PD with Tea with BVP

My new favorite weekly Professional Development is the podcast Tea With BVP. I have had 13 hours of free, engaging and informative PD with Bill, Angelika and Walter, mostly while I have been running. (I have a hard time sitting and listening to a podcast!)

This week's episode "There's no such thing anymore as "methods"" not only informed me, but also provided a lot of validation about what I am doing in the classroom. Something I don't always get from those around me (excluding in my digital space :) ).

Some of the things that BVP mentioned this week:

• Engagement - By using lots of authentic resources (such as music, music videos, commercials, infographics, and movies) and other visual resources, I feel I am engaging my students.
• Personalization - La Estrella del Día has been the best way to personalize my classroom and I am loving doing that 2-4 times a week!
• Using a movie as the "textbook" - BVP mentioned that he is doing that for one of his classes. This made me think of what I am doing with the movie Canela and with El Internado. These are much more engaging than a textbook and filled with lots more culture. I am hoping to do something with another movie as well.
• Teachers need to be proficient in order to provide lots of CI - This made me think of Carrie Toth's latest blog post: Improving Teacher Language Proficiency. I, like her, started teaching when I was in the intermediate range (as are many language teachers). Reading, listening, traveling, and speaking are the best way to improve proficiency! In Carrie's blog post, she shares a wonderful opportunity for Spanish Teachers. I wish I could go, but I will be headed to Costa Rica around the same time.
• Teachers need to learn about SLA  - I have already learned a ton from this show and that is why I am posting about it. So if you haven't started listening, I highly recommend it! Click here to go to their site.

I love using El Internado! It is engaging, interesting and full of great language! One of my favorite comments came from a student this week. After starting class with a review of the characters and asking several questions in Spanish, the student said, "I am surprised how much I remember!" When the material is interesting to students, they will remember things and learn more!

As Spanish teachers, we are so lucky because there are are a ton of resources to use with this show and make it comprehensible for our students. Bethanie Drew and I collaborated and created some post-watching resources for El Internado (inspired by Mike Peto's reading for Episodio 1, definitely worth the $6.99!) and I am continuing to use our activities, but I decided to use some more pre-watching activities this year, so I created the slideshow below to use before we watch. I read the subtitles (if there are any), describe what happens, and check for understanding. As the slideshow progresses, I tried to include less spoilers.

I have also included some links to resources from Dustin Williamson and Kristy Placido in the slideshow.

I am using this with my Cultura y Civilización class, so they understand a lot, but there are many things that I need to explain. We go very slowly, so far we have watched about 30 minutes during two class periods (we only watch on Fridays), of which we spent about 120 minutes dedicated to the show. The format is this: use slideshow to describe what happens, watch some of the show, do reading activities aloud together, and repeat.

Feel free to use the slideshow, but if you improve it, please share back! I share my work for free, it is not perfect, and I really appreciate feedback about how to make it better!

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

El Internado: Pre-watching Slideshow for Ep. 1

I love using El Internado! It is engaging, interesting and full of great language! One of my favorite comments came from a student this week. After starting class with a review of the characters and asking several questions in Spanish, the student said, "I am surprised how much I remember!" When the material is interesting to students, they will remember things and learn more!

As Spanish teachers, we are so lucky because there are are a ton of resources to use with this show and make it comprehensible for our students. Bethanie Drew and I collaborated and created some post-watching resources for El Internado (inspired by Mike Peto's reading for Episodio 1, definitely worth the $6.99!) and I am continuing to use our activities, but I decided to use some more pre-watching activities this year, so I created the slideshow below to use before we watch. I read the subtitles (if there are any), describe what happens, and check for understanding. As the slideshow progresses, I tried to include less spoilers.

I have also included some links to resources from Dustin Williamson and Kristy Placido in the slideshow.

I am using this with my Cultura y Civilización class, so they understand a lot, but there are many things that I need to explain. We go very slowly, so far we have watched about 30 minutes during two class periods (we only watch on Fridays), of which we spent about 120 minutes dedicated to the show. The format is this: use slideshow to describe what happens, watch some of the show, do reading activities aloud together, and repeat.

Feel free to use the slideshow, but if you improve it, please share back! I share my work for free, it is not perfect, and I really appreciate feedback about how to make it better!

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

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.