First of all, if I do teach Cortázar, it would almost certainly be limited to Spanish 3. Secondly, if I do teach Cortázar, I would probably not teach the story I was assigned for my grad class: I’d so much rather sink my teeth into my favorite story by Sr. Julio: “Axolotl.” Read more…
You know Cortazar, Borges, Paz, Lorca, and, of course, Garcia Marquez. But do you know Pardo Bazan, Unamuno, Valle Inclan, Matute, Rivas, Gomez de la Serna, Huidobro, and Quiroga? I’m halfway through a course on Hispanic short stories organized by region, and week 1 was Spain (which, if you do Read more…
Page 1 is a perfect review of Spanish 1. It is also a chance to connect literature to each individual student. I hope it can also be the basis for TL conversations about identity and origins. I’d like to spend a day or two on interpreting the page, a couple Read more…
Advanced Topics in Diversity sounds kind of like what I’d like my Spanish classes to be about, but it is, in fact, the name of my first graduate class of the summer. I was wary of the class’s ability to do anything for me that 8 years in the classroom, Read more…
I plundered the Spanish kids book section at my local library. I’ve got 9 books to peruse and plan around. First, we have some recipe books to complement the cooking unit for Spanish I: Available at Amazon Most recipes are under a page and include some very Mexican ingredients (nopales, anyone?) Read more…
When you want to assign students a glog creating project through GlosterEDU, here are my suggestions for making it easier: Always assign the project using GlogsterEDU’s “assign project” option. This way you can easily see who has completed the assignment who has not, and you can post grades and comments Read more…
She’s been speaking Spanish as long as she’s been able to speak, but she said she learned something worth remembering–and it stuck–when she had stuck was blindfolded and forced to touch different ingredients, guessing in Spanish what they were. So the cooking unit stays. But with modifications. I’m not sure Read more…
Q: What do a Chilean reality show and Honduran tourism have in common? How about a recipe for croquetas de pollo and a wikipedia article about a Mexican sitcom? A: Interpretation review for Spanish I, of course! Interpretation is but one part of the final project I’m planning for both Read more…
So I had grand plans of orchestrating a comprehensive, super-intensive, especially creative final over spring break. Instead, I rested. A lot. So now I have to finalize finals, though I’ve barely started envisioning how to make them comprehensive, much less intensive and creative. I want to cover at least the Read more…
We’ve skyped with 2nd graders in Arizona and are preparing to skype with high schoolers in South Dakota. Spanish II has skyped my ex-mother-in-law in Mexico, and years ago we brought all the Spanish classes together to skype a high school buddy on Fulbright in Argentina. Oh yeah, and Read more…