Three interdisciplinary units. 7 or 8 pages each. All units have a level appropriate reading, comprehension, extension on the subject matter, oral and written exercises, Internet key words for further research. Comparisons are made with student´s own reality. Please preview. Unit 1. Adiós peseta Numbers! What a great way to do numbers again. Spain is part of the European Union and the Euro permits free access to all the countries. Students compare the old bills with the new ones. Who are those people on the bills? Unit includes: Subject matter: money Vocabulary: money (caro / barato) Grammar: verbs, gustar, interesar, encantar Oral practice: prices Homework: literary, mathematical or artistic options Internet: key words for Net search Model tests Teacher’s guide Answer key Unit 2. La Copa Mundial de Fútbol Soccer! The beautiful game! The whole world plays soccer. All you need is a ball! Get your students to talk about the World Cup, about other sports and all of this using gustar, interesar and encantar. Unit includes: Subject matter: sports Vocabulary: sports Grammar: verbs, gustar, interesar, encantar Oral practice: a poll Homework: internet search Internet: key words for internet search Model tests Teacher’s guide Answer key Unit 3. La computadora / el ordenador Not only will the students learn the vocabulary of the computer, they will find out that there are words that are said differently in Spain and in the Americas. The unit gives excellent information on search engines in Spanish and prompts the students to write emails in Spanish. Unit includes: Subject matter: computers Vocabulary: computers Grammar: verbs, gustar, interesar, encantar Oral practice: prices, a poll Homework: ID card Internet: key words for Net search Model tests Teacher’s guide Answer key These three subjects appealed to many of my students: money, sports and computers. Through comparison and contrast the target culture comes alive!

Three art units at the elementary levels. Enjoy. Please preview. Unit 1 Goya The teacher’s favorite beginners unit! Teach the vocabulary of the family with Goya’s painting, La familia de Carlos IV. In the picture find the parents (the king and the queen), the three sons, the three daughters, the kings’ brother and sister, even a little baby, the grandchild. And what are they wearing? Great fun! Unit includes: Subject matter: painting Vocabulary: family Grammar: agreement Oral practice: student presentations of other paintings Homework: a painting; family tree of Carlos IV Internet: key words for web searches Model tests Teacher’s guide Answer key Unit 2 Rodrigo Students are unfamiliar with Spanish music. Here is an introduction! Find out what music they listen to and why they like it. Unit includes: Subject matter: music Vocabulary: family, music Grammar: gustar Oral practice: musical tastes Homework: fiestas in Spain Internet: key words for web searches Model tests Teacher’s guide Answer key Unit 3 Gaudí Walk through Barcelona in search of the Gaudi sites. First visit the Casa Mila, then on to the church of the Sagrada Familia and finish the day at the Parque Güell. The metro maps and the street map serve as a great way to practice giving directions! Unit inclues: Subject matter: architecture Vocabulary: giving directions Grammarr: subir, bajar, tomar Oral practice: compare 2 houses Homework: give directions Internet: key words for web searches Model tests Teacher’s guide Answer key **ALSO AVAILABLE IN AN “ARTS BUNDLE” THAT INCLUDES: ** Goya / Gaudí / Rodrigo; 3 interdisciplinary thematic units - SP Beginners 1 Cervantes and Sor Juana / Picasso / Felipe VI; 3 thematic units - SP Beginners 1 Rivera, Orozco, Siqueiros / Indigenous cultures: 2 thematic units -SP Intermediate 1 Fernando Botero / Cartega de Indias; 2 thematic units - SP Intermediate 1 Las Meninas / Felipe II; 2 thematic units - SP Intermediate 2

Three culture units for beginners. Each unit has 8 pages. Easy to understand and rich in culture. Entirely in the target language. Please preview. Unit 1. Carlos V Teach the family with Carlos V’ family. We have all done different versions of family trees in class. Here is the family tree of Charles V. Introduce his grandparents, Isabel and Ferdinand, the Catholic kings. Compare his family to your own and practice the vocabulary of the family. One of the neat exercises is a map of Charles V’s world to practice the names of the languages then spoken. Unit includes: Subject matter: family and empire Vocabulary: family Grammar: possessive adjectives Oral practice: family Homework: tree of royal families Internet: key words for Net search Model tests and teacher’s guide **Unit 2. Cortés y Moctezuma ** A fun way to do animals and foods. The animals of the Old World! The foods of the New World! Today we cannot imagine Europe without tomatoes or the American west without cattle! And what about those invisible animals, the viruses and bacteria that killed the indigenous population? Only through content based units can you transmit so much information and promote cultural understanding. Unit includes: Subject matter: New and Old Worlds Vocabulary: plants and animals Grammar: tener Oral practice: domestic and wild animals Homework: animals of two worlds Internet: key words for Net search Model tests and teacher’s guide Unit 3. Simon Bolívar Teach the vocabulary of the house with Bolivar’s home. His house had a large room to pray and an area for the animals. There were two dining rooms but only one small bathroom. Compare his house to your own. This is authentic cultural information! All in the target language. Unit includes: Subject matter: independence Vocabulary: house Grammar: ¿dónde? ¿qué? Oral practice: house Homework: houses Internet: key words for Net search Model tests and teacher’s guide I loved doing these units with my students. They were interested in the content. They empathized with Carlos V melded family, were surprised by both the chapel and the tiny bathroom in Bolivar´s house and liked the foods of the Americas.

Three contextualized culture units. Three contextualized culture units. The indigenous cultures of Central and South America. Read, write, speak, think. Culture for beginners. Please preview. All Miraflores resources are entirely in the target language. Unit 1. Copán; una ciudad maya The unit on the Maya reviews numbers in two different formats: the Maya and ours. Ours is based on 10, theirs on 5. Discover how pyramids are built, or shall we say layered. Yes, layered. Unit includes: Subject matter: Maya culture Vocabulary: numbers Grammar: adverbs of place Oral practice: other calendars; extraterrestrials Homework: other calendars Internet: key words for Net search Model tests Teacher’s guide **Unit 2. El calendario azteca ** **The Aztec Calendar is round. Ours is usually a rectangle. This shows the diversity in form but not in substance. It does not matter whether we divide the year into 20 months or 12 months, we will end up with the same number of days. How is this possible? This unit underlines the fact that we are all inhabitants of the same planet. Learning that there can be several ways of describing the same facts is important! ** Unit includes: Subject matter: Aztecs Vocabulary: days, weeks and year Grammar: tener Oral practice: other calendars Homework: other calendars Internet: key words for Net search Model tests Teacher’s guide Unit 3. Las misteriosas Líneas de Nasca You can only see the Nazca lines if you fly above them. So it was only in the era of the airplane that they were discovered. Why were they made? Here is a real mystery that still needs to be solved. This unit reviews the vocabulary of animals and body parts. Please note the spelling of Nazca. In Peru the Spanish spelling is now Nasca. Unit includes: Subject matter: Nazca / Nasca (the newer spelling is with an S) Vocabulary: body Grammar: articles Oral practice: extraterrestrials Homework: mysteries Internet: key words for Net search Model tests Teacher’s guide The Piedra del Sol is in the Archeological Museum in Mexico City. Have you seen it? It is huge and there are always groups of school children and tourists milling around, photographing and pointing.

Three short culture units for beginners, all entirely in target language. Content based. Please preview. Unit 1. La Ciudad de México Get a sense of the size of one of biggest cities on our planet. Discover how the past and the present are visible in the city. Lots of pictures. Unit includes: Subject matter: city Vocabulary: city Grammar: definite articles Oral practice: two pictures Homework: my city Internet: key words for Net search Model tests Teacher’s guide Answer key Unit 2. La calle Madero Walk down a street between two of the main plazas and practice street numbers. Small confession. I have walked down Madero recently and some the stores mentioned are gone. I would have to update the unit annually to keep it up to date and I am not there often enough nor have enough time to do it. The great majority of the stores and places are correct. Last time I was totally distracted by an increasing number of street vendors. Francisco Madero is now a ´peatonal´, no cars allowed. Unit includes: Subject matter: one street Vocabulary: street Grammar: agreement; hay/ no hay; Oral practice: a street Homework: identify a given street Internet: key words for Net search Model tests Teacher’s guide Answer key Unit 3. Coyoacán March around the lovely square in the neighborhood that Frida Kahlo called her own. Practice the basic vocabulary of the city, the times of the day and review the singular and plural of nouns. Basic language structure and vocabulary are well matched to sophisticated ideas. Unit includes: Subject matter: cone neighborhood Vocabulary: meals Grammar: hay/ no hay; ar, er, ir verbs Oral practice: two schedules Homework: two schedules Internet: key words for Net search Model tests Teacher’s guide Answer key The first time I visited Mexico City I was a college student on my way home to Peru. I have a vague memory of staying in a hostel, of meeting some German students who suggested we go to Acapulco. Of course I agreed. Such a long time ago.

For all levels including SP Beginners 1. Those of you who have used Set Maps 1 (the free set) probably want to know why I put together Maps 2. There are several reasons, the first is that I get bored very quickly and after doing Maps 1 for several years, with several groups, I knew there were other ideas I could implement. The idea of teaching the alphabet while learning geography worked well, so then I added some basic information without maps. I wanted my students to know from the outset that some countries were very large, others very small and that in some cases the small countries were very densely populated. I also found that I had to keep going back to show Spain on one side of the ocean and the other Spanish speaking countries on the other side of the ocean many times. Contextualized maps! Practice the alphabet and geography, first with basic information and then with a game. Learn to recognize the shapes of different Spanish speaking countries! Practice the pronunciation of the names of the countries! Analyze and compare the size and population of different countries and compare them to your own country. Make logical conclusions with the information. Combine lots of content with very elementary language. Only with content-based units is it possible to introduce so much cultural information! Please preview. Maps include: Subject matter: geography; countries and languages Vocabulary: alphabet, countries, capitals, languages Grammar: es / no es; es / son; singular and plural of nouns Oral practice: names of countries, capitals; alphabet game Homework: identify countries where different languages are spoken Internet: key words for Net search Model tests Teacher’s guide Entirely in the target language.

Three interdisciplinary CULTURE units for beginners. Short, no more than seven or eight pages each. Entirely in the target language. Please preview. Unit 1. La independencia de México Miguel Hidalgo declared Mexico’s independence from Spain from the steps of a church in a little town. Have your students practice right, left and center by finding the stores and restaurants in that same town today. Practice the vocabulary of the house with Miguel Hidalgo’s home. Compare Mexico’s independence to your own country. There are many comparisons that can be made: dates, bells, heroes and more. Unit includes: Subject matter: independence Vocabulary: city and buildings Grammar: prepositions of place Oral practice: independence Homework: draw a map Internet: Key word list to facilitate a search Answer key Unit 2. El metro de la Ciudad de México Take the metro and the bus! Learn the vocabulary of transportation. Do some simple arithmetic to figure out the number of metro riders in Mexico City by car, by day and by hour. Attractive pictures make you feel like you are there. Unit includes: Subject matter: transportation Vocabulary: transportation Grammar: articles Oral practice: transportation Homework: transportation I use Internet: Key word list to facilitate a search Answer key Unit 3. Los ambulantes Visitors to Latin America are always surprised by the number of street vendors. Why are there so many? What do they sell? Practice the vocabulary of clothing. Most importantly, compare to your own reality and show respect of other cultures. This is fundamental. Unit includes: Subject matter: street vendors Vocabulary: clothing Grammar: singular and plural Oral practice: street vendors Homework: describe a picture Internet: Key word list to facilitate a search Answer key. Have you ever visited the town called Dolores Hidalgo? It looks like a set for a Mexican tourist advertisement. It is about half way between Guanajuato and San Miguel de Allende and sometimes people tend to just drive by. If you are traveling there, please stop. The square is marvelous. And if you have been and liked it as much as I did, please leave a comment below.

Three easy mini-thematic units for beginners. Packed with information, creative and fun, they are all about Spain. Review and present both the grammar and the vocabulary for Spanish 1 in context. We used to teach our students about the Moorish influence at the advanced levels. Here is the opportunity not only to admire the architecture but also to counter stereotypes and racism. Your students will walk through the Alhambra and practice gustar. They will choose a place to visit in Andalucía and also spend the day at one of Spain’s most popular holiday resorts, Torremolinos. Deductive thinking skills and important information about Muslim Spain are the corner stones of the three thematic units. Unit 1. Ganador(a) del premio " Visita Andalucia" By having the students decide between cities, which one they will visit, they get to know them. ¿Qué lugar vas a visitar? is the basic question the students need to answer in this thematic unit. And of course tastes vary. Students will make different choices and all the time practice gustar, encantar and interesar. Contextualization is the name of the game. Unit 2. Granada: La Alhambra Comprehensible input means that the students understand and enjoy. Here is a text on the Alhambra written for Spanish 1. It includes a lot of information about that most iconic palace and integrates it with basic language skill such as the vocabulary of the house and a review of numbers. Again, both the rooms of the house and the numbers are contextualized since they deal with the rooms of the Alhambra and the dates of the same. This worked well in my class and beginners started to get a real sense of the extraordinary cultural riches of Spain. Unit 3. Una ciudad española: Torremolinos The geography of Spain, with so much water to the north, east and south, makes for a huge number of beaches. Spaniard love their beaches and head for them every summer. They are joined by a large number of foreigners, and in the spring and fall when Spaniards would never go to the beach, these are filled with Scandinavians, Germans, Brits and more. Even in the winter, many northern europeans spend time in the Costa del Sol. This short thematic unit includes beach and hotel choices as well as a full day in Torremolinos. Do food in context. Please click on Preview to read them. Includes: 1. Subject matter: Andalucía: places, people, history 2. Vocabulary: house, hotel, tourism; numbers; meals 3. Grammar: gustar, interesar, encantar, preferir; por la mañana, por la tarde, por la noche 4. Oral practice: interview, an exceptional building, the Alhambra; visit Torremolinos 5. Homework: Decision on place to visit; a postcard; visit Torremolinos 6. Internet: Key word list to facilitate a search 7. Answer key

Three easy culture units for beginners. Basic facts. Comprehensible cultural input for beginners. Please preview. Because our students are unfamiliar with the Spanish speaking world, here are three easy units to set them straight. Compare two countries, Spain and Peru, two cities, Barcelona and Mexico City and finally, divide Latin America into regions so they do not get so confused. Remember that my units are always contextualized. Thus, simple agreements are practiced with information about Mexico City and interrogative pronouns are used to ask basic questions about Peru and Spain. Unit 1: Perú y España We all teach basic geography. Why it is not taught well in the primary grades I do not know, but in any case, I have to deal with the reality of my classroom which is that the students do not know geography. I try my best to set them straight on Europe and Latin America by starting with two countries, Spain and Perú. The language is very easy, the sentences are short, the maps are clear. I wrote these for my own sanity and to end my personal frustration. I hope these work for you as well. Unit includes: Subject matter: history and geography Language: exclusively in the target language Vocabulary: basic adjectives Grammar: placement of adjectives Oral practice: compare Spain and Peru Homework: compare two countries Internet: Key word list to facilitate a search Answer key Unit 2: Barceolona y la Ciudad de México So to follow up on two countries, I did two cities, one in Spain and one in Latin America. I include basic grammar, el, la, los, las and basic vocabulary of the city with all the cognates I could think of, plaza, industria, contaminación, persona, museo. You get the drift. This is comprehensible culture for beginners. Unit includes: Subject matter: history and geography Language: exclusively in the target language Vocabulary: places in a city Grammar: hay Oral practice: compare Barcelona and Mexico Homework: compare two cities Internet: Key word list to facilitate a search Answer key Unit 3: Las regiones de Latinoamérica So once I had them straight on Spain being in Europe (no small feat), I saw that the number of Spanish speaking countries in the Americas was too much. So I divided them into regions, el Cono Sur, los países andinos, los países de Centro América, to calm them. I freely admit that the students had more trouble with this than with the two other units where they were just comparing two countries and two cities. But some did get the basics and I have been pleased with the results. Unit includes: Subject matter: history and geography Language: exclusively in the target language Vocabulary: nouns related to geography Grammar: prepositions Oral practice: map work Homework: my home town Internet: Key word list to facilitate a search Answer key Entirely in the target language.

Four mini-culture units. Everything in the target language. Please preview. Students tend to group all Spanish speakers together. Here are four short units that point out the similarities and differences between the more than 20 countries where Spanish is spoken. Not only do they eat different foods, they also have different money. What a wonderful way to review geography, nationalities and the family! Four thematic units for beginners, all about the Spanish speaking world. Preguntas sobre el mundo hispano Unit 1. La importancia del español Unit includes: Subject matter: general information Vocabulary: names of languages Grammar: prepositions de & en Oral practice: work habits Homework: languages taught at my school Internet: Key word list to facilitate a search Answer key Unit 2. Los nombres de los hispanos Unit includes: Subject matter: general information Vocabulary: family Grammar: ir verbs and stem changes Oral practice: languages taught in different countries Homework: family tree Internet: Key word list to facilitate a search Answer key Unit 3. ¿Quiénes hablan bien el español? Unit includes: Subject matter: general information Vocabularay: nationalities; names of languages Grammar: review of ar, er, ir verbs Oral practice: regional accents Homework: countries where Spanish is spoken (map); languages taught at my school Internet: Key word list to facilitate a search Answer key **Unit 4. Monedas latinoamericanas ** Unit includes: Subject matter: general information Vocabulary: names of money Grammar: Oral practice: work habits Homework: weekly schedule; my language Internet: Key word list to facilitate a search Answer key I am a believer in doing lots of different activities in class so the kids don’t get bored.

Four mini-culture units. Each one is only four or five pages long. Please preview to see if units fit with your curriculum. Unit 1. Deportes Sports and music! Two subjects that both students and teachers like. Introduce your students to the World Cup. Have them do a logic exercise to determine who will win the Cup. Inductive and deductive skills are part of the learning process and the Spanish classroom is one more place to learn. Unit includes: Subject matter: sports Vocabulary: names of sports Grammar: ser / hay Oral practice: sports , 5. Homework: sports figures Internet: Key word list to facilitate a search Answer key Unit 2. El fútbol - Messi Unit includes: Subject matter: sports Vocabulary: names of sports Grammar: jugar Oral practice: cartoon about sports Homework: sports figures Internet: Key word list to facilitate a search Answer key Unit 3. Música The music of Spain and the Americas is rich and varied. Introduce your students to the merengue, the chachachá and the tango; learn the names of the instruments and extend the vocabulary. Simple verbs like cantar, presentar and bailar have corresponding nouns. Content based means that the information comes from the text and the students make the connections! Unit includes: Subject matter: music Vocabulary: names of instruments Grammar: interrogative pronouns Oral practice: music Homework: music Internet: Key word list to facilitate a search Answer key Unit 4. Las estrellas de la música popular - Shakira and others Unit includes: Subject matter: music Vocabulary: verbs related to music Grammar: prepositions en and de Oral practice: music Homework: song and dance Internet: Key word list to facilitate a search Answer key Entirely in Spanish.

Thee mini thematic units for real beginners. Please preview. Do not wait to introduce Cervantes, Picasso and the King of Spain, Felipe VI until your students are «ready.» Writers, painters and kings! What a combination! Introduce these Spanish icons to beginners. Unit 1. Miguel de Cervantes y sor Juana Two icons. A man and a woman. Two writers they have never heard about. Work on cognates, famoso, importante, autor, poeta. The pre-reading prepares the short reading and it is packed with information. Yes, it is possible to do culture with beginners! Unit includes: Subject matter: introduction to Spanish literature, art and history Vocabulary: basic literary Grammar: articles; agreement Oral practice: Cervantes Homework: book Internet: Key word list to facilitate a search Answer key Unit 2. Pablo Picasso Another icon, in this case a painter. My students really liked the paintings. Practice ¿cómo se llama?, practice ser and llamar which are often confusing for the students. All in context. How many students have you corrected when they said, ¿Cómo es tu nombre? Yikes. I don´t want to count. Unit includes: Subject matter: introduction to Spanish literature, art and history Vocabulary: basic basic art Grammar: articles; interrogative pronouns Oral practice: music and art Homework: change paragraph to 3rd person Internet: Key word list to facilitate a search Answer key Unit 3. Felipe VI The family! Everyone teaches the family in Spanish 1. Here is the Spanish king´s family, parents, grandparents, children. Language in context! The students find out that Spain is a constitutional monarchy and learn or review the vocabulary of the family. What more can you ask? Unit includes: Subject matter: introduction to Spanish literature, art and history Vocabulary: royal family Grammar: interrogative pronouns Oral practice: the King´s family Homework: my family Internet: Key word list to facilitate a search Answer key