It’s Friday at EHS. A teacher instructs a student to turn off the lights in the classroom. The sound of desks being dragged across the tile can be heard from classes below as students re-position themselves for a better view of the PolyVision board. The teacher logs into Netflix and selects the box marked “English subtitles.” It’s time to watch another episode of the Spanish soap opera, “Velvet.”

Spanish soap operas have been part of the Spanish 3 and 4 curriculums at EHS since 2001. The teachers initially showed the soap opera that came with the textbooks, but when that show became outdated, they began showing “La fea más bella.” This soap opera was watched every Friday in Spanish classes until a few years ago when Spanish teachers Melissa Beck and Ana Harris decided to switch it up.

“We just kind of changed (the shows) as life moved on and clothing became outdated,” Mrs. Beck said. “Sometimes phrases (characters say) go out of style too, so the (soap operas) we use now have the current phrases in them.”

The purpose of showing the soap operas is to immerse students in the language.

“When you’re learning a language, it’s great to practice all the verbs and the grammar, but really to learn a language, you should hear it as much as possible,” Mrs. Beck said.

Senior Jaren Smidt is in Mrs. Beck’s Spanish 4 class this year and while he has noticed an improvement in his learning through listening to Spanish dialogue in the soap operas, he acknowledges that he had to work to realize this benefit.

“They (help) if I pay attention and engage in the conversations, but if I just ignore the Spanish and stare at the subtitles, I won’t get much out of it,” he said.

In order to keep students engaged throughout the duration of each show, the teachers give students worksheets to fill out that are written in Spanish. They also stop the show to ask questions such as, “Why is this sentence set up the way it is,” “What does this mean” and “What would you say in response to this,” according to Mrs. Beck.

This year, some Spanish 2 teachers are also bringing the soap operas into their curriculum. Sophomore Molly Farrar recently started watching “Velvet” in her Spanish 2 class and is already thinking about watching it outside of school.

“I love the plot most of all,” she said. “It’s so dramatic and romantic, and I think it’s cool how you can pick up little bits of the language by watching periodically.”

Some people watch the shows much more often than others do. Senior Sarah Hangsleben has watched all three seasons of the drama “Grand Hotel” even though her Spanish class is still on season one.

“I became really invested in the characters, and I kept watching to see what would happen to them,” she said. “I like that you never know what to expect in each episode.”

Mrs. Beck believes the students’ interest in the show outside of school is a positive.

“If you’re watching 10 episodes ahead it’s cool with me because you’re listening to Spanish,” she said. “Anything a teacher does that makes you want to do more of their subject is always a success.”