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Cortometraje Activities

7/2/2016

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​Videos have gotten an undeservedly bad rap in education land.  They are largely viewed as time wasters by parents, students, and administrators.  It's too bad really as videos can be a great source of comprehensible input in second language classrooms - but parents, students, and administrators don't likely know what comprehensible input even is.  Enter the cortometraje...

Cortometrajes ("shorts" in English) are short movies that tell big stories, some of them even without words.  The best ones are creative, interesting, and teach great lessons.  When used in the world language classroom, they can provide us with a common story around which we can develop listening, reading, writing, and speaking skills.  Best of all, they don't need to "fit" with your unit because the focus is not on the content, it is on the skills that students sharpen while using the content.  Since they are typically less than 10 minutes in length, they can be watched in a fraction of a class period with plenty of time left over to engage in communicative activities based on what was seen.

Take a peek at my 5 favorite cortometrajes to use in the classroom.  Click on the title of each to check out listening, reading, writing, and speaking activities for each cortometraje.

1.  "El Regalo"
2.  "El Vendedor de Humo"
3.  "Ratón en Venta"
4.  "La Nube y la Cigüeña"
​5.  "Jinxy Jenkins & Lucky Lou"
You can find more cortometraje titles and activities by visiting our store.
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Activities for Teaching Weather in Spanish

1/29/2016

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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:

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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.
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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.
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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!
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Fun & Easy Activities for el Año Nuevo

12/12/2015

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I have always loved New Year's.  It is one of the only holidays that everyone, regardless of race, religion, gender, or age can get excited about.  The Spanish-speaking world has so many unique New Year's traditions that I can't wait to share with my students.  Here are some ideas for easy, fun and interesting activities for learning about el Año Nuevo while using the target language.

1.  ¿Comprendes? - This is a game that my students love and can be played with any cultural information that is not too complex.  First, you get kids into teams of 3 or 4.  Then, you tell them that you are going to explain something completely in Spanish and their job is to guess what you explained with as much detail as possible.  I award 3 points for the team with the most correct details, 2 points for second place, and 1 point for third place.  With lower level classes (like Spanish 1 & 2), I give them a few pictures as hints to get them started.  In this particular game, I explained 8 different New Year's traditions completely in Spanish using the power point below as my picture hints.  

2 - Infographic Reading Activities - there are some great infographics out there about New Year's traditions.  Create reading activities to help students figure the traditions out for themselves or check out our ready made activities here.
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3 - El Año Nuevo Greeting Cards - Have students create greeting cards, in Spanish, that only wish someone a "Prospero Año Nuevo", but also teach them something about New Year's traditions in Spanish-speaking countries.
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Wear red underwear to bring love in the New Year and yellow underwear to bring luck!
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Coins should be thrown in the air while large bills should be kept in your shoes.
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Sweep your house and throw all the dust out the front door.  Walk around the outside of your house with a suitcase to bring travel in the New Year.
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Communicative Activities for Describing People

9/9/2015

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This week we started our unit on physical description.  My students are currently in Spanish 2, so they know a little about physical description from last year, but I needed some activities that could take them to the next level.


We began by introducing some new vocabulary with pictures.  I also gave all my students a copy of this great talking mat created by the brilliant folks at www.actiludis.com. 

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Next, I passed out some pennies and had students do a coin toss to randomly select certain physical characteristics that we were focusing on.  We also threw in a little cultural tidbit about how in Spanish a coin isn't heads or tails but "cara o cruz" ("aguila o sol" in Mexico).

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Once the physical traits were determined, they set to drawing, then naming their new characters.

Then, we set up our gallery.  "Hombres" were on one side of the room and "Mujeres" on the other to help with traffic flow.
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The next day, I split my students into 6 teams.  Each team got a set of 30 task cards, each one asking them to find either a man or a woman with specific physical traits.  Then, I set them loose to find their matches.

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If you would like a copy of these materials all ready to print & go, you can find them in our store with some additional activity ideas and materials.


You can also follow our Pinterest Board for more great Description activities and resources in Spanish from all across cyberspace!  

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7 Ways to Use Driver's Licenses in the Spanish Classroom

8/29/2015

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1.  Describing Someone - Have students describe the person pictured on the license.  Better yet, have students use the license's for a game of Guess Who!


2.  Culture - Teach students about the symbol of Mexico and the Aztec legend behind the emblem.


3.  Telling Someone's Age - Have students use the license's to tell the age of other's.  They could also assume the identity of the person on the license and give the information as if it were them!


4.  Learn About Famous Hispanics - Help students get familiar with the names of some famous Hispanics of the past and present, then set them off to find out more about them!


5.  Strengthen Geography Concepts - Have students use Google Maps to explore the cities associated with each address.


6.  Practice Saying Letters & Numbers - Have students read the identification number for each person.  This would also make a great listening activity!


7.  Describing Someone's Job or Profession - Get students familiar with vocabulary related to jobs and professions.


For more activity ideas and to get your own set of Driver's Licenses CLICK HERE.
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Teaching with Infographics

5/2/2014

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I had never heard of an infographic before I joined Pinterest a couple of years ago, and boy was I missing out.  Infographics have become my go to resource for informational (rather than fictional) reading in my Spanish classes.  They are perfect for students learning a language for so many reasons:
1.  They were written by native speakers, for native speakers
2.  They have a clear context
3.  They have built in reading supports like pictures, graphs, and maps
4.  They offer text in small chunks that is more manageable for students
5.  Since they are highly contextualized, it is easy for students to acquire new vocabulary quickly

When we use infographics in class, the first thing my students do is highlight or circle words that are familiar to them - this could mean words that we have learned as part of vocabulary themes in class, words they have picked up incidentally, or cognates.  Next, the students discuss what they think the title of the infographic means and what pieces of information the individual sections provide.  After they have had a chance to discuss, I pass out a set of questions that are to be answered individually.  Some of the questions are in Spanish and focus on students communicating their opinions or information about themselves in relation to the topic.  Other questions are in English and focus on predicting meaning, reading strategies, and using context clues to aid comprehension.

My students reactions to the infographics have been very positive.  I listen as they discuss in groups and I am amazed at how much they are able to understand  - and they are too!  It has definitely built up their confidence with reading (one of their weaker skill areas when they came to me in the Fall) as well as their skill level.

Here is a link to some of the reading activities I have created for use with infogrpahics:

Spanish Infographic Reading Activities - Novice Set 1 
Spanish Infographic Reading Activities - Novice Set 2
Spanish Infographic Reading Activities - Novice-High Set 1
Spanish Infographic Reading Activities - Intermediate Set 1


Here are links to sites where you can find infographics in Spanish:

PInterest
Infografías en Castellano
Más Infografías

Having trouble printing your infographics?  Here are links to a couple tutorials I found helpful:

Printing Block Posters

Printing with Blockster or Lightshot

Another easy way to print infographics is just to save the image and copy and paste it onto a Power Point slide.  This way you can save it and print it pretty easily.  Some infographics will still be too large, but many of the smaller ones will work just fine.

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Building a Foreign Language Library

4/30/2014

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One of my favorite events is next week - the Scholastic Books Warehouse Sale!  The same company that runs the book fairs at local schools has a warehouse sale a couple of times a year for teachers.  I have been going twice a year for about the last 7 years or so and I have built up an extensive classroom library as a result.  They have a lot of titles in Spanish and since they usually are not as much in demand at their school book fairs (depending on where you live), they are pretty cheap.

I love using children's books in Spanish in my classroom.  Typically, I use them to do "grammar" scavenger hunts.  When I first introduce a grammar topic, before I expect my students to be able to apply their knowledge, I want them to be able to recognize other people (authors) using it.  So, I set them loose on the book shelf with the mission of finding examples of what they just learned.  My kids love getting a chance to look at the books, many of which they read as children in English.  They scan the book looking for the specific things I have asked them to look for and list examples to show what they were able to find.

Scavenger Hunt topics I have used (just to name a few):

cognates
definite & indefinite articles
forms of SER and ESTAR (since they show up so frequently)
Ser vs Estar
present tense endings
preterite tense endings
imperfect tense endings
Preterite vs Imperfect (find sentences and justify the usage)
Por vs Para

Once you have the books, the possibilities are really endless.  When they get to the point that they can read a bit, children's books are the best place to start.  The language is simple, there are pictures for reading support, and they feature characters that students are familiar with (Clifford, Froggy, Captain Underpants, Elmo, etc.).  It is also easy to differentiate lessons by grouping your books by difficulty.  I code my books A, B, C, D, or E according to the reading level.  I can assign "E" books (the highest level) to my native speakers and "A" books to my weak students.  This way the activity is interesting and challenging for all of them!

Here is a link to the Scholastic Books website where you can find out if there is a warehouse sale happening near you:

Scholastic Book Fairs Warehouse Sales


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Choosing Vocabulary by Frequency

4/24/2014

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One of my favorite reference books that I use constantly when lesson planning is a frequency dictionary.  A frequency dictionary is exactly what it sounds like, a dictionary where words are listed in order of how often they appear in written and spoken language rather than in alphabetical order. 

One of the reasons that I originally wanted to stray from the textbook purchased by our district was because of their vocabulary selection.  I remember that in the Spanish I book, one of the terms to be learned in reference to describing people was "silla de ruedas" (which does not even make the cut in the frequency dictionary as it is not one of the 5000 most frequently used words in Spanish).  Any word is a good word, I get it, but when the goal is to build fluency, I just think the word for "wheelchair" can wait.  Or maybe, as in real life, we let that word come up when it is needed.  Sticking to words that are the most frequently used, especially in the lower levels, is crucial to getting students to the point where they can read and listen with comprehension.

Another nice thing about this dictionary is that it has thematic lists.  So, if you want to teach students some words for jobs or professions, this book will tell you that learning words like "autor", "médico", and "profesor" (the top 3 most referenced professions) will be more valuable to students comprehension than "marinero" (the 4,949th most commonly used word in Spanish).

Finally, seeing as over 20 different countries have declared Spanish as their official language, and even more as a secondary language, this tool can help you sort through the different words for "cake", for example.  Do you teach "torta"?  "pastel"? "bizcocho"?  This book will confirm that "torta" is in fact the most common word for "cake", with pastel coming in a close second, and "bizcocho" (a word mostly used by people from Puerto Rico) not even making the list. 

If you don't want to run right out and buy a frequency dictionary, I noticed that I was able to access the same frequency dictionary online (though if you are like me, there is something very loveable about a hard copy):

Spanish Frequency Dictionary

If you would like to ponder this topic more, here is a very interesting read on Lingholic's blog where he discusses the idea that you can understand a large percentage of written and spoken language with a relatively small active vocabulary - as long as that vocabulary consists of the most frequently used words!  So, it makes sense to me to approach teaching vocabulary in this way if our true goal is to have students that are able to understand and communicate with others through the language. 

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Interactive Reading Lessons

4/21/2014

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As a child, I loved Choose Your Own Adventure books.  These were the interactive reading lessons of the 70's and 80's.  Today, almost everything our students encounter is interactive - smart phones, iPads, iPods.  As a teacher, it becomes more and more difficult each year to compete with these devices.  Expecting students to passively ingest knowledge, especially in a language classroom, is more outdated than the iPhone 4.

So, I decided to take what I loved so much about those Choose Your Own Adventure books 30 years ago and bring them into the 21st century.

Here are some of the interactive lessons I have developed for use in my classroom:

Interactive Reading:  Búsqueda del Tesoro
Interactive Culture:  What Would Benito Juarez Do?
 

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Determining Readability

4/21/2014

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Many times I have found articles or informational websites that I want to use in my classroom, but then I start wondering...will my students be able to understand this?

That is when I stumbled upon this handy tool:

The Fernandez-Huerta Readability Index Calculator

With this "calculator" you are able to copy and paste any text that you find and it will tell you how difficult or easy it would be for a Spanish-speaking person to read and understand.  I have found this very useful when screening websites or articles for use within my classroom. 

While each group of students is unique, I would recommend the following as a starting point for middle/high school Spanish courses.

Spanish I                            
Index 80-100
Spanish II                            Index 70-90
Spanish III                           Index 60-80
Spanish IV                          Index 50-70
Spanish V                           Index 40-60                
AP Spanish                        Index 30-50
       

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     I have been teaching Spanish for the past 15 years in a large Suburban School District.

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