
We are in the midst of our weather unit, so I thought I would share some of the activities that we have done this week to work on the interpretive mode (reading/listening) and cultural understanding around the theme.
This is a level 2 class, so we are revisiting the basics of weather that they learned in level 1 and extending them to include weather in past and future constructions and more of the vocabulary that they would actually hear during a "pronóstico del tiempo". Here is the list we are working with:
This is a level 2 class, so we are revisiting the basics of weather that they learned in level 1 and extending them to include weather in past and future constructions and more of the vocabulary that they would actually hear during a "pronóstico del tiempo". Here is the list we are working with:
After introducing the vocabulary we started with a reading activity that focuses on two things - getting to know the expressions associated with weather AND starting to pay attention to WHEN the weather is occurring.
We also looked at weather around world with Zachary Jones' awesome Tiempo Mundial activities.
I had no idea how little science background many of my students had when it came to weather outside of the United States, so we spent some time discussing weather patterns one might see in Spanish-speaking countries. I wanted them to understand that tropical countries recognize la estación lluviosa and la estación seca rather than the 4 seasons that we recognize here in the northern United States. We did this as a reading comprehension activity as well with lots of visuals for support.
I had no idea how little science background many of my students had when it came to weather outside of the United States, so we spent some time discussing weather patterns one might see in Spanish-speaking countries. I wanted them to understand that tropical countries recognize la estación lluviosa and la estación seca rather than the 4 seasons that we recognize here in the northern United States. We did this as a reading comprehension activity as well with lots of visuals for support.
For every theme, I try to find an infographic that addresses a related topic in Spanish. I find that infographics are THE BEST authentic resource for teaching reading and decoding strategies. After using these on a regular basis I see a tremendous increase in my students' ability to infer meaning. For this topic, I chose an infographic on "Enfermedaded por Calor" which you can see HERE. This is one of many Infographics I have created ready to print activities for aimed at a variety of proficiency levels. You can find them HERE.
The other focus this week was listening. There are a lot of great authentic listening resources out there for the topic of weather. Of course, we did some practice listening to actual weather forecasts in Spanish.
We also listened to this fun song by Don Omar that loosely ties into the weather theme. Many of my boys recognized Don Omar from the Fast & Furious movies (which provides instant teacher credibility by the way). We will extend the activity next week when we get into writing and create some new song lyrics with different weather expressions. You can check that activity out HERE.
We even found time to watch this great wintery episode of Peppa Pig. It uses a lot of winter weather vocabulary AND you can download my free activity to accompany this episode HERE. I have about ten different episodes that I have created activities. You can CLICK HERE to check the rest out!
At the end of the week, I assessed the kids using the reading and listening sections of this Integrated Performance Assessment.
Next week we are on to speaking and writing about the weather, so be sure to check back in about a week for more weather-related ideas!
Next week we are on to speaking and writing about the weather, so be sure to check back in about a week for more weather-related ideas!