Italian Renaissance which in turn spread throughout Europe and played an important role in shaping the world we live in today. Examples of Renaissance art, architecture, literature and music will be included in the presentation, as will as discussion of the role of key figures such as Leonardo Da Vinci and Niccolò Machiavelli and their contribution to art, science and political thought.
  2. Quiz in which pupils work in teams to answer questions on topics covered in the presentation.
  3. Team challenge in which students work together to research specific aspects of the Renaissance (science, art, literature) and create a presentation showcasing what they consider the most interesting and important innovations of the Renaissance.

What we provide/deliver

  • Delivery of first session and facilitation of stages two and three. The first and second session can be provided face-to-face or online; the third session is online only
  • PowerPoint slides with resources
  • Teamwork challenge sheets containing instructions and links to online resources

Topics covered / relevance to GCSE and A-level syllabus

  • Discussion of a key moment in European history which helped shape the contemporary world
  • Discussion of national and global identities and cultures
  • Provides an insight into cutting-edge research and materials studied on undergraduate modules

Presentation & Interactive Workshop: An Introduction to Contemporary Brazilian Cinema

Professor Lisa Shaw

Overview

This interactive workshop is designed for A-level or GCSE students of Spanish and/or Film Studies and can adapted for learners at different stages. It does not require knowledge of a foreign language as all material in Portuguese will be translated into English. The workshop usually consists of two stages (which can be tailored according to requirements), which together last between 1-2 hours:

  1. Overview of contemporary Brazilian cinema: main trends and themes
  2. Case Study 1: Central Station (Walter Salles, 1998)
  3. Case Study 2: City of God (Fernando Meirelles and Kátia Lund, 2002)
  4. Case Study 3: The Second Mother (Anna Muylaert, 2015) 
  5. Consideration of the issues raised by these films in terms of social class and race in contemporary Brazil
  6. Workshop in which students have the opportunity to study primary materials (film clips) relating to the representation of class and race relations in Brazil

What we provide/deliver

  • Delivery of introductory session (covering 1-5 above) and facilitation of workshop (6). The preliminary session can be provided face-to-face or online, although is considerably easier face-to-face
  • PowerPoint slides with resources
  • Worksheets 

Topics covered / relevance to GCSE and A-level syllabus

  • Discussion of key themes in contemporary Brazilian cinema
  • The implications of the themes dealt with in contemporary Brazilian cinema for debates about racial and social inequalities
  • Provides an insight into current research and materials studied on undergraduate modules