This movie chronicles the true story of the Bielski brothers, Russian Jews who successfully harbored 1200 Jewish refugees in the woods while fighting the Nazis for four years. This is one of the absolute best films I have seen about heroism during the Nazi occupation. This movie was nominated for an Oscar two years ago and is beautifully made. Students love watching it and it carries a PG-13 rating. Movie guide contains 30 chronologically ordered questions, follow up topics for discussion and an answer key in case you need it.

This download contains two written quizzes for students to demonstrate understanding of selection and conjugation of the subjunctive tense. It also contains 20 Oral exam questions for students to practice answering using the subjunctive, and 3 prompts for a final presentation (options for students to interpret the prompt) and a suggested grading scale. Lots of different ways to assess students knowledge of present subjunctive. Suitable for an honors Spanish II or higher course.

This is a difficult concept for Spanish II students, and these notes and practices will take them through the process step by step. Positive TU commands are explained first followed by 50 practice examples that also address pronoun placement. Then Negative TU commands are presented with 50 more practice examples. Graphic organizer note outlines are great to introduce this concept or for students who need extra practice or a brush up.

This is a partner practice for Spanish I or higher level students practicing bigger numbers and fruits and vegetables. Students take turns asking and answering prices of fruits and vegetables in Spanish. Each partner has 8 items and 8 prices to record by writing out the larger numbers on their sheet. Practice takes about 15 minutes to complete in class and is a great warm up or practice opportunity before a quiz.

This 40 minute video from the history channel give a reasonably unbiased view of the Aztec empire and an effort to understand their cultural practices as well as documents their conquest by Cortez and why Spain was successful in defeating the Aztec. Video works well for a sub day lesson plan or as supporting information when studying the Aztec. Video is in English, questions are chronologically ordered.

This activity is an easy little practice for Intro or Spanish I students who are learning fruits and vegetables + GUSTA. Students complete a survey as homework responding to their food preferences, then the following day interview classmates to discover who shares the same feelings about the foods. Practice takes 10 minutes to complete and 15 minutes to interview.

This powerpoint contains 20 photos of people with various health problems. Students look at the photos and assess what the problem is and offer a recommendation for the patient. I use these as a warm up in the beginning of the chapter and for speaking prompts on assessments, students get 3-4 photos and have to describe the problem and recommend a treatment as part of their test.

Quick and easy quiz to assess knowledge and usage of these two verbs. Quiz includes two 6 box charts for conjugations, some circumstances where students must decide to use SABER or CONOCER and short sentence examples where they apply what they know to select and conjugate the verbs. Total quiz = 36 points.

This notes and practice packet is designed to be used with verb pairs. Students get a reference chart with examples of verbs that take a/al/a la de/del/de la en and que. Each section contains notes and practice examples. Page three has 34 practice sentences with verb pairs where students can decide if the sentence requires a helping word or not. This lesson is best suited for level II or higher or as a review for a Spanish 3-4 level in high school.

This two sided worksheet works well when introducing students to stem changer o --> ue (and jugar) verbs. It has an easy explanation, practice boxes for conjugation, a word bank of verbs and definition and page 2 has pictures and sentences for verb conjugation. Worksheet can be assigned as homework, extra practice or used as an intro to stem changers in class. Takes about 20 minutes to complete.

This sci-fi film released in 2012 opens your mind to what the future might look like for global labour relations between the US and Mexico. Set 50 years in the future, water is controlled by the US and rationed at high prices, workers with "nodes" in their arms work remotely from factories called Sleepdealers. Workers connect in Mexico and work in the US. The film is evocative, and sets students thinking about what the world might look like. Great film to use in conjunction with teaching the FUTURE/CONDITIONAL tenses and discuss global challenges, or technology, both AP prep themes. Recommend for any Spanish class level III or higher. Film is in Spanish and English, Movie Guide in both Spanish and English so you can use it for a variety of different levels. Takes two class periods to show film.

This 25 minute audio episode interviews several high school students in Oakland CA that survived difficult immigration journeys from their home countries in Central America to the US. Students discuss their transition to American life, reconnecting with family they haven't seen in years, difficulties of adjustment. Download contains 20 questions in chronological order. Different than my other episodes, these questions are structured in multiple choice format (still super challenging) that could be used as a test. Answer key is included. This episode is excellent, teachers of heritage learners will find lots to identify with in the students testimony. Listening practice is best suited to a Heritage Language Learner, but could be used with an AP level V class if you cut it up and replay the pieces a second time for students. Answer key is included.

Students studying identity or simply interested in recent current events will respond to this short 8 minute film on the topic of wearing the Hijab in school. Lesson includes link to video (there are a lot great free short films on this site) and questions for students to respond to as they view the short film. Writing prompt discusses the topic of mandatory dress codes in schools vs uniforms and provides opportunity to respond to a prompt in a persuasive paragraph. Lesson takes one class period to complete, but could easily be expanded to two. class periods for a discussion/debate after students have seen short and answered preliminary questions. Writing prompt can be completed in class or assigned as homework. This mini lesson is an excellent activity for a level V or Heritage Learner class preparing for the AP test.

This four page reading guide accompanies the short story NOSOTROS NO. (free downloadable black line at http://hispanicexplorer.tripod.com/nosotros_no.htm . Lesson contains a list of useful vocabulary and a practice exercise, pre-reading questions for students to complete and discuss in pairs and small groups, brainstorming questions about the roles senior citizens play in our families and society, comprehension questions that accompany the story and a choice of essay prompts linked to the outcome of the story for students to answer. This lesson works best for a level IV or higher Spanish class or is also suitable for a heritage learner class. Takes at least 2 class periods to complete if you include time for reading in class.

This four page packet reviews usage of verbs like GUSTAR (encantar, importar, fascinar, molestar, fastidiar, interesar) and then applies them to subjunctive clauses. Lesson contains one page of reference notes and charts with examples, 1 page of review simple sentences using verbs like GUSTAR and two pages of practice sentences with GUSTAR verb clauses that prompt for subjunctive. (one page of translations, one page of questions to answer) This lesson works best with a level III class or higher where students have already been practicing the basics of subjunctive usage and conjugation. Practices may be assigned as homework or completed in class together.

This 110 question reading guide accompanies the book The Secret Story of Sonia Rodriguez. Questions are chronologically ordered by chapter and provide many opportunities for Reflections, Connections, and sharing in partner and small groups. Also included is a glossary of terms for the Spanish vocabulary sprinkled throughout the text. This is an excellent book for 9-10th grade readers, with lots of opportunities to discuss discrimination, family, and other challenges young people of color face in our country today. Be ready for some great discussions! The Secret Story of Sonia Rodriguez : Reading Guide by Barbara Davis is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

This project is designed for students at any level of middle or high school Spanish to investigate the life of a famous Hispanic athlete, artist or musician. It could be completed in English at the lower levels or Spanish at level II or above. Students have four options in the presentation of their person, but all of them treat the famous person as if the student were producing project as an autobiography. Project includes overview, list of famous Hispanics for a class to sign up, questions to consider in their work and a grading rubric that applies to any of the students project choices. Project appeals to a wide variety of student interests and will lead to some very entertaining moments in class when they present!

Students use a new and interactive website to create dialogues in the form of mini animated movies. Characters speak Spanish or French in different accents and students can create different scenes, motions and feelings to go with the dialogue they enter. Website is free, easy to use and not difficult to master. Lesson description is in English, so this lesson could be easily applied to Spanish, French or German. Best suited for level I at the end of the year when students have seen interrogatives and regular verbs.

The childhood fairy tale becomes the challenge for students to decide if preterite or imperfect verbs should be used. This works best for 2nd semester Spanish II or Spanish III where students have been working with preterite and imperfect in shorter sentences for some time and are ready to transfer their skills to longer texts. The story is familiar so its a good place to begin as students will have prior knowledge of plot. 73 blanks, answer key with reasons for P or I is included. Practice can be done in class together, in small groups or assigned as homework. Answer key also included.

This 6 station rotation game reviews present tense regular verbs (ar/er/ir) Ser vs Estar, Tener + expressions and IR + a/al/a la. It takes one class period to run as students rotate through 6 challenge stations and conjugate verbs. At the next station students check their work using the answer key and take on the next challenge. Download includes rules of play, student gamesheet and 6 stations of 12 questions each for each category of verbs. Answer key to previous station is posted at the top of each station. Game is easy to follow and makes conjugating verbs and reviewing associated grammar fun. This game is best suited as a year end review for Spanish I students or as a review activity for Spanish II students. Requires at least 2 players, but could work for groups as large as 30.