Being that it is summer, it is time for me to go through some of my old files and clean them up. While doing so, I came across this activity that I did in my Spanish 4 class a few years ago that I wanted to share. At the time, I had a great group of really outgoing students. They all agreed that one of their big weaknesses was the ability to ask and answer questions. So, we decided to have some fun and do celebrity interviews.
First, I broke students up into groups of 4-5. Each group chose a celebrity that they would like to interview and also which student from their group would play the role of the celebrity. Each of the other students were to develop 3 "additional information" questions (not just "yes" or "no"); one about the celebrities past, one about their present, and one about their future. This part of the work took place in advance and all questions were peer reviewed and I was able to circulate from group to group.
These are the celebrities my students chose to interview:
Mía (a character from the Spanish teen soap opera Rebelde that we had been watching)
Snooki (from the TV show Jersey Shore)
Chris Brown (musical artist)
Cruella de Ville (Disney Character from 101 Dalmations)
Britney Spears (musical artist)
Lebron James (Basketball Player)
Beyoncé (musical artist)
Taylor Lautner (actor from Twilight movie series)
On the day of the interviews, the kids playing the role of the celebrities came dressed up as their own idea! They were so funny!
Despite the fact that the questions were scripted ahead of time (which is how it truly is in most interviews), I wanted to make sure that my students were building strategies that could help them deal with questions on the spot. As they conducted their interviews, if the celebrity was having trouble understanding their question, they were responsible for re-phrasing the question, using non-verbal cues and gestures to help them understand, or suggesting possible answers.
They were graded on their written construction of the questions, but also on their verbal exchange during the interview themselves. Here are some of the specific things I was looking for in each;
Writing
Verbal
I really loved doing this activity as the kids got really into it and could really be creative. I will need to think of a way to make something similar for my Spanish 2 students since I am no longer teaching the upper levels.
First, I broke students up into groups of 4-5. Each group chose a celebrity that they would like to interview and also which student from their group would play the role of the celebrity. Each of the other students were to develop 3 "additional information" questions (not just "yes" or "no"); one about the celebrities past, one about their present, and one about their future. This part of the work took place in advance and all questions were peer reviewed and I was able to circulate from group to group.
These are the celebrities my students chose to interview:
Mía (a character from the Spanish teen soap opera Rebelde that we had been watching)
Snooki (from the TV show Jersey Shore)
Chris Brown (musical artist)
Cruella de Ville (Disney Character from 101 Dalmations)
Britney Spears (musical artist)
Lebron James (Basketball Player)
Beyoncé (musical artist)
Taylor Lautner (actor from Twilight movie series)
On the day of the interviews, the kids playing the role of the celebrities came dressed up as their own idea! They were so funny!
Despite the fact that the questions were scripted ahead of time (which is how it truly is in most interviews), I wanted to make sure that my students were building strategies that could help them deal with questions on the spot. As they conducted their interviews, if the celebrity was having trouble understanding their question, they were responsible for re-phrasing the question, using non-verbal cues and gestures to help them understand, or suggesting possible answers.
They were graded on their written construction of the questions, but also on their verbal exchange during the interview themselves. Here are some of the specific things I was looking for in each;
Writing
- Grammatical Accuracy (verb conjugation, agreement issues)
- Word Order (since sometimes this can vary in questions in Spanish)
- Vocabulary Usage (were unfamiliar words chosen correctly with use of a dictionary)
Verbal
- Ability to re-phrase, use non-verbals
- Pronunciation
I really loved doing this activity as the kids got really into it and could really be creative. I will need to think of a way to make something similar for my Spanish 2 students since I am no longer teaching the upper levels.
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