"Sicario" as the base of a unit

I created these resources for a colleague to fit into a unit about "el crimen." I haven't actually used these resources, but I am selling them here in case others would like to use them. Really, the activities in the packet could be an entire unit. It is definitely focused on being a pre-AP (or even AP) unit, with lots of cultural comparisons and touching on the themes of Global Challenges, Personal and Public Identities, and Contemporary Life. 

I really like this unit because it includes several unique and/or engaging things:

• Rubén Blades - such an important figure in Latin America!
• Panama! Probably a country that probably doesn't get much attention in Spanish class
• A great song and music video with a positive twist at the end
• Lots of things to compare and contrast -- With what American person will students compare and contrast Rubén Blades?

The center of the unit is the video and song "Sicario" by Rubén Blades. I recommend you watch it before reading the rest of the post. 

These are the Essential Questions:

• ¿Por qué cometen los crímenes los criminales?
• ¿Cómo son los criminales retratados en la cultura popular y/o la literatura? 

These are the Objectives:

• Puedo leer e interpretar información sobre una persona famosa de Latinoamérica y decir un resumen de los hechos más importantes.
• Puedo leer e interpretar información sobre el crimen en Panamá.
• Puedo leer, escuchar, e interpretar la historia de la canción y el video "Sicario".
• Puedo resumir la historia con vocabulario nuevo narrando en el pasado.
• Puedo comparar y contrastar Rubén Blades y/o esta canción/video con algo de mi cultura.

These are some of the activities in the unit packet:

• A reading and a few simple activities about Rubén Blades - He is from Panama and he is such an important figure in Latin America. There is a cultural comparison question as well:
• ¿Es similar Rubén Blades a una persona en los Estados Unidos? ¿Puedes pensar en alguna persona famosa del mundo del entretenimiento que se haya convertido en activista y/o político? ¿Quién? Explica.
• Some "Preguntas para pensar" about crime and criminals to get students thinking before seeing the video "Sicario.""
• A short reading about crime in Panama - The crime rate is pretty low there compared to other Central American countries.
• A vocabulary grid for students to fill in as the listen to and see a presentation of the story of "Sicario" in the slideshow.
• A reading activity that tells the story of "Sicario" - Students have to read and circle the correct word. 
• A cloze activity for the song
• A writing activity to go along with the song
• Some follow up questions after watching Sicario
• Some links to textivate activities with the reading for "Sicario"
• Some suggestions for assessments

The slideshow below is an important part of the "telling" of the story of the video. I have included vocabulary and exact expressions from the song to help tell the story of the song. That way, when students do the activities with the song, it will be much more comprehensible.

Shifting the focus in an introductory program

**Update** - 6/7/16 - Elena López has developed more resources to go with the story below. Click here to see them.

In my new position as Academic Coordinator, one of my roles is curriculum coordination for grades 7-12. Our middle school students get  Spanish A for a quarter and/or French A for a quarter. If they do well in those courses, they take Spanish 1 or French 1 in eighth grade. If they don't do that well, students take Spanish B for a quarter and/or French B for a quarter. In my opinion, the goal of the Spanish/French A and B quarter classes should be to give the students lots of comprehensible input and see how enjoyable Spanish/French class can be when there is communication happening.

The current curriculum consists of a variety of traditional "units": greetings, commands, the alphabet, numbers, days of the week/months/date, colors, school supplies and some other similar units. In my opinion, these units are not very communication focused, nor are they very interesting and/or engaging to students. Also, it is difficult to maintain that goal of 90% in the Target Language. Most of these topics can be integrated/embedded into the curriculum in a more meaningful, engaging way. So, I am working with the two middle school Spanish teachers with the goal of using more TPRS and CI to improve instruction and language acquisition. Both of these teachers are very open to the idea, but wanted to see it in action, so I am teaching their classes and doing a mini-unit in each class so that they can see TPRS/CI in action.

These are the reasons I am hoping that we move more towards TPRS/CI in our department:

• TPRS/CI is much more engaging to students.
• Differentiation is much easier and almost automatic with TPRS/CI, particularly with the use of technology, such as Textivate, which has such a wide range of activities.
• TPRS/CI is more communicative. Instead of learning the alphabet and how the language works, students are focusing on chunks of useful language and actually learning about the sound so of different letters in a more meaningful way.
• TPRS/CI allows the teacher and the students to stay 90% in the TL.
• Depending on the story, culture can be much easier to include in the curriculum. It is not an "add on," but rather part of the lesson.
• Grammar is not a focus, but students are acquiring/learning lots of it... without even realizing it.
• There is such a variety of activities that can be done with a story, including: listening and identify the picture, listening drawing, retelling with drawing, acting out the story, Kahoot, Textivate (put in order, gap fill-ins, etc.), question and answer, creating alternative endings, etc. 

So, my first demo lesson was three days long with an eighth grade Spanish 1 class. This class is "easy" to teach because these students are motivated, high achievers. I used Billy la Bufanda as the "story." Thanks to Carrie Toth and Elena López for creating the slideshow that I adapted here. You can see the mini-unit packet here, along with the "I can" statements and some links to Textivate, Quizlet and Kahoot activities. The mini-unit went pretty well, but I wish I had had more time. Student feedback was good, but some thought it was a bit childish (understandably).

My real test will be with the Spanish B students starting today. I will be teaching them for 5-6 days and using a story that I created using the music video for the song "Chau" by No te va gustar. The slideshow below and this unit packet explain what the goals are, what the unit looks like, and what the evaluación at the end of the 5-6 days is. The last page of the unit packet has my plan for each day that I am teaching this mini-unit.

I thought this story would be a good transition story to TPRS/CI because it still includes some of the traditional vocabulary that is taught in the school supplies unit, but hopefully students will acquire the vocabulary and structures in a much more meaningful, engaging, and interesting way. There is also room for a cultural comparison, as students will see an authentic resource: a music video from the Uruguayan rock band No te va gustar.

 (If you want to use this slideshow and adapt it or embed it, here is the link to make a copy)

I am by no means a TPRS/CI expert, but I think I have learned a lot this year, especially because of the shift I made in my Spanish 1 class. I completely ditched the textbook and went full TPRS/CI (here is the curriculum grid with resources linked - big thanks to Elena López and Amy Zimmer for all their resources and guidance). Hopefully, others can use some of these resources above to make the shift in the beginning levels!

Kiva con español 1

Before I explain what we did with Kiva in Spanish 1, I have to say that I got this idea from Kristy Placido and Carrie Toth, who did this with their Spanish 3 and 4 classes. I went to Carrie's presentation at CSCTFL and had been wanting to do something similar for a while.

If you don't know what Kiva is, it is a micro-financing site that gives micro-loans to people, mostly in the developing world, who cannot get a loan at a traditional bank. Kiva works with community organizations to distribute the loans.

After doing a story called Irene (as part of our "school unit") with the video below (resources and idea from Elena López), students were a bit sad and probably a bit more appreciative of what they have and where they go to school. Before they saw the twist at the end many were asking, "Why is she so happy to be going to school?"

So, with that idea in their heads, I decided this was a good opportunity to do something. So we watched "Living on One Dollar" (available on YouTube and Netflix). Here is the trailer:

After we watched the documentary, I shared the slideshow below to explain (in Spanish) what Kiva is  and then I explained what we were going to do to help someone like Irene. Instead of making a video about a person (like Kristy and Carrie's students did), students had to make a simple slide describing who the person is, what he/she looks like, how old he/she is, and why he/she needs the loan. We had $200 from one class and $100 for the other class (I donated $100, my mom donated $100, a paraprofessional donated $50 and a couple of students donated money as well). The next day we looked at the slides and decided who to loan the money to.

The slideshow explains what Kiva is and what we were going to do. Also, within the slideshow below is a story (different background) created by Dustin Williamson that was very helpful to explain what Kiva is and does.
                      
After seeing the slideshow, most students were very engaged and interested in exploring the Kiva site. 

**Important Note** I investigated a bit and there are some conflicting reports about Kiva, micro-financing and how much good it actually does. Also, I would look carefully at the lending institution in the country (the "middle man").  I decided that is still worth doing with a Spanish 1 class in rural New Hampshire, for the following reasons: 

• They learn about global poverty.
• They expand their view of the world.
• They learn about an option of loaning and not just giving.
• They see the power of technology.
• They see people trying to do good with technology.
• They learn to appreciate what they have.
• They feel good about helping people and might do it again in the future.

Here are the two slideshows from my classes. As is typical with Spanish 1 (in my school), about a third of them did not complete the assignment for homework.

Un recurso para la Navidad

Upadte 11/21/17 - Click here.

Update 12/6/16 - If you want to do more with la lotería de Navidad, click here for two other commercials and resources. 

Martina Bex is amazing! She worked so quickly to create some free resources for the new Spanish lottery short called Justino. If you haven't seen it yet, check it out below! It is really sweet and I think students will like it.

With her permission, I created a slideshow using her reading. I used the most simple version that she shared, since I am teaching Spanish 1 (there is a more advanced version). When using short films, I really like to read to the students and have them look at images (rather than clips). I added some questions to ask students as I read to them (they will answer orally and on mini white boards). I am going to spend the two days before vacation with this film, so there isn't much to it, but I thought I would share in case anyone wants to use it.

Elena López also made a slideshow with the story in the first person (see below). Thanks Elena!

Click here to make a copy of the slideshow.

Click here to make a copy of Justino in the past tense.

 

Click here to make a copy.