Power start: a good lesson off the top of my head
We started with “Poder corrumpe; poder absoluto corrumpe absolutamente.” I took a quick poll of some of the quieter members of class about whether power corrupts saying “¿poder corrumpe?” or “¿cierto o falso?” or “si o no?” and following up with “¿todas personas?” or “¿A veces? ¿Depende?” That way they at least had to get some kind of idea what the topic was, with repetition and rephrasing–not English!
So then I had students write a journal: Cuando yo tenía poder, so students can not ONLY practicing the past tense, but ALSO making a personal connection with the subject to lead into dictators.
And THEN, I gave each a copy of this:
And THEN? They wrote a number on post-its to answer “¿Cuántos dictadores hay en el mundo hispanohablante? (200 años)”
I had been considering a plátiza or giving them the actual infographic assignment today, but flying by the seat of my pants seemed to work a lot better.
