Thinking about summer PD already?!?

What are your summer PD plans? 

I love doing PD in the summer - why!?! Because you actually have time to process it and think about it, instead of rushing back to school, figuring out what students did or didn't do with the sub, and catching up!

I am presenting my one-day (possible two, if there is interest) workshop "Transitioning from Traditional with CI Stories" on July 31st, in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire. This workshop is limited to 25 people. Last summer, there was a waiting list of 10 people, so if you are interested, sign up soon! Click here or on the pic below to see the details and to sign up.

4/6/19 ---> Update, I have added a second day, on August 1st. Click here for details and registration. 

I am so excited to be attending and presenting at Comprehensible Cascadia in Portland, Oregon. I am also am going to attend Tina Hargaden and Mike Peto's pre-conference workshop. If you have the opportunity to see either of them, I highly recommend it.

Last summer, I went to the iFLT and it was EXCELLENT! I highly recommend it. This year it will be in Jacksonville, FL. 

The previous summer, I went to the Express Fluency week in Vermont. That was also excellent, and kinda like a mini-iFLT.

I highly recommend conferences like Comprehensible Cascadia, iFLT, and Express Fluency because you can WATCH expert CI teachers teach REAL classes --- it is especially powerful if you it is a language that you DON'T speak!

There are so many amazing opportunities this summer and Mike Peto created this map of CI Workshops this summer.

3 Bellezas... con un recurso MUY especial

In the past, I have blogged about using the movie 3 Bellezas in AP Spanish in the past and shared these free resources:

• unit packet (updated this year with an article related to la crisis) 
• slideshow with CI readings to do as we watch 

...but I am writing about it again because the coolest thing happened!! And I have permission to share it here for other teachers and students.

But first, a little about the movie. I LOVE the movie period. I also LOVE for the theme of "La belleza y la estética". It is a dark comedy and definitely not for everyone. I would only use it with older students and you definitely have to skip some parts!  However, if you frame the movie as a dark comedy and learn about the context of the movie (by reading authentic articles about concursos de belleza in Venezuela - in unit packet), students will like the movie too... but you definitely have to prepare them ---> it does not have a Hollywood ending.

Like I have in the past, we did a Seminario Socrático to discuss the movie and it went very well. I am so proud of my students and their ability to think deeply and communicate their ideas. One student, who had done a Seminario Socrático in the past, said that she thought 3 Bellezas was excellent for the Seminario Socrático because there was a lot to talk about.

So, here is the cool thing that happened... I reached out to Carlos Caridad, the director/writer of the movie, and he responded and answered my students' questions! You can see more in this slideshow. He has given me permission to share this with other teachers. It will be a perfect addition at the end of the unit!

We watched four of the videos today and will continue to watch them tomorrow and into next week. Some parts were a bit challenging for my students, but I also saw bright, sudden smiles when they realized they could understand big portions of his answers!

Feel free to make a copy here. The questions are more like notes for me, so you might want to adapt them.

New Unit for Intermediates! ~ Bailo la pena ~

I LOVE the new Macaco song/video "Bailo la pena".  The song has a fun, positive message and the video is excellent. It is somewhat similar to "Soy yo," but I might like it a little bit more!

So, I wrote up a story and (update 3/23/19)  created an entire unit --- > see a preview below or find the entire unit here on TPT. 

I read this article and it mentioned Stranger Things, so in the story I mentioned that in the story.

Los 3 Ps relacionados con la salud: a Task and a Song/Story

I have used the song "La Curandera" by Elastic Bond many times. Students usually like it and there are a lot of health related cultural products, practices, and perspectives in the song, so it can lead to students doing una comparación cultural as an evaluación. If you have AP at your school, this is a good one to do in level 3!

I am using "La Curandera" again to start my health unit in Spanish 3, but this time I have a story to go along with thanks to Mike Farkas, who shared a story to go along with the song. Then, I took what he gave me and together, we came up with this slideshow. He also made this activity for the story.

However, before we get into the story, to start the unit, we are going to start with this BVP-style Task (see theses posts to learn more about what I am referring to) to talk about our cultural products, practices and perspectives related to health.

Then, I am going to tell the story and then have students read and illustrate. I want them to just listen and see images first. You will see that they text fades in on the click, so I can just tell them, but then use the text if I want to. After that, they will work with the text and do some of these activities.

Students will also learn about dengue with some infografías and a PSA. Click here to find those free resources.

Una canción para "La belleza y la estética": Chicas de revista

What a perfect song for the AP Theme of La belleza y la estética! I am starting that AP unit tomorrow and this song will be a great way to start. 

Students will explore the People en español: Ponte bella site and then do some pre and post questions related to the song. You can find the activities here for free.