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.

NHAWLT 2015 Presentation

                        

• Handout (click here)
• Website for class
• If you are looking for more details on the units, use the box under "Buscar este Blog"

The School Unit... made more interesting!

Update: Catherine Laflin used this unit in Spanish 2 and made it focus on the past tense. Here is the adapted slideshow and the adapted unit packet.

I am starting a "school unit" in Spanish 1 and usually this is not something really enjoy, but thanks to Elena López and Amy Zimmer, it is going to be much better! I am mostly going to use their materials, including these from Elena.

My essential question for the unit is: ¿Cómo es mi día escolar similar y/o diferente de otras personas en otros países?

And the goals for the unit are:

• I can answer questions about my school day and my classes.
• I can compare my school and my school day to others.
• I can comprehend and retell a story about school.

The canción de la semana for this unit is "Chau" from the Uruguayan group No te va gustar. Here is the slideshow to introduce the band. And here is the cloze activity and translation. The lyrics to the song are not at all related to school, but the video is (see 2nd slideshow below).

I am going to use this slideshow to introduce some of the important vocabulary and to tell the "story" of the video. I am not going to spend a lot of time on it, but I think it will be a good intro to some of the vocabulary. Update: See Elena López's slideshow, which is better than the one below.

If any of this is useful for you, please consider giving back in a Radiohead style format.

La escuela... y la canción de la semana

I am starting a "school unit" in Spanish 1 and usually this is not something really enjoy, but thanks to Elena López and Amy Zimmer, it is going to be much better! I am mostly going to use their materials, including these from Elena.

My essential question for the unit is: ¿Cómo es mi día escolar similar y/o diferente de otras personas en otros países?

And the goals for the unit are:

• I can answer questions about my school day and my classes.
• I can compare my school and my school day to others.
• I can comprehend and retell a story about school.

The canción de la semana for this unit is "Chau" from the Uruguayan group No te va gustar. Here is the slideshow to introduce the band. And here is the cloze activity and translation. The lyrics to the song are not at all related to school, but the video is (see 2nd slideshow below).

I am going to use this slideshow to introduce some of the important vocabulary and to tell the "story" of the video. I am not going to spend a lot of time on it, but I think it will be a good intro to some of the vocabulary. Update: Elena López improved this slideshow and has lots of resources here.

If any of this is useful for you, please consider giving back in a Radiohead style format.

Voces diferentes

In Spanish 1, as a presentational assessment, my students have to retell a shortened version of the stories that we do in each unit. They have pictures to help them and they practice a lot in class, mostly for 5-7 minute chunks. They can work alone (quietly whispering to themselves) or with a partner. And that has worked wonderfully, but today we tried something new called "Voces Diferentes." 

I got this idea at from Anne Matava at TCI Maine. This is what we did in class:

• I used the slideshow below to describe the activity.
• I chose 3 personas and said part of the story in that persona.
• Volunteers chose a persona (see below) out of bag. I let them pick a few times until they found a persona that they wanted to do. A few of them went out in the hall to discuss how they would act.
• The volunteers said part of the story in the voice of that persona. I had another student point to the pictures (projected) as the speaker narrated the story.
• After the volunteer finished saying the part of the story, the class guessed who the person is supposed to be talking as or talking to.
• This was a fun way to practice presentational speaking. One student's persona was me and he was very good at imitating me!                  

                         

Here are the possible personas (click here to see full doc):

TALKING AS...
You are a toddler having a tantrum.	You are teenage girl with an attitude problem.	You are a calm and patient teacher trying to explain something to the class.	You are a mean teacher who is yelling at the class.
You are sick and about to throw up.	You are a really happy person.	You are a really dull, boring person.	You are Mrs. Jacobs.
You are very addicted to your phone and cannot stop looking at it.	You are one of the ñus.	You just ate a really spicy pepper and you need some water.	You are VERY tired.
You are very dramatically telling your best friend some gossip.	You are a zombie.	You have to go to the bathroom really badly.	You are a politician.
You are a really nice kindergarten teacher.	You are a drill sergeant.
TALKING TO...
You are talking to someone who is very hard of hearing.	You are talking to someone who you have a crush on.	You are talking to someone who you are afraid of.	You are talking to a group of angry people and you are trying to calm them down.
You are talking to your arch enemy.	You are talking to someone who you are about to fire.	You are talking to an audience of people that you want to impress.	You are talking to someone who you want to listen very carefully.
You are talking to a baby.	You are talking to someone that you want to listen very carefully.

Our current story is "Los ñus" (idea and resources courtesy of Elena López). We have done a wide variety of activities with this story and the related vocabulary.

Below is the shortened version of the story that students will be retelling. We did a dictation activity with the sentences and students drew a picture to go along with each sentence. They will be able to use those pictures to help during the assessment.

• Hay dos ñus en la orilla del lago.
• Hay un objeto en el agua.
• El primer ñu dice, “Es un cocodrilo, ¡No lo toques!”
• El segundo ñu dice,  “No es un cocodrilo, es un tronco.”
• El primer ñu agarra una roca y la tira al objeto.
• Los dos ñus ven el objeto y no ocurre nada.
• El primer ñu agarra una rama y toca el objeto dos veces.
• El primer ñu está frustrado y tira agua al objeto.
• El primer ñu se sube arriba del objeto.
• El cocodrilo abre la boca y come el ñu.
• El primer ñu desaparece debajo del agua.
• Un tercer ñu llega. / Llega un tercer ñu.
• El segundo ñu dice, “Es un cocodrilo, ¡No lo toques!”
• El tercer ñu dice, “No es un cocodrilo, es un tronco.”

This is the rubric that I will use to grade them (for the assessment, not the activity):

	7-8	5-6	4 or less
Content	- You include all of the necessary components. - You may even include extra details.	- You are missing some of the components.	- You are missing many components.
Pronunciation	- Your pronunciation is excellent for the level you are in. - It is evident that you frequently repeat after the teacher to practice your pronunciation.	- Your pronunciation is good for the level you are in. - You don’t always repeat after the teacher to practice your pronunciation.	- Your pronunciation impedes comprehensibility. - Start repeating after the teacher!
Accuracy	- Your grammar is excellent for the level you are in.	- Your grammar is good for the level you are in. - Some errors may impede comprehensibility.	- You make many grammatical mistakes. - Your mistakes impede comprehensibility.
Fluidity	- You speak with very few pauses. - You are very prepared.	- You pause sometimes to think about what you are saying.	- You frequently pause and/or cannot remember words.