I LOVE teaching with music videos (you can find some of my faves here). I find it an excellent way to start the year because these are the things I want to do at the beginning of the year:
I want my students to LIKE and ENJOY Spanish class.
I want to ENGAGE students.
I want to give students LOTS of INPUT.
I want students to feel SUCCESSFUL.
I want students to ACQUIRE some language.
I want to have JOY in the classroom.
I want to create COMMUNITY.
I want students to understand that the GOAL of the class is to improve their COMMUNICATION skills in another language and to develop INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCE.
I want my students to see and hear some people/voices from the Spanish speaking world #authres!
At my new (2nd year here) school, we rotate curriculum in every level, so I couldn't use what I used last year. So, here is what I am using for Spanish 1 and Spanish 2.
It isn't the best "story", but rather a description of the music video, but I still think it will be engaging and it has lots of good input activities! I am sharing in case anyone can use.
Everything is based on this Álvaro Soler video (an oldie, but goodie):
Here is the text for each level:
Spanish 1
Spanish 2
Hay un hombre. El hombre tiene veintisiete años.
El hombre se llama Álvaro Soler.
Él es de España, pero ahora vive en Cuba.
Al hombre le gusta cantar. Canta mucho.
Hay una mujer. La mujer tiene veintiocho años. La mujer es muy fuerte.
La mujer es de Cuba y vive en Cuba.
La mujer se llama Julieta.
A la mujer le gusta correr. Corre mucho.
El hombre y la mujer son novios.
El hombre admira mucho a la mujer.
El hombre escribe una canción para la mujer.
La canción se llama "Animal".
Hay un hombre. El hombre tiene barba. El hombre se llama Álvaro Soler. El hombre tiene veintisiete años.
Él es de España, pero ahora está en Cuba. Está en un apartamento con su novia.
A Álvaro le gusta cantar. Álvaro admira mucho a su novia.
Hay una mujer. La mujer tiene veintiocho años. La mujer es muy fuerte.
La mujer es de Cuba. Es cubana. La mujer se llama Julieta.
La mujer se despierta a las siete de la mañana. La mujer corre por las calles de Cuba. La mujer corre un poco y estira. La mujer corre más. La mujer corre rápidamente.
La mujer ve a muchas personas. Las personas le dicen, "¡Ánimo Julieta!"
Todas las personas conocen a Julieta porque ella corre por las calles todos los días.
La mujer choca los cinco con muchas personas cuando corre.
Ella corre muchísimo porque entrena para un maratón. Julieta entrena para el maratón de Boston.
Have you seen Suno.com yet? It is pretty wild. It is an AI site that will create short songs for you. Currently, my Spanish 3 classes are doing a unit around the movie Pachamama (thank you Arianne Dowd and Amanda Benavidez-Williams for your ideas and resources). So I put in this prompt, which includes vocabulary from the unit, the name of our school and the name of the town that the school is in.
A rap song about Pachamama and a small school in the village (vocabulary word in the movie) of Andover. The school called Proctor. Use the words aldea, cultiva, cuida, huaca (vocabulary words in the movie). Write it in very simple Spanish.
And it came up with two versions: one and two. These are the lyrics:
In Spanish 1, we are reading the book Tucán, so I entered this prompt:
Make a simple rap about a tucán from named Panchito with an injured beak. Oscar and Ana find him in a park. Oscar cries. Oscar's dad brings him to the animal rescue center. Put the song in Spanish.
And it came up with two versions: one and two. These are the lyrics:
I used to create a ton of resources and share here (mostly for free)...
I posted and shared resources 176 times from 2017-2020!
but post-covid I was just spent. However, with a change of school and location, I am happy to back at it - and excited about creating resources and sharing them here.
While I love "teaching Spanish", I think what I really actually love is "teaching about the Spanish speaking world in Spanish"... and then seeing two things:
Students learning how to communicate in the three modes of communication in Spanish
Students increasing their Intercultural Competence
In case you need a refresher, Intercultural Competence is defined as: "a combination of attitudes, knowledge, understanding and skills applied through action which enables one, either singly or together with others, to:
understand and respect people who are perceived to have different cultural affiliations from oneself;
respond appropriately, effectively and respectfully when interacting and communicating with such people;
establish positive and constructive relationships with such people;
understand oneself and one’s own multiple cultural affiliations through encounters with cultural “difference.” (Huber, J., & Reynolds, C. (Eds). (2014). Developing intercultural competence through education, 2014, pp. 16–17).
And here are the ACTFL descriptors:
So, with all that in mind, my third term of Spanish 3 is going to revolve around Peru. Students will learn about a wide variety of Cultural Products, Practices and Perspectives. We are going to watch the movie Pachamama (and use Arianne Dowd’s resources) and then listen to some Duolingo podcasts to learn about: Heroes del Clima in Peru (2 episodes), Andean music, a Peruvian dog’s experience in Maine, and el Rio Hirviente.
But FIRST, we are going to delve into some Milena Wharton music!
I compiled Spanish 3 the Milena Wharton (for free) here. It includes three of her songs, basic information about Peru, three possible assessments (one still being created) and two readings + activities created by Diffit. If you haven't tried Diffit, I highly recommend it!
We will start the unit with some estructuras importantes and then students will get a basic overview of Peru (text created by ChatGPT) with this slideshow and this Quizlet Live review:
Then, we will dive into the music videos and the articles (see here)! Possible assessments (with rubrics) are also in the unit packet.
