Text Set número dos: "Me gusta"

This text set features the grammatical topic of the verb "gustar" in Spanish. This verb is used to express like or dislike in the target language, and translates directly to English as "_____ is pleasing to me". For this text set, I chose a grammar topic instead of a thematic topic, because I see gustar come up again and again in both Spanish I and Spanish II. It takes a while for students to grow comfortable using this verb with an indirect object pronoun, because it is so different from how we express the same thing in English with "I like ____". I also chose this topic because there are so many text resources available that I love to use when teaching it.

Books


Casi Se Muere  (A TPRS novel)
by Lisa Ray Turner and Blaine Ray
Ages: 12 and up

This short and simple novel is written entirely in the present tense and provides a great context for teaching grammatical constructs like "gustar" as it appears in different chapters. I love that in chapter 4, when gustar is used a lot, I can then introduce and teach the forms of the verb more specifically as students see it in an authentic text and story.

¡No me gusta mi moño!
by Hans Wilhelm
Ages: any

This short children's book may seem a bit young for high schoolers, but they are easily entertained by the silly storyline of a dog who doesn't like to take a bath, and the reading level is perfect for novice learners. It is a great short piece of a lesson, providing them the grammar, once again, in the context of a story.



Websites

http://www.colby.edu/~bknelson/SLC/gustar1.php
By Barbara Kuczun Nelson
Ages: 12 and up

I really love that this website is like an online interactive worksheet. It asks students to fill in the blanks in sentences by typing in the correct form of the verb gustar. Interactivity is so important, and this is something that most students could do at home.


http://www.lingolex.com/swom/wom-gustar.htm
Ages: 12 and up

This website could be supplemental material for students to see how the verb gustar is used. It has some great examples that show translations from English to Spanish, and the layout of the site is kind of old school but simple.


http://www.spanishdict.com/conjugate/gustar
Ages: 12 and up

When students get into upper levels and learn to speak in different tenses, it is often useful to have a go-to tool online that will show them all the conjugated forms of a verb in every tense. This website provides that tool for students. It is organized in a way that is morphologically logical and is something that I often refer to if I can't grasp a complicated tense of a particular verb.


Other

http://zachary-jones.com/zambombazo/documents/tirate_a_escribir/tirate_a_escribir_conylu_musica_navidena.pdf
by Zachary Jones
Ages: 12 and up

This humorous document put together by Zachary Jones uses a funny comic ("tira") as inspiracion for students to then produce the language using gustar to talk about what Christmas songs they like or don't like. I love that this text is a comic strip, or somewhat of a meme that is interesting and funny to students. It is authentic and they can really relate to it, and it thus provides a great prompt for a bellringer in which they must write using gustar.


Tweets Using "Gustar"
Compiled by Zachary Jones
Ages: 12 and up

I love the layout of this worksheet for students that presents various Twitter tweets in Spanish using the verb gustar, and asks students to identify which things the tweeter likes or does not like. This worksheet encourages skills of interpretation and recognition and pushes students a bit out of their comfort zone by askign them to interpret a text genre that they are not as accustomed to. And it's FUN!


Reading and Writing Tweets with "Gustar"
Compiled by Zachary Jones
Ages: 12 and up

This handout is similar to the previous Zachary Jones twiccionario handout but it of course provides a totally new text since it uses different tweets. The task that is presented to students is also different because they must respond to tweets by producing a whole sentence and expressing their personal opinion. Another great starter!


El monstruo de la laguna (tira)
Compiled by Zachary Jones
Ages: 12 and up

This comic strip compiled by Zachary Jones is a funny and authentic way to introduce gustar to a Spanish II class, and then have them complete the pdf worksheet as practice. This comic comes from a different artist, could be the inspiration for a project in which students make their own comic using gustar.

Comic for Un-fans of Futbol

Ages: 12 and up

This comic strip is another funny and simple text that students could interpret and translate, as well as use to discuss the use of the verb gustar. It is a great thing to integrate in a unit on sports or likes/dislikes.

Do you like the Google Olympic Doodle? Handout
Compiled by Zachary Jones
Ages: 12 and up

This handout is the introduction for a writing activity that shows various Google Olympic doodles and asks students to write a simple paragraph about which ones they like and do not like, and why. This is an interesting prompt, especially around the time of the olympics (winter ones, or right after summer, I suppose), and gives the text of the graphics leading to a prompt in which students must produce written work using gustar which they would have already been introduced to. This would be a great ticket out the door.

Gustar Infograph
Ages: 12 and up


This infograph is not only an alternative way to present and read text, but it also is graphically organized in a way that is easy to read and contains the most important information about the topic. This text could be a tool that a teacher refers to as they are introducing gustar and its constructs, and could be something students keep in their notebook to refer to. It is entirely in the target language, so students would have to interpret it and comprehend it.









Music and Song

Me Gustas Tú
Song and Lyrics by Manu Chao
Ages: 15 and up

This song is catchy and rythmic, and could be used for some great cloze activities with the lyrics. Although the song misuses the verb gustar, it presents a great segway to discuss this with students, and talk about the cultural incorrect uses of grammar in various cultures and contexts. I would not use it with younger students because the song mentions marijuana.


Gustar Song
Lyrics by Sr. Mara
Ages: 12 and up

This song is a great learning tool for students being introduced to the verb gustar, because the song is a fun rap and it is interactive! Students must participate and sing along. They also must identify a few errors in the lyrics that appear on the screen. I have used this several times and Sr. Mara always creates helpful grammar song videos. Students remember the concepts better.


Me Gustas Tú
Lyrics and Music by Luis Fonsi
Ages: 12 and up

I promise this is not the same as the song above! :) This is a song by Luis Fonsi that is a bit more advanced, and could be used with a Spanish III or IV class to review the use of the verb gustar in the context of the entire song. I like the cloze activity for this song, because it emphasizes student's aural skills and input.

Reflection #10: BBR ch. 10

I thought the topic for this chapter was very interesting. Students clearly have almost unlimited access to technology outside of the classroom. However, at least for me, we don't spend a ton of time during class doing research on the internet. This topic made me think more about how I can provide those opportunities for my students to search the world wide web for information pertaining to our class without wasting too much time. (Because seriously, going to the computer lab is quite an ordeal with 34 students!). I thought the two strategies proposed in this chapter were fairly straight-forward. I suppose I like the SAND technique because it immediately asks students to assess the credibility of the source they are looking at, before getting too immersed in the content. If they site seems credible, it suggests they bookmark it to go back. This seems like a more efficient way to go about finding information, and I think it would be very applicable for subjects like history and sciences. For my class, I think they are generally going to find good information, and even authentic sources can sometimes be hard to tell if they are credible enough for a Bibliography. It's important for us to sometimes use the opportunity to teach students about the more formal processes involved in research.

Reflection #9: Long

I thought this brief article was very interesting. It actually gave me a bit more background knowledge and information regarding the implementation of Common Core, on the government side of things. It was interesting to see some of the priorities expressed in the article that surprised me. I was particularly intrigued that they would have the goal that all the assessments be technology-based. This just doesn't seem like a very high priority to me, and it seems like an expensive thing to implement in all schools, but I understand (as the article pointed out) that it has a lot to do with getting feedback and scores in a timely manner. The only thing that bothers me is that I don't like taking online assessments, and it is a whole new big kahuna for students of all ages and especially those who are not very good test-takers to begin with to learn to take their assessments in a new format online. I was also interested to learn that so many states had tried to resist the implementation of these CCSS. It's one thing to implement the standards, which I think seem pretty good, even though it's so hard to read them all, but another thing altogether to tell teachers their pay will now be tied to scores. My perspective of Common Core has been one that sees it a bit distantly, since it does not currently directly affect my content area of Spanish. However, we have talked as a department about implementing the CCSS in the ELA areas. To be honest, this stuff in common core is really intuitively already integrated into the ACTFL proficiency standards that we try to use in our language classes. Translating a text or reading a simple yet authentic text for comprehension in the target language includes having to cite evidence explicitly from the text. 

Web Resource Review Número Dos

2nd Web Resource Review:

Photo Vocab
Spanish Word of the Day
http://zachary-jones.com/photovocab/


I found this website through another site that is created by Spanish teacher extraordinaire, Zachary Jones. Apparently, Señor Jones has multiple websites containing an infinite amount of Spanish teacher tools! Yay!

Ok, so this site is very simple, but very cool. It basically has a daily post (like a blog) that includes an interesting photograph and a new Spanish vocab word to go along with that photo. I really like that it first introduces the word through the context of a short paragraph in Spanish, and THEN if you scroll down it explains what the word is (in English).

This is definitely something that would be appropriate for students in middle school or high school, although I would say that it might be a bit better for students in Spanish II or above if the teacher is going to expect them to struggle through the paragraph at all, simply because it's a whole paragraph of normal Spanish (normal as in not super elementary). This is definitely a site that could be used in school, which is awesome! The first thing I thought was that it would make a really cool daily starter. It could be a part of the routine that students come in to class, the teacher has this site pulled up, students answer a few questions about it quietly on a sheet of paper, or work on translating some sentences from the paragraph. It would also be a neat springboard into using that new vocabulary word in the context of the grammar that is being learned that week. This has clear connections to the content of Spanish, since the whole purpose is to introduce new words in this specific target language. It's also really neat to see how they incorporate culture into these words. For example, this weekend the Day of the Dead is being celebrated in Mexico, so one of the words this weekend was the specific name for a Mexican marigold, the flower that marks the weekends festivities and is used to decorate altars on this special occasion.

The site is not very interactive for students, although they can navigate to see past words, and can click on a little "play" button to hear the word pronounced correctly aloud. The site is not commercial at all. There are no distractions or advertisements. I love how simple the layout is! I think some other pros are that it is simple to read and navigate, that it is so useful and the purpose is so straightforward, and that it has really engaging and cool photos. I also like that it tells where the word comes from, because there is usually a particular cultural connection. I suppose the simplicity could also be a con. I almost wish there was more there! I also wish they gave a few synonyms or related tags or something, maybe that could take you to their other site that has a ton of stuff on it. No sign-up or login in required, and there is no adult supervision required because it was made for students of Spanish.

Great resource!

Reflection #8: Bromley

I was a bit nervous when I started reading this article, because many of the techniques and things that the author mentioned in the first column are things that I do with my class, such as writing definitions, using words in sentences, memorization, and vocabulary quizzes. The reality is that there is a lot of vocabulary that one must learn to be able to speak a language. Needless to say, I was eager to hear what the author had to say!

I thought it was interesting that the author addressed the dynamic and shifting nature of our language. It was neat to think of asking students to brainstorm words that may be added to the dictionary (tweet? google as a verb?). Number two in the list really stood out to me, because in my content area, teaching the essentials of English grammar and using it as a comparison to teach Spanish is a must, and helps strengthen students' skills in knowing English grammar as well as Spanish. I really liked the points that discussed oral proficiency and the importance of sometimes "speaking above" your students to a certain extent. I think this is really helpful and in a modern spoken language, it's something that I am trying to grow in in order to promote oral proficiency and help my students have to struggle a bit to understand. 

Text Set Numero Uno - Un viaje

Text Set Uno:

The topic for this first text set is travel. I chose this because it's a theme that I enjoy teaching, it appears often in multiple chapters of the textbook that we use, and I know that it provides a link to some very authentic types of texts that I hope my students will eventually use more and more. Perhaps, many of them will eventually travel to a Hispanic country someday!

Books:


Spanish Phrasebook for Dummies
Susana Wald (Author)
Ages: 12 and up


This book contains thousands of helpful phrases in Spanish, beginning with the most simple and essential phrases that native Spanish-speakers use every day. This is written as a guide for English-speakers traveling to Spanish-speaking destinations, and thus would be an excellent resource for a travel unit in Spanish.



Pobre Ana bailó tango - a TPRS novel in Spanish
Patricia Verano, Verónica Moscoso, and Blaine Ray (Authors)
Ages: 12 and up (Spanish II level class)

This short novel is written completely in Spanish, and in the preterite tense (past). It is a simple story about a girl named Ana who travels to Argentina. I have enjoyed using these books as a text in the target language because it provides an interesting and authentic story as rich context for teaching grammar concepts that appear throughout the chapter.


Other Materials:

Menu (Nena's Restaurante Mexicano)
Nena's Mexican Restaurant, San Bernadino, California
Ages: 11 and up (Spanish I or II)

This menu is written completely in the target language, whereas some other Mexican restaurants list the food items in both Spanish and English. This is a wonderful piece of realia that provides an interesting and mouth-watering context for students to discuss traditional food and dishes from Mexico. Because it comes from a real restaurant in California, students can see ways that these texts are all around us, and that we don't necessarily need to leave the US to encounter them.

Map of Puebla, México
Brought back from Puebla
Ages: 11 and up

This map shows major tourist destinations in the city of Puebla, in Mexico. It also marks any historical sites. The great thing about this map is that it is taken from Puebla, bringing an authentic piece of the city to students in the US. This is something they would use when traveling, and they can use it in activities to practice reading and giving directions.

La misma luna  (movie case)
Patricia Riggen (Director)
Ages: 15 and up (Spanish III or IV students)

This is a more unique text that a teacher might use in a unit on travel to talk about immigration and some of the hardships that immigrants face in coming to this country. Not all travel is for vacation! The film is a wonderful and emotionally gripping tale of Mexican immigrants crossing the border to the U.S. I like to have students read a bit about the story before or after, and reading the sleeve of the DVD case is an excellent way for them to summarize, translate, read aloud and comprehend the story a bit more.






La fiesta brava (worksheet and reading on the topic of bullfighting in Spain)
Ages: 11 and up (Spanish I or II)

This handout that I have inherited from my Mentor Teacher (who inherited it so long ago she can't remember where it originally came from) is the first text featured in this text set that is actually in English. This would be great to use as a cultural highlight in a travel unit on Spanish festivals and traditions. The great thing about this, is that it relays valuable information, while not intimidating students by too much
Spanish text. It also has a helpful word bank on the back to introduce thematic vocabulary relevant to the unit.









Chico Chile - ¡Vamos a celebrar! 
Teacher's Discovery (Publisher)
Ages: 11 and up

This booklet is really interesting because it presents traditional stories and recipes from various Hispanic countries that pertain to different holidays, which would be valuable information to know if a student were to travel to another country. I like that this booklet features so many different countries in one little book. I also love that some of the stories have graphics included throughout the text, which would be a great visual aid and provide cues for struggling readers.














Websites: 

Cruises to the Galapagos Islands
http://www.galapagoscruceros.ec/galapagos-cruceros-especiales.html
Cruises
Ages: 12 and up (Spanish I or II)

This website features various cruises leaving from South and Central America to take tourists to the Galapagos Islands. This would be an interesting text to use on a cultural and travel unit featuring these islands. It might even be a type of text that students have never encountered before. I like that I could show this to students and have them "book a cruise" as they plan a trip. The website is entirely in the target language, but students would be able to pick up on some details.

Travel to Chile
http://chile.travel/whynot/ 
A tourism website
Ages: 13 and up (Spanish I or II)

This website is one of my favorites! I love that the text throughout the website, which focuses solely on the country of Chile and is geared towards young people seeking adventure, is displayed side by side with such vivid and thrilling graphics. It makes this site exciting for students to peruse. There is a wealth of information regarding Chilean culture, geography, people, places, and activities categorized under easy-to-access tabs that students can easily navigate for a research project. This makes this text very "cool" and appealing to teenagers. (C'mon... don't tell me the photo isn't a draw!!)

Lonely Planet
www.lonelyplanet.com
A travel resource
Ages: 13 and up (any Spanish class)

This site is an amazing resource for teachers OR students. It features travel information for planning a trip to any part of the world. This is a quick resource that I have used before in assigning a general "plan a trip" research project for students. The graphics are great, and this site is so authentic because it's something they would use if they were planning a real trip. I like the fact that I could have them explore the site in Spanish or English. The text is simple and presented in an organized way.

Conocer Barcelona
http://www.conocerbarcelona.com/mapa
Interactive map of Barcelona
Ages: 11 and up (Spanish I or II)

This interactive online map of Barcelona not only is presented completely in the target language and geared for tourists and visitors to the city, but it also features lots of helpful symbols and keys that show where different neighborhoods, museums, parks, featured historical sites, restaurants, etc. are located around the city. This would be a wonderful interactive tool to use to send students on a webquest in order to learn their way around a city using directions or commands. They could also use this to plan a trip itinerary to Barcelona, because when you click on one of the symbols, it reveals to you all the details of that place!

Travelocity
www.travelocity.com
Book a flight
Ages: 11 and up (any Spanish class)

This is my go-to website to teach students more about the process involved in traveling by air and booking a flight. Many of them have never even been in an airport or on an airplane, let alone booked a flight online. I love the simplicity and layout of this site, and the fact that they can see the various airline options and prices and routes that appear. The text is basic and it is an interactive research process. Students feel like they are really planning a trip as they plug in their destination and pick a flight option.

Zambombazo
http://zachary-jones.com/zambombazo/panorama-tematico/#viaje
A great resource for Spanish teachers

Zachary Jones is an incredible Spanish teacher who has compiled lots of authentic resources on his website for teachers to purchase and access. He is famous for using current themes, articles in newspapers, and songs to teach Spanish grammar and themes. Teachers can search through all the resources on the site by theme, and travel is one of those themes! The links that pop up include cloze song lyric sheets, music videos, tweets, comics, and magazine articles, all having to do with travel! What a great variety of authentic texts!

Visit Chile Tweets
https://twitter.com/visitchilecom
Tweets: The text of this age!
Ages: 12 and up (any Spanish class)

I am a big proponent of finding relevant and authentic pieces of texts to use in my classroom in order to teach the language of Spanish to high schoolers today. One of the most common forms of text that these teenagers will read daily are tweets, as nearly all of them have a twitter account. I really enjoy finding tweets like these ones about traveling to Chile, and having them translate the text into English. Funnily enough, a tweet is the perfect length of text to read, even for struggling readers. And really, who can resist a cool spanish #hashtag?

Tripadvisor Hotels and Hostels
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotels-g294305-c3-zff26-Santiago_Santiago_Metropolitan_Region-Hotels.html
Booking a hotel in Santiago, Chile
Ages: 12 and up (any Spanish class)

I have enjoyed using this website in a research project on Chile in which students had to plan an imaginary trip to Chile. Part of the process was that they had to "make a reservation" at a hostel or hotel in Santiago. The text presented on this site is shown in small chunks, and with pictures, helping students to rifle through them quickly and with ease. They also learn to read reviews that people write on different hotels.

Clarin
http://www.clarin.com/
Buenos Aires Newspaper
Ages: For Teachers and upper level Spanish students

This website of a large Buenos Aires, Argentina newspaper is a bit hard to read for students who don't know the target language as well. However, it's a great resource for teachers to tell students about current events in other countries during a travel unit. It also can feature cool texts that are easier to read, such as recipes, sports statistics, or brief tabloid messages about celebrities.

New York Times Travel
http://www.nytimes.com/pages/travel/index.html
A general travel resource in English
Ages: for Teachers and students 12 and up

This resource is extensive, and features some recent and exciting travel destinations all over the world. I have often found museums in Hispanic countries recommended on this site, as well as particular foods or celebrations highlighted. This is a great resource for a teacher to keep up to date on current world and travel news to share with the class, as well as a resource for students to explore. It is in English.



el fin.

Reflection #7: Tierney and Readance Ch. 8

I like the fact that this chapter opened by immediately listing some strategies for vocabulary development. I was pleased to see that many of these are natural to implement in a world language classroom. The strategies "Possible Sentences" as well as "Contextual Redefinition" were two that stood out to me in particular as being definitely applicable every day in any reading in my Spanish class. What I liked about this chapter, as I have liked about most of the readings for this class, was that it made me think more carefully about how I can implement this strategy more explicitly and actually TEACH my students how to read using these strategies! In "Possible Sentences" I like how reading aloud and pronunciation of the words is emphasized to an extent. In a world language, this is obviously very important, as the end goal is communicative proficiency in the target language, and one cannot communicate effectively if one cannot be understood due to incorrect pronunciation. I also like that this strategy uses student-generated examples as the driving examples behind the lesson, and allows for students to make mistakes and all learn from those mistakes together. This encourages the natural process of learning through commiting mistakes and then checking them against the text. The "Word Map" was another strategy that I'd like to try to implement more. I like the idea of having a mixture of concrete and abstract vocabulary terms and letting students organize the words (after defining them correctly) in a hierarchy that they determine individually depending on what it most memorable and significant to them.