Category Dominican Republic

Dominican Rep.- Dominoes

The Spanish Cave

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: While baseball is technically the sport of the Dominican, many also refer to Dominoes as the national sport of the country, due to its popularity as a pastime. The sound of “smacking” down the dominoes on the board is commonplace to hear while strolling about the tropical paradise; and games often span the entirety of the afternoon.

In class, I teach the rules and let students play in small groups. But I also like to extend it to add an option for the ‘building’ center, as some tire of the game at a certain point and just want to build. Here, I show classes Guinness World Record videos involving hundreds of thousands of dominoes, which are pretty incredible feats to watch. While this activity can end in tears, setting up dominoes is a great opportunity to teach patience, teamwork, and slowing down, especially for younger students.

If students are really into this, you can also keep extending this project by tapping into Paraguay- Landfill Harmonic and this Rube Goldberg video.

Recipes- Central America

The Spanish Cave

Food from Central America and beyond to make at home with your family. Turn on the radio to a Spanish station, and have fun! Note that the recipes are ordered alphabetically by country.

Central America & Beyond

Dancing!

The Spanish Cave
Salsa, Paso Doble, Tango, Merengue, Mexican Hat Dance, Cha Cha, Ballroom, Flamenco, etc. + History of Dances

Dance is a very important part of the culture in many Spanish-speaking countries–from the Tango in Argentina and the Flamenco in Spain to the Merengue and Salsa in the Caribbean, dance brings everyone together. Virtual or not, we are all one big family, so let’s get up & dance!

In class, students watched two astounding young Salsa dancers and a dog dancing Salsa for inspiration (see below). While third and fourth graders learned the basic Salsa dance step, second graders focused more on the Tango and Merengue. Older students ended the year with a small fiesta–eating chips and salsa while dancing Salsa!

Virtual learners were given the challenge to dress up in a fancy outfit and record 5-10 seconds of them dancing to a song in Spanish (more music below). Naturally, we added an ‘out’, for the timid of heart.

  • In the Dominican Republic, there is a saying, “El que no baila, no come bizcocho,” which means, “He who does not dance, does not eat cake”.
  • However, we will make an exception to this rule today; for anyone who does NOT want to be recorded dancing, you may make a tres leches cake (or any kind of cake).

Salsa

Tango

Merengue

La Raspa & Jarabe Tapatío

Flamenco

Cha-Cha

Paso Doble

Dominican Rep.- Defy Gravity

The Spanish Cave

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: “Defy gravity in Barahona! In the southwestern part of the Dominican Republic, there is a town called Polo. There you can go challenge gravity at the Magnetic Pole (El Polo Magnético). If you stop your car in neutral gear downhill, your car will roll up! As cool as it sounds, this is what’s called a gravity hill. This is caused by an optical illusion that has to do with the shape of the road and the landscape. Still, pretty cool to experience in person!” (Source)

Fried Plantains & Mangú

The Spanish Cave

PLANTAINS: While plantains appear very similar to bananas, they are not the same food at all: plantains are starchy and much harder, and cannot be eaten raw. There are several ways to prepare them.

In class, some years we have made tostones or patacones (plantain chips) to taste, which are a very popular snack in some Spanish-speaking countries. Chifles are much more thinly sliced, fried green plantain chips. At the store, you can buy Chifles plantain chips; while these are tasty, the chips are very thin and not the same as homemade tostones or patacones. Someone from Cuba told me that the plantain chips they make at home are sweet, almost like a dessert; so I think that there are probably quite a few varieties. If you would like to make this delicious snack at home, HERE is a recipe.

Other years, we taste-tested a variety of brands and flavors of ​fried plantain chips. Students loved the garlic flavor, which surprised me!

Another way to prepare plantains is for breakfast, as mangú (eaten especially in the Dominican Republic)–recipe HERE. See below for the etymological origin of this word and a fun story.

“The origin of mangú started back in 1916 when the Americans invaded the Dominican Republic; afterwards, the soldiers would go into town. Then one day, one of the soldiers wanted to taste some of the mashed plantains he saw the locals eat.

When he tasted it, he said ‘Man, this is good’ and pointing at it, he said in short ‘man good!’. The locals thought that the name of the mashed plantains in English was mangú.”

Source

Looking for more recipes? Check out this PAGE.

LINKS: Mangú (recipe)

ANECDOTE: This morning in Spanish class, third graders started a cooking project that first graders ended up finishing (because Señorita overloaded the electrical circuits… whoops! and had to restart, ahem). As serendipity would have it, the end product was even better than planned: a beautiful mix of first and third graders working and cooking side-by-side.