Students investigate how family migration stories shape identity by interviewing a family member in Spanish, studying community narratives, and connecting those stories to themes from Esperanza and history class. They build communication and content expertise by using the preterite and imperfect to ask questions, retell past experiences, and present a clear personal narrative. Through watercolor techniques, symbolism, color, and composition, they create a canvas that represents both a family member’s journey to the United States and their own identity, community, and sense of belonging. The work culminates in a public gallery and Spanish presentation that ask students to listen with empathy, revise through feedback, and connect personal history to larger community experiences of immigration.

Students will analyze migration stories in Spanish to identify how identity, community, and lived experiences are communicated through specific details, and they will discuss these ideas with peers and present them clearly. They will conduct and respond to family interviews in Spanish using the preterite and imperfect with increasing accuracy, supported by vocabulary and sentence frames about immigration, emotions, family relationships, and personal history. They will apply watercolor techniques, symbolism, color, and composition to create a canvas that represents both a family member’s journey and their own identity. They will revise their visual and oral work through critique, connect personal stories to larger community and historical narratives, and share their learning in a public exhibition.

Students will create interview questions in Spanish, audio reflections, vocabulary supports, and sketch drafts that turn family migration stories into a visual story map. Throughout the project, they will produce watercolor studies, planning notes, peer feedback revisions, and a short Spanish artist statement that connects identity, immigration, family history, and community. By the end, each student will present a finished watercolor canvas that combines a family member’s journey to the United States with the student’s own identity symbols, along with a QR-linked Spanish audio narration using preterite and imperfect tenses. The final showcase can also include process sketches, revised drafts, and one collaborative class mural or panel display that connects individual stories to larger community histories.

Begin with “Historias que Pintan”: invite a guest from a local immigration advocacy organization to share a brief migration story in Spanish and English while a community artist displays a live watercolor demonstration using color and symbols to represent memory, movement, and identity. Students then rotate through short stations with family audio clips, sample interview questions, example canvases, and images connected to immigration history from their History class, responding in Spanish with one phrase about identity and one question they want to explore. Close with an opening circle where students sketch a quick symbol of their own family story on watercolor paper, share it with a partner using a preterite or imperfect sentence frame, and begin a first visual story map for their final canvas.

Host a bilingual gallery event such as Raíces en Lienzo or Nuestro Camino Gallery where students display their watercolor canvases, sketch drafts, interview notes, and short Spanish artist statements alongside QR codes linking to their audio narrations. Invite families, the history class, the community immigration partner, and the local artist or muralist to rotate through student presentations as students tell the family migration story in Spanish using the preterite and imperfect and explain the symbols, colors, and composition choices that connect family history to their own identity. Include a response station where guests leave written reflections about themes of identity, migration, and community, and end with a brief whole-group celebration that highlights how individual stories connect to larger local histories. If desired, combine the individual canvases into a collaborative mural wall so the exhibit also shows shared migration experiences across the class.