El Mole: una canción para una comparación cultural

The first unit of my Cultura y Civilización unit this semester is called "La Diversidad de la Gastronomía." Every time I do this unit, I change it and try to add new resources. Thanks to Bethanie Drew, I have added an episode Master Chef Jr. Spain. And thanks to Elena López (and myself) I have added the movie Canela, which has been a fabulous way to ease back into Spanish (after a year off for many of these Spanish 4/5 students). I recently used the movie to end the semester in Spanish 1 and I have been adapting it a bit for Cultura y Civilización, but mostly we are using it to talk a lot of Spanish.

And thanks to Jean Rueckert and @palomajulian, I have added the song "El Mole" by Virulo. The song is sung by Virulo, a Cuban singer/humorist, who describes what el mole is. The first video below has him talking about las papilas gustativas (taste buds) of the Cubans and the first time he tried el mole. What a fantastic cultural comparison!

The first part of the activity that I did with students has a partial (edited) transcription of what he says. We did it as a reading activity and then listened to him. Another fantastic cultural comparison was his accent! Students at this level can hear the difference and actually got a kick out of how he dropped many syllables, especially the "s" at the end of words.

Then he goes on to sing the song, which basically lists all the ingredients of el mole. Students listened and filled in the words that they heard. And we have been singing it all week. The chorus "Mete, mete, mételo todo en el molcajete" is super pegajosa. And El Molcajete is the name of the restaurant in the movie Canela, so that is a nice tie in.

Students will have to do a cultural comparison (in the AP style) at the end of this unit and I think many of them will use el mole as the cultural product from a Spanish speaking country.

In the past, I have used another song about el mole, "La Cumbia del Mole," by Lila Downs, but this current song is more of a hit with students.

                     

Adding to the resources for El Internado...

Note: These resources fall under Fair Use for Educational Purposes. Click here to learn more.

Many teachers are using El Internado in class, so I finally jumped on the bandwagon and have started showing it in my Cultura y Civilización class. It is something we do on Fridays as a reward for speaking a lot of Spanish during the week. It has been going really well. Students are engaged and they are hearing and reading (subtitles) real Spanish... and they are also having fun! (**Warning** Some scenes might need to be skipped and there are some "romantic situations" and profanity. I recommend a permission slip and probably only for older students.)

As we watch, I pause a lot for explanations and questions. I have created a three post-watching activities (so far). The episodes are long, so we watch 15-20 minutes and then read/answer aloud as a class. The readings are very simple and easy for the students, but all students get something out of it (differentiation!). Watching El Internado is an "easy day" for students, but there is a ton of learning and input happening!

There are lots of resources that other teachers have created (see below for links), but this format of watching a bit and then doing the reading activities aloud together as a class after is working very well for me and my students. Here are the post-watching readings that I have used so far. I created three of them (episodes 2-4 and I am going to start 5 and 6). Thanks to Bethanie Drew for the proofreading and enhancements to these!

• Episodio 01X01 - I used Mike Peto's readings (no longer available) (the ones I created below use the same format that he used). For the first episode, I highly recommend screen shots of all the characters with descriptions of who they are (Mike also made one that you can find here (and it is free)).
• Episodio 01X02 - Todo el mundo tiene un secreto (Google doc version)
• Episodio 01X03 - Ojos que no ven (and Google doc version)
• Episodio 01X04 - Un mensaje en una botella  (and Google doc version)
• Episodio 01X05 - Un cadáver en la laguna (and Google doc version)
• Episodio 01X06 - La noche de Santa Isabela (Google doc version)

Mike Peto, Dustin Williamson, Karen Goering, Lindsey Camacho, the Reading (MA) Spanish 
department (formerly including Meaghan McSherry), and Allison Wienhold (and others) have created some fantastic resources to use with El Internado. You could keep clicking and go into a maze of El Internado resources! So many creative ideas!

There are also some Kahoots already created. Just search for El Internado, mikepeto, placido or srakjacobs. Students LOVE that game and it is a great way to review.

*Update* 1/3/17 - If you are looking for something similar for Episodio 02X01, here is a link to one that Lisa South made

Revised Unit: Chile, Machuca y Ana Tijoux

Chile: 

Los movimientos sociales 

y 

la importancia de la educación pública 

(unit packet here)

I have written about this unit, which I called "El movimiento estudiantil en Chile", before. After not having taught it last year, I am bringing back a new, revised unit with some changes. I will be keeping all of the original authentic resources used in the unit, but I have added a couple of excellent resources and changed the essential questions to slightly change the focus of the unit.

These are the new Essential Questions:

• ¿Qué pasaba en los años 70 en Chile? Describe la historia de esta época en el contexto de la película "Machuca". ¿Cómo siguen algunas de las luchas de esta época?
• ¿Qué estaba pasando en 2011 en Chile? ¿Por qué estaban protestando los estudiantes? ¿Cómo protestaban?
• ¿El gobierno debe tener la responsabilidad de proveer educación gratis para todos los estudiantes en todos los niveles de educación? ¿Cuáles son las consecuencias si lo hace o no lo hace?
• ¿Quién es Ana Tijoux y cómo trató de ayudar a los estudiantes en Chile?  ¿Los puede ayudar ella? ¿Cómo refleja la realidad su canción “Shock”?
• ¿Con cuáles otras protestas se puede comparar esta protesta en Chile? ¿Por qué son los movimientos sociales tan importantes en un país?

I have added the movie Machuca to start the unit. I found some fantastic resources online (here and here) and I also created some questions to talk about what happens in the movie. This is a fantastic movie that will give students some important background knowledge for when we talk about recent events in Chile. It will also give us lots to talk about in class. The movie is available on YouTube with subtitles (here is part 1). Below is a basic slideshow about Salvador Allende, 9/11/73, Augusto Pinochet and el exilio to give students some context before starting the movie.

In addition to the song Shock by Ana Tijoux (which has always been popular among students), I have added another Ana Tijoux song, "Somos sur (Zambombazo site w/ wksht.)." This song has a strong cultural perspective and it will be interesting to see my students' reactions to the song. It will also be a fun challenge to try to sing this song. Here is a translation of the song.

I also added this slideshow to explain the 2011 Student Movement in Chile. See slide 28 for recent developments related to education in Chile.

Here are the evaluaciones for the unit:

• Evaluación oral (EQ #1) - Tell me about the Salvador Allende, 9/11/1973, Augusto Pinochet and el exilio. Use this slide show to help guide you.
• Evaluación escrita - (EQ #1)  About the movie Machuca
• Evaluación escrita y visual - Infografía (EQs #2, #4, and #5)

I am looking forward to starting this unit tomorrow. Have any suggestions or resources to share? Please do!