Culture+Days

For the "holiday" season: It's terrible to try and get kids to do something grammatical on the few days before the holiday break, so I came up with this: students are doing a mini-research project on holidays in Spanish-speaking countries. They'll find the information on one day, and put it on a graphic organizer on the next. It may not be something that they'll see on the test, but they'll get some new insight on other countries, they'll be using computers and doing real research that they'd do in college, and, best of all, everyone is out of each other's hair! They'll be working in the lab, you'll be monitoring, but there won't be any pulling teeth to try to get them to pay attention. They'll have the work in front of them, so they'll be able to work at their own pace. user:armst136

__Standards-Based Food Days__: Here's a quick writing activity in English (translate to Spanish if you want for advanced kids) that deals with the Comparisons/Connections requirement in the National Standards. It's very quick, and can be done while the kids are eating the food. It's so painless, even my whiniest class didn't realize they were working (which is saying a lot!) user:armst136

__Colombia Discussion Packet__: This packet is used as an introduction to "María, llena eres de gracia". The packet of reading and corresponding questions should be given before watching the movie, to have a discussion about the cause of the violence in Colombia, why the drug trade thrives so much there, and what thet U.S.'s War on Drugs is doing to American and Colombian society. Even though the reading is in English, the work is intended for advanced Spanish classes. For the students' written final exam, I had them write an essay on power and control in "María, llean eres de gracia", based on the film and their readings and discussions. I am grading them now and, compared with my 3rd year classes who only wrote summaries (teacher's orders), they are phenomenal! user:armst136

Pasaporte: Foreign Language Week If your school participates in any kind of foreign language week, this is a good way to keep track of how involved your students are. If you don't, this may be a good idea to get students to use the language at home. You can have your own mini foreign language week or language of your choice week. This is a passport that students get stamped depending on what events they go to and how they participate throughout the week. You can do it just for fun or make it for a grade as I did. Here is a "pasaporte" that I made. You can do if for any language and add as many activities as you'd like! user:beechlau

US Passport I created this passport for the students to create for when we go on virtual field trips with Google Earth. The students have their pasaportes stamped as they enter class. I also had the students create luggage (using a luggage cut-out with it glued onto a manila file folder.) We put things we 'find' in the country into our luggage so they can go home and show their parents. *I teach elementary school. user:litwins5