While most students dread their final week of schoolwork, a group of sixth graders was seen twirling and dancing through the hallways of Faner Hall Wednesday morning as it waited to surprise a class.
The Latino Studies course, which meets every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 10 a.m. in the Moore Auditorium of Faner Hall, was entertained by two Latin dances Wednesday. The sixth grade students of Giant City Elementary School came to the class and performed one traditional Mexican folklore dance and one traditional Puerto Rican dance.
Alicia Chavira-Prado, professor in the anthropology department, said she wanted to surprise her class with an end of semester celebration.
"She said we were going to have a guest speaker today," said Danielle Rios, a sophomore from Chicago studying administration of justice.
The students of Anthropology 204 were told attendance for Wednesday's class would be heavily weighted into the final grade. Chavira-Prado said she wanted to make sure there was an audience for the performance.
"I'm sorry I fibbed to all of you," Chavira-Prado said to her class after the performance.
Chavira-Prado said two teachers from the elementary school had asked her to teach Latin dances to their students. Susan McMeen, literature arts teacher at Giant City Elementary School, said the students have been studying Mexican culture while reading a Hispanic novel called Esperanza Rising.
"It's a way of enriching cultural awareness and cultural diversity," Chavira-Prado said. "I think music enhances appreciation."
The students spent less than a week learning the dances, Chavira-Prado said.
Kyle Milburn, a freshman from Rockford studying architecture, said he enjoyed the surprise performance.
"I like how she's teaching the younger kids too, not just college students," Milburn said of his professor.
At the end of the second dance, the children went through the auditorium and brought students up to the front of the room to dance with them. The performance concluded with food and drinks for the class.
Fatima Villagomez, an undecided freshman from Chicago, said the children performed well.
"They represented the culture very well," Villagomez said. "It was a nice surprise."
Madeleine Leroux can be reached at 536-3311 ext. 254 or mleroux@siu.edu.
