Español 1: enfermedades, ropa, partes del cuerpo

¡Hola!

Today we did something fantastic in my Spanish 1 class. We had been reviewing body parts, sicknesses, food, and clothing. I was feeling very blocked at how to assess whether they were getting it and appropriately build the lesson. Whenever I get to those moments of total loss of what to do, usually I either ask for help (only if absolutely necessary) or I have some sort of epiphany right before class. Today was one of the days I needed emergency help last minute.

Partner work is always tricky, but I needed some way for the students to quiz each other quickly and without knowing they were being quizzed. I grabbed a ton of markers from the office and raced off to class. Dividing the boards into two sections, I put the students into pairs and had one of the people in the partnership go to the board. The student still seated had to describe the appearance of a monster and the student at the board had to draw what the former described. After they drew five things, they switched and the other partner drew five new things on their monster's body,

Once they were done, I asked them to draw what the mother and father of this monster looked like, to bring in some family vocabulary. They were very creative and funny with this. After they were all done, they gave the monster and its parents names and then presented them to the class.

Once those presentations were over, I asked the students to come up with a line of clothing for the monster. They spent a few minutes creating this clothing line and then I demonstrated how I wanted them to present it to the class: they needed to draw clothes on the monster as they were explaining what the clothes were.

For homework, they are going to call 911 and explain what is hurting them and why they need help. I am sure there will be a lot of vomiting from belly buttons, bleeding eyeballs, and head explosions.

All in all, this was a great way for everyone to be involved and deeply processing the vocabulary we have been working on for the past month. Everyone was proud to show off their monster and it was done in a relaxed environment where everyone felt they could make mistakes without being shushed.

 

Here are some pictures from the class. Enjoy and let me know if you try it in your class!

 

 

 

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Hurricane Sandy brings life to natural disaster unit

Hurricane Sandy could not have hit at a more a propos time. We had just finished up our first quarter, so with grades due on Tuesday, October 30, and many college recommendations due on Thursday, November 1, all the teachers were scrambling to comply with all their obligations.

In the midst of all of this, I was looking to start a new lesson for my Spanish 3 class. We could have continued on in the book, where the next chapter was on medical terminology, but I decided to push that aside in favor of the environmental chapter, where the students are building vocabulary about hurricanes, temperature changes, blizzards, etc. With the change of seasons happening right now, it just made sense.

I was chatting with a fellow Middlebury Monterey Language Academy RA about what to do with a lesson on Hurricane Sandy and an idea suddenly came to me. This week is a crucial week not only for grades and college recommendations, but it is the final week before the 2012 presidential election. Many journalists have been commenting that Obama's response to this hurricane could make a difference in the outcome of the election. Since I know my Spanish 3 class to be particularly politically aware, I decided to put them in the shoes of an organization that has gotten a lot of press lately, namely FEMA.

The situation was the following:

"24 hours before Hurricane Sandy is supposed to hit the east coast, two major crises happen. First, all of FEMA's workers are simultaneously assassinated. Secondly, all their files have been wiped in an act of cyberterrorism. You and your classmates have been chosen to become the new heads of FEMA. President Obama has given you a check with $5 billion to deal with the damages as you see fit. You will need to quickly elect a director and some managers deal with different problems you anticipate that the hurricane will bring. The first question you must deal with as a group is whether to evacuate or stay put."

After receiving these instructions, I unleashed them to decide for themselves. Leadership quickly arose and they started delegating out jobs. One student assumed the role of the accountant and set up shop at the teacher's desk. Within minutes, he had two body guards who were making sure that an orderly line formed to ask for remunerations for different projects. Each board held plans of the different sectors of medical, police, firefighters, and housing commissions, and they started detailing the costs of each program as they researched the real costs. Meanwhile, the elected director of FEMA roamed around the room asking questions, approving plans, or making suggestions for improvements.

At the end of the class, the students were asked to write up a detailed letter to President Obama explaining their plan of action and providing the budget details. Many used their smart phones to take pictures of the board they were working on for later reference.

This was an example of a lesson that had a completely unrealistic premise, but that efficiently empowered student leadership by putting the onus of responsibility on the students. We had generated disaster vocabulary yesterday in class and for homework, they had written about the aftereffects Sandy had exacted on the communities in our region. The students were primed and ready to be able talk about making preparations for an impending hurricane. The specific instructions of whether to evacuate or to stay gave them a launching pad for how to approach the rest of the anticipated emergencies that come with natural disasters. Within the context of hurricane preparation, the students were free to think and generate all of the problems that they could anticipate, which is what would happen if this situation of assassinations and cyberterrorism actually occurred.

This lesson allowed the students to feel empowered and at the same time process the lesson on a much deeper level given that they were required to produce something meaningful in a time crunch. This lesson gave the students a reason to focus and provided an opportunity to use technology for a useful purpose.

Here are a few pictures from the lesson. Enjoy!

 

The accountant with his bodyguards

Plan of attack.

Evacuation plan and costs.

Medical plan and budget.

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United World College accepts North Korean celebrity's grandson

Kim Jong-Il's grandson, Kim Han Sol, is going to the UWC in Mostar. While this may seem like just another political figure's child going to a boarding school, this is actually a momentous occasion for the country.

UWC (United World College) is a consortium of 12 boarding high schools around the world. These high schools grant opportunities for IB higher level studies for students from more than 140 different countries. Therefore, the experience is highly international and naturally students will become friends with people from different cultures and people groups. The goal of the program is to promote a more peaceful world.

 

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Guinea pig #1

Fun way for dads and kids to bond while babysitting.

 

Fun way to have kids learn new vocab through popular songs translated to Spanish.

 

Cute French child recounting a story she created.

Things I want to explore in the near future:

• Scoop.it
• Paper.li
• Knewton
• Coursera
• Khan Academy

 

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