Paraguay's Itaipu Dam

by: Sra. Melissa Harris, elementary Spanish teacher

¡Hola! Once a month, we have culture week in Spanish class. The students look forward to it, and they treat it like Christmas, always asking me every week how close it is. We learn about a different Spanish speaking country to bring a "why" to learning Spanish. This week we studied Paraguay. Paraguay is a unique little country where they have two national languages: Spanish and Guaraní. On the border of Brazil and Paraguay runs the Paraná River, which is the source for a large hydroelectric dam called the Itaipu Dam. The Itaipu Dam is the largest source of hydroelectric power in the world in terms of its electrical energy output. Because of this, over 90% of Paraguay's power comes from hydroelectricity. That's a lot of clean energy! The students had the opportunity to construct their own dam using Legos and test its ability to direct water and control the force of the water. We saw lots of successes, and they were all so creative! Buen trabajo, estudiantes.