Faux Wedding, Spanish Class a Fine Pair

Spanish students at El Toro High School wrapped up the year’s studies by enacting a traditional Mexican wedding Wednesday, complete with bride, bridegroom, guests, reception and entertainment.

The event, which featured nine different ceremonies, involved 250 second-year Spanish students and was conducted completely in Spanish.

“It was fun but kind of hard because I didn’t know all the words,” said Darron Ohlwiler, 16, who portrayed one of the grooms. “But I learned a lot through the whole year.”

Teacher Joan Kirschenbaum came up with the idea 10 years ago and has been organizing mock weddings as year-end final projects for her students ever since. She said the project gives students an opportunity to develop their language skills and to explore Latino culture.

“It’s a comprehensive unit,” Kirschenbaum said. “With the reading and writing that they’ve done, every language skill that they’ve got they have to use.”

Students began planning this year’s event three weeks ago. After choosing their roles, they created identities and personal histories for each character and outlined what responsibilities that person would have at a wedding.

“We prepared a lot for it,” said Amy Ganter, 16, one of the brides.

During one of the 15-minute ceremonies, the bride and groom--she in a white gown and he in a tuxedo--stood inside a lasso to symbolize their union. Each offered the other a bag of coins to symbolize prosperity, then they were declared esposa y esposo--wife and husband.

After a brindis, or toast, by the best man, the wedding guests chatted in Spanish and joined in popular dances such as the cha-cha as well as the traditional baile de dinero, or money dance.

Chris Dicksion, 15, who portrayed the priest who married one of the couples, said the project was definitely educational as well as fun.

“I like talking in Spanish,” he said, “and I wanted to be the center of attention.”