To increase students’ interest in reading, Grade 8 Spanish teachers Marta Vargas and Manuela Castaño introduced a new project into the class curriculum, Banquete Literario.

After 7 weeks of reading and several progress checks completed in class, the second part of the project began. Students created an entire menu that symbolized aspects of the book they read. On presentation day, they were required to bring in one dish and a drink. 

“We chose the tortas envinadas with cream around it and cherries. We chose this because the cake envinada represents the marriage, the white represents the purity of the marriage and the red the impurity. One of the main characters of the book was killed because of this impurity,” Eloisa Pulgarin, Grade 8, said.

To begin the project, students had the chance to choose between  Cuentos de Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Doce Cuentos Peregrinos, Crónica de Una Muerte Anunciada, and La Casa Grande. Three of the four books in the reading plan were written by world-known Colombian novelist Gabriel Garcia Marquez.  

“I chose Crónicas de Una Muerte Anunciada because I found it to be the most interesting between the options we had; also, it has a decent amount of pages,” Juan Sebastian Romero, Grade 8,  said. 

Students were also responsible for bringing cups, plates, cutlery, and decorations that aligned with their books. Many students wrote things on their plates and tablecloths to make their presentations more interactive. 

“I thought it was a difficult job that required a lot of dedication. It helped me improve my planning and organization skills. Even though it was very hard, I think it turned out very well and I am very happy with how everything ended,” Ariana Agudelo, Grade 8, said. 

In their presentations, students explained the relationship between their book and the menu they created. As a bonus, students could also dress up in something relating to their book and decorate their stand.  

“I found it to be a very interesting project because it is very creative and something I had never done before,” Jacobo Belle, Grade 8, said.

Students could connect the book and food in any way they wanted as long they were able to sustain the connection and explain its relevance in the book.

“The idea was to have some base colors, in our case black and gold. We chose these colors from the story The Airplane and Sleeping Beauty. For the entrance, we chose to bring in cheese sticks, and as a drink, we had red wine represented with aromatics,” Pulgarin said. 

Students had a week and a half to complete all their work. They used class time to plan the projects and check in with the teacher. The rest of the work had to be completed outside of class. 

“The Literary Banquet helped me understand my book much better. Because more than just reading it, I was able to analyze the symbols and quotes. This helped me to appreciate the magic of literature,” Agudelo said.