March 20, 2002
Wax work creates living history museum
CHS students bring foreign characters, cultures to life
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
It's not often that you will see singer Jennifer Lopez standing patiently next to a saint.
But at Traverse City Central High School last Friday, there she stood, in miniskirt and go-go boots, next to St. Lily of Quito.
The peculiar pairing was just one snapshot from a living wax museum put on by members of the school's Spanish and German classes. These second-year language students spent their class period performing as a character from a Spanish- or German-speaking country that they chose to portray.
Students researched their character, created costumes and posters and wrote a script in either Spanish or German summarizing their life. The script had to include who they were, why they were famous and some interesting facts about their character.
The purpose of the exercise was to hone the students' research skills as well as their ability to converse in their second language.
"This is a good way to learn Spanish because you have to memorize your talk," said Sam Elliott, a tenth-grade student who portrayed Mexican president Vincente Fox. "I learned some new words and had to make some present tenses into past tense."
Along the way, Elliott also learned a great deal about Mexican politics and issues of the day.
"I didn't really know anything about the politics of Mexico and I learned about the corruption and how Fox is trying to reform it, that's why I picked him," he added. "This is also a great way to learn about the person."
Other characters ranged from sports heroes and dictators to entertainers and politicians. From Fidel Castro to Paddington Bear to Vincente Fox, students threw themselves into their roles.
While choosing to be Jennifer Lopez for a day has it's obvious appeal, why pick an obscure saint?
"She was the most interesting person from Ecuador," said Laura Boyd, the tenth grade student who portrayed St. Lily of Quito and rented a skirt and headpiece from a costume shop for the day.
Spanish teacher Becky Rankens has had her students create a living wax museum for the past three years. During each hour's museum presentation, she goes methodically from student to student to evaluate their costume, presentation, poster and language skills.
The students hold the museum outside the school's library and invite other foreign language students to attend. This year, Rankens also invited fifth grade students from nearby Oak Park and Eastern Elementary schools, but the weather Friday morning did not allow them to come.
Rankens assigns a country to each student and they are allowed to pick a character from that country. They use the Internet to delve into a country's history and culture to find an interesting character to portray.
"My whole purpose in thinking of it is I wanted them to realize there are other Spanish-speaking countries than Mexico and Spain," she said. "They always want me to provide them with a famous person, but I never will. I don't even keep lists from previous years so they are on their own."
In addition to the wax museum, students also give their presentations about their character to their class.
"I knew about my person but I also learned about other countries from that," said Chris Beckett, a tenth grade student who portrayed soccer star Rolando Fonseca of Costa Rica.
"You learn who the most popular people from other countries are," said Kody Louchard, a tenth grade student dressed as soccer star Alvaro Recoba of Uruguay.