Tarjeta Digital de Navidad

Amigos,

I was playing around with my graphics program last weekend and I put together this image of the nativity.  I decided to write "Feliz Navidad" on it and make it into a digital Christmas card.  I hereby offer it up to you and to the public domain.  However, if you do use it for something (especially something commercial) I would consider it a kindness if you linked back here.  I don't get much work as a graphic artist, but every little bit helps.

I will probably create some more in the coming days and share those here as well but, in the meantime, I hope you have a feliz Navidad.

Hasta pronto,

--AnneK

Para Estudiar Los Verbos

I admit that I love grammar; it's no secret.  My friends and my students give me that askance look when I talk about it, as though appreciating the rules of the language is something akin to liking having your blood drawn at the doctor's office.

I try to keep things simple for my students.  They do not share my love for structure so I try not to bore them with long explanations and complicated drills.  Textbooks these days are very light on structure - something I think is a mistake, but I acknowledge that there are differing opinions out
there.

Here we are in exam season again: midterms for those of us on traditional schedules and finals for those on block schedules.  And, as I was pouring through my files, I came across this verb organizer that I created for my students.  The idea is to have all the tenses in one place so they don't have to page through their notes and look for them.  This particular organizer is for Spanish II; it includes present tense, preterite, imperfect, and future.  I didn't have room for conditional tense but, if I'm perfectly honest with you, I often fail to get that far in the textbook most years.

I hope you find a use for it but, perhaps more importantly, I hope your students find a use for it.

Hasta Pronto,

--AnneK

Coca-Cola y Navidad - Un Anuncio Lindo

I'm not one to go mixing school and commercialism often, but this is a nice commercial by Coca-Cola with approachable lyrics and culturally-relevant video.  So I figure, with an explanation that I'm not promoting the product up front, it can be used in the classroom context.

Video Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tiwgCHSZYI8 

The singer is David Bisbal and he is very easy to understand.  Still, I printed out the lyrics and a link to the commercial on a little worksheet so the students could see the words that they aren't able to hear.  Okay, so there isn't any work on the worksheet . . . maybe it's more of a "funsheet."   I'm gonna go with that.

Click on the picture to download the "funsheet."

 I will share it with my students after midterm exams.  I hope someone else out there finds it useful too!

Hasta Pronto,

--AnneK

Mi Burrito Sabanero

Even after years of studying Spanish and spending a Christmas season in Mexico, I am still discovering new things about the celebration of the December holidays in the Spanish-speaking world.  One of those things is the traditional carol, Mi Burrito Sabanero, which is about the donkey that the Virgin Mary rode into Bethlehem.  (At least that is what I'm told it is about.  The lyrics seem to tell a story about a boy and a donkey going to visit the baby Jesus.  But who am I to argue?)

The lyrics are traditional, so I'm guessing that they are in the public domain.  Here they are:

Con mi burrito sabanero
voy camino de Belén
Con mi burrito sabanero
voy camino de Belén
si me ven si me ven
voy camino de Belén
si me ven si me ven
voy camino de Belén

El lucerito mañanero
ilumina mi sendero
El lucerito mañanero
ilumina mi sendero
si me ven si me ven
voy camino de Belén
si me ven si me ven
voy camino de Belén

Con mi cuatrico voy cantando
mi burrito va trotando
con mi cuatrico voy cantando
mi burrito va trotando
si me ven si me ven
voy camino de Belén
si me ven si me ven
voy camino de Belén

Tuqui Tuqui Tuquituqui
Tuquituqui Tu qui Tu
Apúrate mi burrito
que ya vamos a llegar
Tuqui Tuqui Tuquituqui
Tuquituqui Tu qui Tu
apúrate mi burrito
vamos a ver a Jesús

iTunes has a couple of good versions of the song that you can download for less than a dollar and share with your students.  Mine really enjoyed the song and got a big kick out of the tuqui tuqui tuqui part especially.

Hasta Pronto,

--AnneK

Image Source:  http://kimbanda7lineas.ning.com/group/navidad/forum/topics/villancicos-mi-burrito-sabanero 

Kevin, Karla y La Banda

Holy smokes!  This is a cover band that redoes songs from the American pop scene . . . in Spanish. 

Now you're thinking that's not such a big deal but, the thing is, this band is actually good!  Their translations, though not word-for-word, are very true to the spirit of the original songs.  They rhyme and they match the original rhythm of the song and, this is the best part, they can sing!  They sing very well, in fact.

Kevin, Karla y La Banda have a website, but I have a hard time navigating around it.  I can't find the songs I'm looking for on their site, but I can find them easily enough on YouTube.



One caveat, and this is only a problem for Spanish teachers, the lyrics are lacking accent marks in most places.  Still, I forgive them for that.  The music is great.

Here are links to two of their songs that my students really enjoy.

Call Me Maybe (Spanish Version)

We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together (Spanish Version)

Hasta pronto,

--AnneK

Renacimiento

I have let this blog sit for awhile for a couple of reasons.  I was feeling discouraged because no one seemed interested in stopping by and reading.  I suppose I need to continuously put up quality material and practice patience - so that is my goal for the new year.  The other reason is that I was finishing up grad school.  I hope to tell you in another couple weeks that my paper has been accepted and that I have passed.  In the meantime, my fingers are crossed and I am secure in the knowledge that I did my best work.

I have begun a small side business over at Teachers Pay Teachers, selling some of my lesson plans and my artwork.  I figure this is a good forum to share that work with others.  I hope, if you are reading this, you will take a moment to stop by and maybe you will consider supporting me.

Here is a link to my Holiday Backgrounds for PowerPoint.  They are a bargain for $5.00 because each image is less than ¢15.  It's what you'd pay for a fancy cup of coffee . . . right?

The images are made for slides, so you will have plenty of room to write lots of text.  Additionally, most of the images come in sets of two - one title slide (like the image above) with a large graphic and one regular slide with smaller graphics and more room for text.

And, as an extra, people who order and leave me a comment here to let me know what they think, will be emailed a bonus pack.  Hooray!  (You will have to leave me your email address for me to mail the bonus pack to you.  But, worry not.  I have no mailing list or anything like that.)

I had a successful Thanksgiving lesson that did well last week, and this coming week I have a seasonal lesson on las posadas in the works - and another one on el Día de los Reyes Magos.  More news on those when I finish.

Hasta pronto,

--AnneK

En la Época de los Exámenes - una Idea

All is quiet here on the blog front as of late.  It's because we are in exam season and I have been focused on preparing my students, fine tuning my exams, and getting everything graded and into the gradebook for report cards next week.

But I had a ray of insight last year that I wanted to share with my readers here.  Because as language teachers, more often than not, we struggle with the same problems.  I always had the same issue every year - I wanted to save paper and reuse my exams so I told my students not to write in the test booklets.  But this stressed them out because they wanted to be able to mark out answer choices in the matching sections so they could use the process of elimination.  It made sense but I still didn't want them to mark up those 14-something page test books.  What I used to do was to give them scratch paper and instruct them to write the answers there and mark them out as they went.  Not an ideal solution but it was the best I had.

And then it occurred to me!  Why not put the answer choices on the answer sheet and allow them to cross them out there?!  It seems so simple when you think about it, and I do wonder why it didn't occur to me before.  Putting the answer choices on the answer sheet (in a simple table) takes up a very small amount of space and completely solves the problem.  They no longer write on my tests and this is a much better plan for everyone - especially my special needs students who struggle with transcription.

I thought I'd pass that along and I hope it works for you.  May your students do brilliantly on their exams this test season and show you how much they have learned!

Hasta pronto,

--AnneK

Culturally Relevant - a Challenge!

There are many textbooks, webpages, and services out there to provide vocabulary lists for students and teachers.  Most of them are thematic and by in large very bland.  It is even more rare that they give any thought to culture whatsoever.

I posted about this issue recently on my other blog (where I talk about my efforts toward weight loss and my efforts in tandem toward learning Portuguese).  The problem was that I had gotten a list of vocabulary for fruit but words like açaí, acerola, ameixa, caqui, castanha de cajú, cupuaçú, goiaba, graviola were not included in the list.  Instead the list had words for fruits which are common in the English-speaking world.  When I am in Brazil (And someday soon, I hope to be!), I probably will not have a great deal of need for words like cranberry, blueberry, plum, and pear.  It's not that those fruits never show up in Brazil; it's just that one is much more likely to run across goiaba (guava) than cranberry - since cranberry is a cold weather fruit.  

When I went to Mexico for the first time, despite my three and a half years of studies, I did not know the words nopal, chayote, guyava, posole, or jícama - just to name a few.  How is it that this never came up?  I didn't know about saint's days, quinceañeras, or that there was racial tension surrounding the discovery of the Americas by Christopher Columbus.  Again I ask - how is it that this never came up?

In the Spanish-speaking world there is a great deal of diversity, which makes creating culturally relevant vocabulary a challenge.  My suggestion is that one culture be dealt with per unit and, theoretically over the course of two years language study, students have gained a wider appreciation for the cultures in which Spanish is spoken.  Obviously we can't cover everything but that should not prevent us from doing what we can.   Yes, the culture is vast and varied, but most of us can probably do a better job of bringing many aspects of it to light.

So my challenge to myself and my fellow Spanish teachers is to add five - eight culturally relevant vocabulary words to each list.  They should relate thematically to the rest of the vocabulary and should provide students a glimpse into the particular Spanish-speaking culture you are featuring in the unit.  Next, use the vocabulary to give examples when it comes to explaining grammar points, and in practice activities.

Can you do it?  Yes, of course you can!  You have all summer to think it over.  I will do the same and I hope to post my results here in the form of activities and Powerpoint presentations.

Hasta pronto,

--AnneK

Un Error Muy Serio

Despite the title, I have not made any serious errors.  At least I am not aware of any at this time . . .

I decided to try my hand at making an LOL cat.  For anyone who might have missed this internet meme, LOL cats are pictures of cats with funny captions.  Most of the time the captions are made with poor spelling and grammar - my guess is that this is supposed to reflect the notion that cats do not have a good grip on the English language.

So my challenge in making one of these for my Spanish students was to make it funny without making it grammatically incorrect.  Challenge accepted!  (Another meme - I'll catch you up on that one later.)  The trick to making a funny LOL cat is not necessarily in making a silly message, but in finding a funny cat picture to start with.  How could this picture not be funny?

If I weren't so doggone busy right now, I would have made a little activity to accompany the picture and share that too.  But since time is limited and exams loom close, I'll just offer the suggestion that you use the picture as a springboard to review the present perfect tense, the irregular participle forms, or as a conversation topic for the preterite (Describe a time when you made a serious error . . . , etc.).

One of my students sent me the picture.  They are always sending these sorts of things along to me because they know my sense of humor and they think I'm a bit of a crazy cat lady.  *smile*  I tried to find the source of the original image so that I could credit it here, but this picture has taken the Internet by storm and there is no source listed for it anywhere.  I assume the kitty escaped the jar and is living happily somewhere now.

Hasta Pronto,

--AnneK

Antes de las Vacaciones

I saw this funny cartoon over at Zambombazo today and had to chuckle a little bit.  I must say that some of the internet memes leave me scratching my head and wondering what I'm looking at - and the art is really awful, but I suppose the fact that it is so iconic is what makes it popular.  (Well, that is my theory anyway.)

I had not intended to blog about this today.  Instead I was going to pin the cartoon up at Pinterest, but I tried to pin it five times without success.  I don't know if they have an anti-pin script going on over there or what.  Maybe it's an issue of bandwidth?  Regardless, I downloaded the picture myself and figured I would give them credit here for it.

One of the great things about the Zambombazo site is that they put up activities to accompany the videos and images they share.  There is an activity to go along with this cartoon that includes a list of related vocabulary and a creative writing prompt.  What a great way to get students writing!  So much better than those ridiculous prompts in textbooks and workbooks.  You know the ones I'm talking about . . . You and your grandmother are in the supermarket.  Tell her all the things you want to buy and what aisles they can be found in.  (Really?  Is that the best you have got?  And why would I talk to my grandmother in Spanish anyway?)

I'm lucky that I teach at a year-round school.  My students won't have forgotten all their Spanish over the abbreviated summer vacation.  We'll be back in school mid July with most of our Spanish intact - I hope.

Hasta Pronto,

--AnneK

Arte como Terápia para Estudiantes con Necesidades Educativas Especiales

Tomorrow is the big day for seniors at my school - Senior Project Presentation Day!  The seniors have worked all year researching, writing up their findings, creating a product of learning, and tomorrow they do the presentations of their findings in front of a panel of four judges.  We will all be at school into the evening hours watching the presentations and judging who passes and who does not.  (Hopefully we won't have anyone in that second category this year.)

A few of the students have been researching topics related to foreign language, language acquisition, and even second language acquisition.  But I have none of that to share with you today, sadly.  However, one student published a video about using the arts as a means to reach special needs students as the product portion of his project.  I watched it and it was both professional and thought-provoking.  It makes me wonder how I could incorporate more creative instruction in my lessons.

Spanish ties in nicely with the arts, as I'm sure anyone reading here already knows.  Teaching the culture through the art is a no-brainer.  But there are ways that even something as mundane as vocabulary can be studied via art

• Draw a little picture depicting each of these vocabulary terms
• Take this clay and sculpt one of the vocabulary terms and see if your partner can guess what it is
• Make a slide show with pictures you find that bring these terms to mind
• Write a song or a chant in Spanish using these words
• Do charades with the vocabulary and let us guess what you are acting out  
• Choose a term on the list and make a sidewalk drawing depicting the word in a creative way and later we will take a gallery walk and learn our words as we stroll by and enjoy the art

And I imagine I could go on for quite awhile like that.  The good news is that these activities are the sorts that engage right-brain thinkers and kids who get bored with typical instruction.  These are the kinds of things that make students say, "We did something fun in Spanish today."  My younger colleagues would criticize and say that the above activities are not communicative . . . but, I'm not a slave to the doctrine of communicative instruction.  It doesn't necessarily meet the needs of the average high school student - but that is a topic for another day.

Go watch the video if you can; this student is trying to get a thousand hits before his presentation tomorrow.  I know that would make his day.

Hasta pronto,

--AnneK

Ocupadísima

One week of instruction left until exams and you could say the stress level is a little high right now.  I keep thinking I'm going to find a minute to share something here, then a dozen little things (or big things) pop up that need my immediate attention.

But I found time to make this . . .

Having students make little signs like this one might be a really fun way to review command forms.  Heck, I used two irregular commands right here.

Soon I will return with something to share but for now I'll forge forward - calmly and fabulously, of course.  *wink*

Hasta pronto,

--AnneK

Manipulativos

I like to make activities once in awhile that get the kids sitting around in groups together and playing a game to practice their vocabulary or their grammar.  This particular activity calls upon them to put the words of a sentence in order - including the object or reflexive pronoun.  And, since there are two verbs in the sentence, there are two places that pronoun can go.  Pronoun placement always seems to be a bear, but this activity takes the drudgery out of it.

Once the students correctly put together Mis amigos me van a comprar un regalo,  I then ask them to move the word me to the other correct place it can go in the sentence.  (They overlap the cards to show that the pronoun is attached.)

I will not lie to you; this activity takes some time to set up.  But once you have made it, you can keep the cards in envelopes and save them for the next time you teach pronoun placement.  Our school requires that students complete at least 100 hours of community service to graduate, so I always have willing volunteers to cut, copy, staple, and fold!

Materials

• Heavy card stock in various colors
• Small envelopes
• Scissors
• Printer

Steps

• Write the sentences, making sure to include pronouns which can change positions in the sentence.  (I strongly recommend that you use the current vocabulary when you write the sentences so that you are killing two birds with one stone.)
• Type the words in a document using the Tables feature.  Copy the same sentence on the paper over and over on the same sheet, depending on the number of card sets you want to create.
• Repeat with the second sentence . . . third, fourth, etc.  (I don't recommend more than 6-8 sentences or the game starts to get tedious.)
• Print the sentence cards onto paper and use a copy machine to transfer them to heavy card stock.
• Cut them out, sort them into groups, and put them in the envelopes.
• Have fun! 

Make sure each sentence gets its own unique color or the students will have no way to tell which cards go together and they are likely to become extremely frustrated.

Hasta pronto,

--AnneK

El Hombre y la Plancha

Iron Man is the name of this quirky little Spanish film that was the recent winner of the 48hfp (48 hour film project) in Barcelona.  It won a number of awards and, for reasons I cannot really understand, it makes me smile. 

There are English subtitles that make it easy for beginning Spanish students to understand but, before you show it to your students, be aware that there is one rude hand gesture and the consumption of alcoholic beverages in the film.  There may or may not be implied homosexuality in the film also.  (I'm not sure.  I'm notoriously dense about these sorts of things.  It's very subtle regardless.)  You know your district norms and your students best, so choose wisely.

The movie is about five minutes long and is mostly in Spanish.  One fun activity with beginning students might be to get them to figure out when Spanish is being spoken and when another language is being spoken.  I heard Italian spoken by one character and another language (Czech maybe?) spoken by another.  It could be a fun activity.

You might also want to get the students to generate a list of vocabulary for appliance pets once they finish watching the film.  (Yes, appliance pets.  That will make sense after you watch the film; I promise.)

Whether you can share it with your students or not, I hope you enjoy Iron Man, amigos míos.

Hasta pronto,

--AnneK

"Jesus Shaves"

Comedian David Sadaris explains holiday customs and cultural differences in this hilarious monologue about how difficult it can be to convey complex ideas with limited grammar and vocabulary in a foreign language.  In his case it is French, but I am sure every student and teacher of foreign language can relate to this same problem and the (often hilarious) miscommunications that can result.

This is mostly safe to share with your classes but there is one curse word (bleeped out) at the end of the monologue.

Enjoy!  (Click here --> ) Jesus Shaves by David Sadaris.

Hasta Pronto,

--AnneK

Image Source:  http://frenchalacarteblog.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/cloche-chocolat.jpg?w=584