domingo, 19 de abril de 2020

Canción/Cuento de la Semana... in EASY past tense



At the beginning of this year, I used that video as story/song of the year with my Spanish 1 class. They really liked the song and it was an easy story.

Right now, I have Spanish 2 and I have been exposing them to the past tense for a while now.

So, to give them some more input with the past tense and high frequency structures/vocabulario, I re-wrote that Spanish 1 story and put it in the past tense

During this online learning period, I am using the Fluency Matters e-course El Ekeko with my Spanish 2 class, but they also do a story/song of the week each week

They follow the same basic pattern. Here is an example of what they will do with this song story:
If you are looking for another easy song/story in the past tense, check out this one:








viernes, 10 de abril de 2020

¿Qué hiciste hoy?

Looking to talk to your students and see what they have been up to being in their houses all day long?

Looking to give some input with a catchy song and familiar tune?

Looking to give some input with the preterite (and some chores)?

Then, check out the video(s) and slideshow below.

When I saw this song (posted on Zambombazo and shared by @SraPenarandaMMS
on Twitter), I thought it would be a really good one to use in "class". 

And then, I found this version, which has a man doing all the things he mentions in the song. 
So, I made up this slideshow (click here if you want to make a copy) to use before we listen to the song (or before they even know there is a song):

And here are the full lyrics.

Extra credit idea: Remake this video at your house!

domingo, 5 de abril de 2020

Idea for extra credit and/or enrichment: Authentic Listening and Current Events

Just a little post to share something I am giving to my students this week:
Extra Credit: Authentic listening and current events (doc here)
  • Watch and listen to one (or more) of these songs from the Spanish speaking world.
  • Write up a quick little response about what you saw and heard and your opinion about it.
  • This can be in Spanish, Spanglish and/or English. 
  • Are these songs/videos similar to anything that you have seen in our culture?
  • OR DANCE! See the video 2b and 4b.
  • Note: There are THREE different songs called "Quédate en casa" (Stay home).

2b) Argentina/Spain - Resistiré (I will resist) - DANCE video
3) Spain - Quédate en casa (Stay home) Students probably won't know these people,
but they are famous people from Spain. Although, they might recognize one (Álvaro Soler).


viernes, 3 de abril de 2020

Yo no sé... past tense version

This story/song of the week was a big hit last semester with Spanish 1:

And a new version just came out:

I like the original better! But, that story that I wrote for Spanish 1 is a bit simple, so I have adapted it for Spanish 2 and put it in the past tense. It is pretty simple, but they will start to get some exposure to some high frequency verbs in the past tense.


As part of my online teaching, I have been continuing to do "Cuento/Canción de la Semana," (or another post here) but a bit of a lighter version. Basically, this is what I did last week and hope to do in the coming weeks:

  • Students do an Edpuzzle with a slideshow of me telling the story. I used Google Meet to record that. I like it because they can see the slideshow and my face and nothing is blocked. Why do I want them to see my face?!? Because I will be acting things out, just like I would in class. 
  • As part of that Edpuzzle, students watch the video too.
  • Students will do a cloze activity with the song and translate some of the lyrics. 
  • Throughout the week, they work on a Textivate Sequence (here is that Textivate). I have a paid account, so I can track their progress. 
  • By the end of the week, students to another Edpuzzle with the music video and the text of the story.
  • For this song, I will have them watch the new version and tell me which one they like better. 
  • One ongoing assignment all week is to sing the song with a lyric video. I love the Yo no sé video because the closed captions have the lyrics - so they can watch and sing! 
  • And, if I ever can figure out how to get students accounts, I might use this from TeachVid.
  • They will do this Edpuzzle at the end of the week. It has a text exchange between Mati y Ana.
This is pretty basic, but I really like it because:
  • The song and video are an authentic resource with authentic language!
  • Students like music!
  • Students like to sing... seriously, who doesn't? 
  • Students are getting lots of input and acquiring more because it is an engaging, memorable music video.
  • Songs and music videos provide an escape, something we all need right now.