Unidad Didáctica: Perspectivas de la Inmigración

Upadte 10/15/17: I am sharing part of my unit packet for the latest version of this unit, which does not include "Bandera" or "Pa'l norte." It does include two songs: "Un besito más" and "ICE El Hielo" and the movie "Ladrón que roba a ladrón," with resources from Arianne Dowd.

Update (7/22/17): The song "Un besito más" by Jesse y Joy is a definite addition to this unit! Click here to see free resources.


Update (10/4/15): I created this slideshow to start the unit (it is actually part of a Spanish 1 unit). Some of the language is a bit strange, or forced, because I made it comprehensible for my level 1 students. I will probably adapt it when I use for my Cultura y Civilización class. Here is the slideshow with some of the slides:

We just finished the unit called "Perspectivas de la Inmigración" (UbD curriculm document and unit packet) in my Cultura y Civilización unit. This is the fourth time I have done this unit and it has been a little different each time, but the one thing that has stayed the same is the engagement in this unit. Most students have an opinion about immigration and undocumented immigrants in the United States, so they are interested in this unit.

By the end of the unit (hopefully), they understand how complicated immigration laws and reform really are. They will also understand a little more about the undocumented immigrant experience in the United States and (hopefully) develop some empathy for undocumented immigrants.

These are the Essential Questions for the unit:

1. ¿Por qué emigran ilegalmente muchas personas a los Estados Unidos? ¿De dónde es la mayoría de los inmigrantes indocumentados? ¿Cómo llegan algunos? ¿Por qué vienen ilegalmente y no legalmente? ¿Cuál es el proceso de entrar legalmente en los EEUU?
2. ¿Qué pasa ahora con la reforma migratoria en los EEUU? ¿Qué es el DREAM Act?
3. ¿Quiénes son algunos cantantes que cantan sobre la inmigración? ¿Cuáles son sus perspectivas? ¿Cómo son diferentes y/o similares las canciones y los videos? ¿Qué opinas tú de las canciones?
4. En tu opinión, ¿hay una solución al problema? ¿En qué consiste?

The first Essential Question was the speaking assessment (done about halfway through the unit). In order for them to answer those questions, they had to investigate a bit. Below are some of the links they used to gather information before discussing in class and taking the "speaking test". We did not use all of them, but did use the bolded ones. Some are authentic resources and some are in English. I really liked the infografías because they are excellent differentiated readings.

1. Univisión Noticias: Inmigración
1. Infografía y Artículo: Historia de la población hispana en los Estados Unidos
2. Infografía y Artículo: Ciudadanía vs. Sin Ciudadanía
3. Encuesta: ¿Cuánto sabe de la tarjeta verde?
4. El perfil de un soñador. ¿De dónde son y adónde van?
5. Artículo: Se acaba el plazo para la lotería de visas
6. Artículo: ¿Cuál es el panorama de la inmigración en los EEUU?
2. Podcast: PRI The World: What does getting in line really mean?
3. Visitor Visas: Business and Pleasure
4. More Visas: Temporary Workers
5. Las reglas de visas de los Estados Unidos (en inglés)

Another thing we did at the beginning of the unit was watch an episode of the "reality show" 30 Days. It is English, but students answered questions (see unit packet)  about it in Spanish and we discussed the different (at times extreme) perspectives of immigration in the show. Although it is a "reality show" and a little much at times, I continue to show it to students because I think they enjoy it and learn a lot from it.

30 Days: Immigration from MacQuarrie-Byrne Films on Vimeo.

After having focused on the first Essential Question, the next part of the unit was to see three different perspectives of immigration in three different songs:

Perspectiva #1 - Bandera by Aterciopelados - This song questions the idea of having borders and the immigration laws of some countries, obviously the United States being one of them. The lyrics are simple and easy to understand and the music video is excellent for discussion!

*Note*: Some students did not like this video because they felt like it was anti-American (and it might be), but I explained that this is a perspective of some people. A good question to ask then is, why do they have that perspective?

Perspectiva #2 - Pa'l Norte by Calle 13 - This song is about the journey of an undocumented immigrant as he travels North. The journey is described as being very difficult and the undocumented immigrant is glorified for his grit and persistence. The song also has some excellent cultural references and the vocabulary in this poem/song is rich. This video is also excellent for discussion.

*Note*: This song contains some language and phrases that some might not want to use. I skip some parts of the song and focus on the important parts. Also, René might be drunk in the video, I  ignore that part.

Perspectiva #3 - ICE El Hielo by La Santa Cecilia - This song shows the experience of undocumented immigrants in the United States. It is a beautiful song and easy for students to understand. The video is also powerful.

This perspective is particularly important because it is one sung by a band from the United States. It was also interesting for students to hear one of the band members speak here (starting at 10:55) about being an undocumented immigrant.

As with all the units, we sang all of theses songs a lot and students became very familiar with the videos as well. We also illustrated Pa'l Norte as a class and students illustrated ICE El Hielo in groups of 2-3. (I need to get some pictures of those on here!). All of the discussion questions about the songs and the videos are in the unit packet.

This is the  unit test. Students did an excellent job on this assessment. I love correcting them because for many of the questions, there is not one right answer. The questions are so open that students can take many paths to answer them.

There are so many excellent authentic resources for to teach a unit about immigration! Check out Zambombazo's resources here. La Misma Luna is also an excellent movie to show students.

What are some of your favorite resources to teach about immigration? Please share!

CI Movie Slides for "Perspectivas de la Inmigración"

I love using "CI Movie Slides" to "comprehensify" movies! I am currently using "Ladrón que roba a ladrón" in my Cultura y Civilización class for our "Perpsectivas de Inmigración" unit. Here is a partial unit packet (I can't share it all because some of it is purchased material from Arianne Dowd's store). In the unit packet, you will find free resources to use for two songs, information aboutDACA, a possible evaluación for for those resources, and a preview of what we do after we go through the "CI Movie Slides" and watch segments of the movie.

The three main resources of the unit are two songs: "Un besito más" and "ICE El Hielo" and the movie "Ladrón que roba a Ladrón." 

My new, revised Essential Questions are the following:

• ¿Por qué vienen algunas personas como inmigrantes indocumentados a los Estados Unidos?
• ¿Cómo es el proceso de inmigrar a los Estados Unidos legalmente?
• ¿Qué pasa ahora con la inmigración y las leyes en los Estados Unidos?
• ¿Cuáles son algunos productos, prácticas, y perspectivas culturales relacionados con la inmigración que se ven en el entretenimiento? (new question) 

See the partial unit packet for Enduring Understandings and evaluaciones.

Arianne's slideshow "Ladrón que roba a ladrón" (get it for free in this post) has really helped to "comprehensify" the movie. Here is what we do with the slides:

• Students see screenshots of movie.
• Students read slides out loud in groups (in lower levels (Canela y La Misma Luna), I read to them). 
• I explain any new words and/or clarify anything that might be confusing.
• Students answer questions throughout  and discuss.
• Then, we watch a 5-10 minute segments. 
• For homework (or could be done in class), students read the movie summary from the slideshow and circle the correct words and/or fill in the blanks with the English. (See last pages of partial unit packet.)
• We play Quizlet Live to review segments of the movie. Here is an example.
• It will take us 3-4 days (85 minute classes) to finish the movie. 

We are able to watch the movie in Spanish with subtitles in Spanish and the comprehension rate is very high. Also, they are hearing and reading authentic Spanish and understanding it ---- so good for their confidence! 

Students should be ready to discuss the movie in the Seminario Socrático (specific for "Ladrón que roba a ladrón" in Arianne's materials) at the end of the unit! 

Arianne and I have made "CI Movie Slides" for several other movies as well. See here:

• La Misma Luna (for Spanish 1)
• Canela (for Spanish 1)
• Ladrón que roba a ladrón (Spanish 3+) (created by Arianne Dowd)
• El Tiempo de las Mariposas (Spanish 3+) (created by Arianne Dowd)
• Diamantes Negros (for Spanish 3 +) 
• 3 Bellezas (for Spanish 4 + )
• También la lluvia (Spanish 3+) (created by Arianne Dowd)  (Unit packet with compiled resources here)
• El Libro de la Vida (created by Arianne Dowd)
• Cautiva (Spanish 4-5) (created by Arianne Dowd)

Inmigración en español 1

Many Spanish teachers have used La Misma Luna in class. It is a wonderful movie that students love. It also creates empathy for undocumented immigrants in the United States. This year and last, instead of just showing the movie, I decided to create a unit for my Spanish 1 class about immigration. It went really well!

The unit packet includes the Essential Questions, the "I can" statements for the unit, the readings that summarize the two stories (the short film and the movie), a variety of activities for the two stories, Quizlet links, and a link to a summary textivate activity.

The first story was the PBS short film "The Other Side." This short film has an excellent twist at the end; very few students knew it was coming. The video is in English, but I told the story in Spanish. I used this slideshow to tell the story. We spent a few days on this story and did some activities in the packet, including: reading, drawing, cierto/falso, and textivate (see slide 75). Students took a short quiz on that story after a few days. Throughout the unit, we also spent time learning the information on slides 4-8. The Quizlets on slide 9 helped with that. Those Essential Questions were on the test and students had to be able to answer them in Spanish (presentational writing). Here is the slideshow with some of the slides.

After that story, we moved on to the the story of La Misma Luna. I created the slideshow below to tell the story of the movie before we watched it. It has screen shots and very simple Spanish to tell the story. We watched it in segments and did some of the activities in the packet, as well as some Quizlet Live activities (embedded in the slideshow). Here is the slideshow with some of the slides.

I love doing these slideshows! The triple connection of hearing, seeing a picture, and reading is very engaging and really helps students understand the story. Lots of connections are being made! Then, they hear the authentic Spanish in the movie. We do watch the movie with English subtitles.

Our song of the week was also related to immigration. We used the song ICE El Hielo by La Santa Cecilia. This slideshow introduces them to the band. To start the week, students did the basic cloze activity and we went over the English meaning. Then, we sang it all week. Click here if you would like to make a copy of the slideshow and use it in your classroom.

I share this to help others teach in TL with comprehensible input. I am on that path, but not quite there yet! So, if you have any suggestions, let me know.

Adding DACA to the Perspectivas de la Inmigración unit

My second unit in my Cultura y Civilización course this semester will be "Perspectivas de la Inmigración." This is what I have done in the past, but I am changing quite a few things!

One thing I am going to add is DACA. I created this doc (feel free to make a copy and use it) so that students can understand what DACA and Dreamers are.

My anchor for the unit will be the movie Ladrón que roba a ladrón. I think students will enjoy the movie. If you haven't seen it, check it out! It has a great ending.

I am also going to use the song "La Bestia" by Kinto Sol. Arianne Dowd has been creating some excellent resources to go along with this song and I will definitely use those! And here is a messy doc with two embedded readings and some activities that will help students understand the song. I may or may not end up using that!

I will also use "Un besito más" by Jesse y Joy and ICE El Hielo by La Santa Cecilia.

Perspectivas de la Inmigración... otra vez

In my Cultura y Civilización class, we started our “Perspectivas de la Inmigración” unit.

I LOVE the Essential Questions, the resources (two songs/videos and two movies), and the assessments (comparison essay, caja de identidad, and Socratic Seminar) for this unit.

The main essential question for the unit is:

“What cultural practices and perspectives related to undocumented immigration can we see in forms of entertainment, specifically in the songs “Un besito más” and “ICE El Hielo” and the movies "Icebox"  and “Ladrón que roba a Ladrón”? (Side note: I don't think I will be using Ladrón que roba a ladrón anymore, for a variety of reasons).

This unit is so important right now. 

My students really have no concept of legal or illegal immigration and this unit is so eye opening. At the end of the unit, my goal is that students have a better understanding of how complicated immigration is (a wall won't fix it). I also hope that they have empathy for undocumented immigrants and more of an understanding of why someone would come here undocumented. And, newly, I want my students to have an awareness of the (more and more privatized) detention centers in the U.S., and specifically that more and more children are being detained. See this article, which states:

I have blogged about this unit, and it’s iterations, a few times. I always add something new and like to share for other teachers to save them some time.

So, this time around I have added a second movie - thanks to Bethanie Drew! The movie is “Icebox” (watch it for free here). Here is the trailer:

Because I just added this movie at the very last minute (like one day into the unit), I haven’t had time to create many resources, but it is so good, that I had to show it! So, what to do to give students some CI related to this movie?!?

(This is nothing revolutionary, but I am sharing anyways.)

Before starting the movie, students read about the movie and the director. I adapted this article “Icebox, la película que se mete en las tragedias familiares de la frontera EEUU-México” and made up a little interpretive reading activity with it.

I am breaking the movie up into 20-25 minute segments. After each segment, students are doing a cierto/falso dictation activity (finishing the last part today). My students are doing this for homework, but it could also be done in class. The dictations are in this document. I record them on Flipgrid (see an example here).

After each dictation, students are responding to a few questions (on Flipgrid) related to what they watch. The questions are in the dictation doc. 

After the dictation students will see the sentences and make corrections.

This movie has been so eye opening for them and they are definitely engaged with the story of Óscar.

Un Besito Más... again

What a powerful and heartbreaking video! As a runner (whose mom still supports her at races) this video really struck me. Arianne Dowd and I created some free resources (here) and I used it in my Cultura y Civilización course last semester in my immigration unit. 

But, now, I am in the middle of my inmigración unit in Spanish 1, so I have made something for Novices. I wrote up a basic story about the video. You can find the story, a basic cloze activity, and a translation of the song here for free. 

I will probably use this story for a Story Listening Activity first, and then do the activity sheet and some of these activities: Textivate and Quizizz.

I love doing this unit in Spanish 1. This is a mostly freshmen class and they really don't know much at all about immigration. By using engaging CI stories IN SPANISH (with some facts in Spanish along the way), my big goals for this unit are the following:

• I want students to understand that immigrants (documented and undocumented) come to the U.S. for a variety of reasons, including: for work, for family, for more opportunities, for safety, and for many other reasons. 
• I want students to have empathy for undocumented immigrants.
• I want students to know that immigration is very complicated and it is not possible to "deport them all" (a common comment).
• I want students to understand that most undocumented immigrants are contributing to our society and our culture. 

So, how to do this??? I am using three stories: ICE El Hielo, Un Besito Más, and The Other Side; and one movie: La Misma Luna. And sprinkling in some factual information throughout the unit... all in Comprehensible Spanish! So, yes, it is possible to teach this in the TL.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

I am sharing all of this for FREE, but if you think this (or anything else that you got here for free) is useful and has saved you some time, feel free to give back here in Radiohead style (click here to see what I mean by Radiohead style). 

Un recurso para enseñar sobre la inmigración

I have taught about immigration/migration MANY times, in many levels (scroll through some of my previous posts here). It is can be tricky, but it is also VERY important. 

I just taught a variation of some of those units in my AP class (here is the unit packet). The main resources were the movie Icebox (from 2019, but sitll relevant!), the book Testigo: La historia de Brayan (I was way for four class days, so my students read it on their own) and a wide variety of songs related to immigration/migration. Feel free to check out the Essential Questions and Assessments in the unit packet as well.

In addition to the obvious goals of acquiring lots of language and communicating (interpretively, interpersonally and presentationally) with each other about the topic, a few of my other goals for this unit were for students to:

• Understand how COMPLICATED immigration is.
• Have empathy for people who are undocumented. 
• Learn some facts about things that are happening right now.

My AMAZING students were VERY engaged and learned a TON.

Feel free to peruse what we did in the unit packet (lots of great stuff, including some good input dictados for Icebox), but the main thing I wanted to share is what we did with this  New York Times article "¿Qué derechos tienen las personas migrantes en EE. UU.?".

I made this slideshow and this student sheet to delve into the article and make it interactive (students had to work in groups and guess some of the answers).

"We teach languages" podcast and resource links

I had a great, somewhat rambling, conversation with Maris Hawkins, for the podcast We teach languages. So, I wanted to share a bit about what I talked about on the podcast. And I also wanted to share a whole bunch of links to good resources in one place. <------ Here is the preview and here is the link to the podcast.


As I said on the podcast, I love comprehensifying an extending authentic resources. And I LOVE using stories as the anchor of units. I can't imagine teaching without stories.


The stories that I use come in many forms: movies, music videos, novels, and/or other resources. My favorite stories are ones that are from authentic resources because I can extract tons of cultural products, practices, and perspectives. And with authentic resources, there is automatic differentiation. And students get to see a ton of cultural and linguistic diversity with authentic resources... but as I said on the podcast, authentic resources aren't always accessible to our students, but we can (and should) make them accesible and enjoyable too!



Below are some of my favorite movie resources. I have used all of these with great success and engagement! Some of these I created, some I created with Arianne Dowd or Elena López, and some Arianne created. I think Bethanie Drew may have been in the mix on some of these too. They are all excellent and will let you extend that "movie unit" over a long period of time with lots of input! #GoBeyondComprehensionQuestions

• Spanish 1+: Canela (free)
• Spanish 1+: La Misma Luna and Inmigración for Spanish 1
• Spanish 1+: Living on one dollar (free - shared and created by Eric Herman)
• Spanish 3+: Coco (and here)
• Spanish 3+: En el tiempo de las mariposas (free slideshow here)
• Spanish 3+: Ocho apellidos catalanes  (free)
• Spanish 3+: Ladrón que roba a ladrón (free slideshow here and more info here)
• Spanish 3+: El libro de la vida (free slideshow here)
• Spanish 3+:Diamantes Negros (free)
• Spanish 3+: 3 Bellezas
• Spanish 3+: También la lluvia (free slideshow here and AP unit packet here)
• Spanish 3+: The Devil's Miner (free slideshow here)
• I haven't use Arianne's resources for this yet, but I plan to this semester! Spanish 3+: La Lengua de las mariposas  (free slideshow here)
• Spanish 3+: Blancanieves (created by Kristy Placido)

Some of my other favorite stories and/or units basted on comprehensified and extended authentic resources are the following:

• Spanish 1+: Soy yo
• Spanish 1+: Vendo pan (free)
• Spanish 1+: #Idiota (free)
• Spanish 1+: Ella por Álvaro Soler
• Spanish 1+: Un besito más and Spanish 3+ (free)
• Late Spanish 1+: Álvaro tiene un problema 
• Spanish 2+: Ferdinando el toro (free)
• Spanish 2+: El Mismo Sol (free)
• Spanish 2+: Corazón de un Lio
• Spanish 3+: No soy cómo tu crees  (free)
• Spanish 3+: Robarte un beso
• Spanish 3+: La Bicicleta (free slideshow here)
• Spanish 3+: La lotería navideña
• Spanish 3+: Vaina Loca (free)
• Spanish 3+: Si tú la ves (free)
• Spanish 3+: Tres Leyendas Ecuatorianas: El Nacimiento del Río Amazonas (free), El Kuychi (free), Las Guacamayas
• Spanish 3+: Pescaíto
• Spanish 3+: Carlos explora Lima, Perú (free)
• Anything that Arianne Dowd creates!
• Anything that Elena López creates!

Social Justice in Spanish 1: Inmigración

I have been trying to reflect on which of the Teaching Tolerance Social Justice Standards I am hitting in certain units. And, in this immigration unit with Spanish 1 (but could be used with any level!), these are the ones, I think I hit on... or perhaps in some cases, at least touched upon:

• Diversity #8: Students will respectfully express curiosity about the history and lived experiences of others and will exchange ideas and beliefs in an open-minded way
• Diversity #10: Students will examine diversity in social, cultural, political and historical contexts rather than in ways that are superficial or oversimplified.
• Justice #12: Students will recognize unfairness on the individual level (e.g., biased speech) and injustice at the institutional or systemic level (e.g., discrimination).
• Justice #13: Students will analyze the harmful impact of bias and injustice on the world, historically and today.
• Justice #14: Students will recognize that power and privilege influence relationships on interpersonal, intergroup and institutional levels and consider how they have been affected by those dynamics.
• Justice #15: Students will identify figures, groups, events and a variety of strategies and philosophies relevant to the history of social justice around the world. 
• Action #16: Students will express empathy when people are excluded or mistreated because of their identities and concern when they themselves experience bias.

How is that possible in Spanish 1 you ask!?! With compelling authentic resources that have been comprehensified. Here are the resources that are the focus of this unit. 

I just finished the unit and I am so proud of few things:

• the language that my students acquired in the unit through three stories and a reading about the movie that we watched
• the authentic cultural products, practices, and perspectives that my students saw in this unit
• the final reflections that they did (in English) about how their view on immigration and undocumented immigrants have changed
• focusing on Social Justice in a novice class

In this unit, students acquired a ton of language, in particular through reading and interacting with these texts:

1. a story based on the song/music video "ICE El Hielo" - here is a Quizizz to see some of the text
2. a story based on the PBS short film "The Other Side," which has a fantastic, unexpected twist at the end - here is a Textivate to see a shortened version of the story
3. a story based on the song/music video "Un besito más" - here is a Quizlet to see part of the story
4. a reading about the movie "La misma luna" - Students still love this movie!