Octavio Paz writes about El Pachuco, who is the Mexican who is not American nor Mexican. Octavio's essay opens the door for some great discussions with students of Hispanic origin about Pachuchos, the Zoot Suit riots, discrimination against Hispanic Americans on the West coast and if the Pachuco still exists today. (Great discussion topic for students about how Cholos are similar/different than Pachucos.) This reading guide contains some questions to help students direct their focus and some key vocabulary that could give them trouble. Essay is appropriate for a Heritage Learner Class or an AP level V class where students have good comprehension skills and arent afraid to navigate some new vocabulary. Octavio Paz El Pachuco y Otros Extremos Lecture is available on line for free through a variety of websites.

Cautiva is the story of a teenage girl who suddenly learns that she is not the child of her parents, rather the daughter of disappeared activists who were murdered by the Argentine Govt during the dictatorship of the 1970's. Cristina has to figure out who she is and what she believes as she begins to unravel the mystery around her own identity. If you have always taught Desaparecidos with LA HISTORIA OFFICIAL, this is a really nice movie with a teen protagonist around the same theme. Students enjoyed the film despite the difficulty of the subject matter. This film is best suited for an upper level Spanish class who has some prior knowledge of dictatorships and the disappeared. It is an excellent launch point for further discussion around the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo and their efforts to reconnect with the children of their disappeared relatives. Movie and movie guide are both in Spanish.

This webquest is designed to get students thinking and talking about the concept of beauty/aesthetics which is one of the themes the AP Spanish test focuses on. It takes one class period working with a partner to complete the webquest and you may wish to complete the first page as homework the night before so students already have some thoughts on the topic as they enter the lab. Webquest takes students through several different sites as they examine what is beautiful today and years ago, followed by an article on plastic surgery in Spanish that they read and respond to. Lastly, there is an exit survey around their own attitudes about beauty Lesson works best for a level IV, VAP or Heritage Language learner class where students already have a high level of comprehension of Spanish .

This 50 verb conjugation quiz is useful for a higher level Spanish class where students have already learned all the irregular verb forms in the preterite. I give this quiz several times to students over the course of a week and then let them choose which score to take for credit. Quiz should take no longer than 15-20 minutes since students have multiple opportunities to better their scores. I do not return any copies of the quizzes until the last day when they choose which one to submit. Download contains an answer key and I allow students to check their own work as fixing the errors helps them to unlearn bad patterns.

A really difficult very tense for students to integrate into their spoken vocabulary, this A-B partner practice has students asking their partners what they would do under a certain set of circumstances. Best suited for a Level IV or V AP class, this exerise is also fun for Heritage Language Speaker students who seldom get the practice they need in past subjunctive tense. Takes about 15-20 minutes to run in class and you will enjoy sharing out some of their answers large group afterwards to hear how they responded.

This is a kind of spooky little short story from Puerto Rico about a girl who has a crayfish stuck in her leg. (Magical Realism) It has a surprise ending and lots to talk about in how the characters treat each other. I taught this story in my Heritage Language Speakers class this year but it would also work well for a level IV or V class with older students who are willing to work through the vocabulary. My students enjoyed the story and creepy surprise ending.

This A/B partner practice has students reading short statements about some problems they might have and the other partner makes recomendations on how to resolve the issue using an impersonal expression from the list and verbs in the subjunctive tense. Practice works best for a level III or higher class where students have been working with the subjunctive and are familiar with how to form regular and irregular verbs. Takes about 15 minutes to run in pairs and answers can be shared out in large group following.

My students "asked" me to make this for them to get extra practice handling preterite -IR verbs that take a stem change. No rocket science here, but it is helpful for getting used to where to make the spell change. Hope its helpful to your students too.

How many times have you typed this box out for students? Learning verbs? Possessives? Reflexives? A new tense? Pronouns? This is a blank template you can run 1000 copies of and keep on hand for every time you want to introduce material that goes in the 6 box chart. There is room for a few rules, exceptions on the sheet too, so kids have an easy reference. Enjoy!

How many times have you typed this box out for students? Learning verbs? Possessives? Reflexives? A new tense? Pronouns? This is a blank template you can run 1000 copies of and keep on hand for every time you want to introduce material that goes in the 6 box chart. There is room for a few rules, exceptions on the sheet too, so kids have an easy reference. Enjoy!

This partner practice is best designed for a level one student who is working with larger numbers in Spanish and has some basic vocabulary knowledge of clothing and a couple of other gift items. Students take turns asking each other prices of gift items in a store and answering as if they were the sales clerk. Partner practice takes about 15 minutes in class to run. You can ask students to go over the answers afterwards in large group for additional practice.

This worksheet accompanies students watching the telenovela "EL INTERNADO" about a mysterious boarding school. (Available on Netflix or from Ebay for $14.99) My students love to watch this Spanish series, it is really well made, teen centered and has subtitles in Spanish. EL INTERNADO is excellent for a level IV, V AP or Heritage language speakers class. I use their episodes to study literary components like plot, conflict, actions/consequences, and predictions. Each episode runs around an hour and takes two class periods to complete if you stop for discussion.

More number practice for when your students have learned all the way up to 100. Same idea as the 0-20 version.

This article examines the role that clothing choices play in expressing people's identities and is a great lead in to a discussion about either identity or a unit on clothing. This article works best for a level III or higher level class where students can already comprehend a simple non fiction article written for a general audience. Download includes a copy of the article and reading questions with some topics for larger group discussion.

Radioambulante.org is an online radio show that does documentary style interviews with Spanish speakers around the world, likeTHIS AMERICAN LIFE on NPR. The stories are often incredible, narrated by the people who have actually lived them. They vary in length but most run around 15-20 minutes and I use them in my Heritage Speaker Spanish classes this year to promote listening as well as give students a wide exposure to accents and styles of speaking. Each guide accompanies a particular episode of RADIO AMBULANTE stories and I am certain that when you listen to them you will want to play them all, for your students or just for yourself. This resource would also be good for an AP level Spanish V class to practice prepping for the listening section of the test, although you may want to pause or replay it a second time to help students comprehend sustained Spanish. To access the episodes go to radioambulante.org and search by title. This one is about Hugo Chavez' personal aide.

Radioambulante.org is an online radio show that does documentary style interviews with Spanish speakers around the world, similar to the program THIS AMERICAN LIFE on NPR. The stories are often incredible, narrated by the people who have actually lived them. Stories vary in length but most run around 15-20 minutes and I use them in my Heritage Speaker Spanish classes this year to promote listening as well as give students a wide exposure to accents and styles of speaking. Each guide accompanies a partibular episode of RADIO AMBULANTE stories and I am certain that when you listen to them you will want to play them all, for your students or just for yourself. This resource would also be good for an AP level Spanish V class to practice prepping for the listening section of the test, although you may want to pause it periodically or replay it a second time to help students comprehend sustained Spanish. To access the episodes go to radioambulante.org and you can search them by title.

This partner practice combines imperfect verbs and childhood vocabulary. Students take turns asking each other about peoples childhood. Each student gets 8 questions using imperfect verbs and childhood vocabulary. Works best with students who are learning imperfect verbs and are familiar with forming both AR and ER/IR verbs. Practice takes about 15 minutes in class and is a good warm up before a quiz or as an extra speaking practice.

This partner practice combines the preterite tense of the verbs comprar and pagar with a review of big numbers. Each student gets eight questions and eight purchases. Students take turns asking each other what each purchase was, and how much they paid for it. Takes about 15 minutes to complete in class and works best for a level II class where students are first learning the preterite tense and/or could use a quick brush up with larger numbers.

Partner practice for students to take turns asking a classmate how long people have been doing actions. Each partner has 8 people to ask about and 8 people to give answers to their partner. Practice takes about 15 minutes to run in class and practices using the formulas Hace + time + que and Cuanto tiempo hace + que + action. Works best with Spanish II students who have had some basic leisure time activity vocabulary.

Very detailed step by step on how to assemble your own pinata. Great for kids to work on at home for a cultural project.