For their final, students from Sra. Castro’s Coversational Spanish class created a business complete with products, a business plan, and advertisements. They sold their products for Monopoly money in an open market.

Businesses ranged from pastry shops to art stands to Hot Wheels dealers. Anything went- as long as all negotiations were done in Spanish. The multi-page business plan, detailing the prices of items, the perfect location in the city for the business, and future projections for sales, were also written entirely in Spanish.

This project started last year as a way to encourage students to use their Spanish in a real life situation like bargaining and buying items. Students split into groups of two and three and had about two weeks to plan their business in its entirety.

Students from other Spanish classes who had free blocks were asked to come to Sra. Castro’s class and were given an allowance. They were allowed to stay only if they bought products from the Conversational students and bargained with them to challenge their linguistic skills.

The students were graded on their final business plans and their ability to discuss with their clients.