`Perceiving, believing and understanding life`

Ever expounded on the intricacies of Shakespeare? Ever done that in Spanish? It`s not as absurd a thought as you might think. While a class of Hawken students can`t say they`ve explored Shakespeare in Spanish, they have tackled the prose, poetry and drama of some of Spanish literature`s equally respected authors. And yes, they`ve done that completely in Spanish. As part of Hawken`s AP Spanish Literature course, students experience a course where the material leaps off the page, and lives and breathes, said instructor Joaquin Soldevilla. Each day is different. There is no set of expected language exercises and lists of vocabulary words from a textbook. Students must be on their toes, at the ready to discuss whatever topic works its way into the day`s class session. \"You can begin talking about literature and end up talking about society,\" Soldevilla said. \"You know the reading that you`re doing, but you don`t know what the discussion is going to be or where it`s going to end up.\" The course is comparable to a third-year college course in Peninsular and Latin American literature, covering a wide range of texts from the Middle Ages to the 20th century. \"You see the defects of the society from the beginning to the end, you see the evolution of that society, you see the things that are important-life, love, death, honor, pride-the things that we should be aware of and we should be discussing and thinking about...,\" Soldevilla said. Hawken is among a small number of schools throughout the country that offer the rigorous course. Nationally, it`s found at less than 10 percent of the schools that participate in the Advanced Placement program. That doesn`t come as a surprise to Soldevilla. He said that other AP courses often take precedence and that even if schools wanted to teach a literature class, they couldn`t because they don`t have the people to do it. The class is not only intense for students, but also for teachers, who must extensively prepare. At Hawken, the course material is so rich that the class spans both junior and senior years. It`s as close students can get to Spanish immersion this side of hopping a plane to some Spanish-speaking country, said Soldevilla. \"In terms of a comprehensive way of understanding people and understanding the culture and understanding the customs, understanding the evolution of that people through history in a literature class that goes from the Middle Ages up to the 20th century, I think that [the course is] perfect,\" he said. \"...If you cover everything, if you cover novels, if you cover poetry, if you cover plays, short stories and even in some cases essays, books, philosophy, what is more complete than that?\" What`s more, Soldevilla thinks the literature class provides what a regular English class couldn`t in terms of cultural and global awareness. \"[Foreign language study] gives you another way of perceiving, believing and understanding life and I think that is the best you can learn in this world,\" he said. \"...You realize that you are not the center of the world...but there are many people all around also with the same rights, same situations and probably the same desires that you have...I think that literature gives you the ability to concentrate on that.\"