One thing I love about having students do Tarea Semanal is that, sometimes, I end up getting something that I can use with future classes. I also really like it when students come up with their own ideas for assignments.
As a class, we studied and sang the song "Río Abajo" by Ana Tijoux during our Desafíos Medioambientales unit. One student liked the song so much that she asked if she could make a video to illustrate the lyrics. She did this as her tarea semanal for 3 or 4 weeks. She used WeVideo (similar to iMovie, but maybe better because it is in the cloud) and this is her final product. I can't imagine how many times she must have listened to the song in order to get the lyrics to match so well with the pictures!
I will definitely be using this video next semester when we do this unit.
On another note, I highly recommend using music by Ana Tijoux. I am a HUGE fan... for so many reasons. Her music is like poetry and her songs often have a social message. She is also a strong female role model who speaks out against the objectification of women in pop culture (teenage girls need more "cool" role models like her!). I have found that students really like her music. Some favorites have been Somos Sur, Shock, and 1977. At first it can be difficult to sing along with her songs, but once students try a few times, they really can sing along.
**UPDATE 2/1/15** I have added the TPRS book Noche de Oroto this unit. I highly recommend it and the Teacher's Guide. In my Cultura y Civilización class, we just finished a unit called Desafíos Medoambientales. I was very pleased with this new unit and with how well my students did with all of the authentic resources. They have come a long way since the beginning of this course and I am very proud of them! They delved in to some real life issues, thought about opposing forces, and possible solutions to some of environmental problems... in Spanish! These were the essential questions for the unit:
¿Quiénes son algunos cantantes que cantan del medio ambiente? ¿De qué se tratan sus canciones? ¿Cómo son diferentes y/o simliares? ¿Cómo reflejan la realidad? ¿Por qué son importantes estas canciones?
¿Cuáles son algunos problemas del medio ambiente que existen en Latnoamérica? ¿Cuáles son las consecuencias de estos problemas? ¿Por qué existen estos problemas? ¿Cuáles son algunas soluciones para los problemas?
As with all the units in this course, music and music videos were a focus of the "puntos de partida" from which we explore a theme. Before delving in to the songs, students did the following:
After doing those activities and discussing what students read, heard and saw, we delved in to the song Río by Aterciopelados (wksht here). Students learned about Aterciopelados and the Río Bogotá. The video for Río is a little strange, but very engaging. The lyrics of the song are also pretty comprehensible for these students. The song emphasizes the importance of water in general with a specific call to save the Río Bogotá.
Río by Aterciopelados
Next, we viewed this PSA about megaminería in Argentina:
Students did this worksheet to go along with that PSA. They learned a lot from this PSA and were able to interpret it fairly well. The images and the activities they did before helped them to understand better.
After having a bit of knowledge about megaminería in Argentina, students were able to understand this song:
Although a bit cursi (and with some interesting singing voices), the song is informative, catchy and engaging. Students may not have liked the song, but they learned from it! (wksht here).
We also did some of the activities on this wksht (from Zambombazo). related to the song Agua by Vuelo Adentro. This song is good because it has a good message of hope and change. I particularly like this line, "Veo una luz que se enciende en los niños de hoy"
I would have liked to have spent some more time on this song and some of the others on the class website, but we only had so much time and I did not want to rush through the unit.
At the end of the unit, students (individually or with a partner) explored an environmental program and created a presentation to share with the class (see below for detailed description). The projects were good and most were presented to the entire class. The interpersonal assessment had to be about one of the environmental problems that they learned about from someone else's presentation.
PROYECTO - (PRESENTATIONAL) (Click here for details) (speaking) - Make a presentation describing an environmental problem in Latin America. Describe the opposing forces in relation to the problem. Describe the benefits and consequences of the situation. Describe some (2-3) possible solutions and choose one that seems fair and reasonable.
INTERPERSONAL Writing (click here for details)(writing) - Write a short letter (8-10 sentences) to one of parties involved in the environmental problem, and do one of the following: express sympathy, offer a solution, express opinion, ask questions, offer help.
