I asked my students to write about the most surprising thing they learned from our Hispanic Civilization course. Here is what they wrote about:
1. Columbus was not a hero. (37 out of 66 students).
2. Columbus didn’t “establish the US” (8 students).
3. Nationalism is not an ingrained instinct we are born with. (1 student)
4. Christians committed atrocities (12 students).
5. Even before Hitler, Jews were “persecuted and sometimes even killed” (2 students).
6. There was a Spanish Empire (4 students).
7. Even jerks (sic!) like Quevedo could
create beautiful literature (1 student).
8. Don Quijote is more than “just a book about this crazy guy with windmills and what not” (1 student).
Yes, my course is full of surprises.
Clarissa's Blog 
With such an obvious lack of general knowledge on display are you ever tempted to make up some incredible story for them?
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Honestly, whenever I see them eager to write down every word I say, I get very very tempted. 🙂 🙂 But I bravely resist the temptation. 🙂
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I don’t think you need to be brave. You have a perfectly good teaching excuse for making something up. How else do they learn that sources can not always be trusted? Besides it would be funny 🙂
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Tell them that Columbo discovered a land to the north, which he called Canada. De Nada is spanish for “You’re welcome!”. 🙂
You need to slightly mispronounce Canada and de nada of course.
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