Got problems with students using on line translation sites to do their work? Spend part of a class with this powerpoint of 10 pop songs that have been on line translated into Spanish and then back into English! Have your students guess at the lyrics and then play a piece of the songs that correspond to the bad translations. Guaranteed to make them laugh and keep them off the on line translation sites. Powerpoint contains 10 mystery songs and then last slide gives you the "answer key" if you would like to load up pieces of the songs to play from your IPOD or Youtube. Good for any level.

We all have stories of migration or immigration that brought members of our families to this country. I created this project for a level IV class with a mixed population of recent arrivals and long time residents of our city. Students share out either their own personal story or one of a family member in a 3 minute oral presentation. Download includes directions for students, guiding questions to help them interview a famiy member, grading rubric for you (and them) and a listening activity for students to take notes on their friends family stories. Students will need a couple of days to work on the presentations and you should budget to hear no more than 7 a day in class. Worked great in levels IV and V. Also suitable for a Heritage Language learner class if students are comfortable sharing their stories.

Students research a famous Latino musical artist and create a powerpoint to present their artist to their classmates. Presentations are around 3-4 minutes in length and work best for a level III class or higher who already has some prior practice speaking in the past tenses. This lesson also works great for Heritage Learner classes who are already conversant in Spanish as a means to gain some practice public speaking with a topic they are comfortable . Download contains requirements of project with guiding questions for students and a long list of famous Latino musicians for students to choose one of interest. Plan at least 2 days of computer lab time and about 6-8 presentations can be seen per day.

This partner activity reviews prices in the hundreds with food items and takes 10-15 minutes to run in class. Each partner has 8 items to inquire about and 8 items to offer pricing. A good review or warm up activity or useful if you happen to be studying food vocabulary at the moment.

This note taking outline introduces students to Direct Object Pronouns. Students complete simple practices together to identify and correct place DOP's in short sentences. Page 2 contains 20 practice sentences for students to practice identifying and using DOP's in 1 and 2 verb sentences, experiement with pronoun placement etc. Perfect for a quick review at level 3 or as an organizer/note outline for introducing DOP's at level II.

This is a compilation of various note outlines and practice pages I designed for my students who were learning present subjunctive for the first time. There are over 150 practice sentences for students to decide between subjunctive, indicative and infinitives and a few note outlines on impersonal expressions, and a couple of simple conjugation worksheets to help students become familiar with the patterns of regular, irregular and stem changing verbs in the subjunctive.

PG-13 film with a wonderful way to discuss undocumented immigrants and their difficulties. Under the same moon tells the story of Carlitos, a 9 yr old boy who travels from Mexico to Los Angeles to find his mother after 4 yrs apart. The characters that Carlitos encounters along the way and the challenges his mother faces in her daily life are symbolic of the struggles many undocumented immigrants and their families face every day. The film is in Spanish, study questions provided in both Spanish and English, this film is suitable for any level from middle school beginners to higher level learners. One of my favourite films on a very timely topic. Movie Guide Under the Same Mon by

I created this powerpoint to help Spanish heritage learners and advanced Spanish students identify the key components of a story. the powerpoint explains the elements of a story, including narration styles, how to break a story apart and key terminology in Spanish. This lesson will be useful to students who are reading short stories in Spanish and/or preparing for the AP literature exam. Download alsohas a graphic organizer for notetaking, so students can take notes as you present the information. Takes one class perdiod to cover the information and could be followed up the next day with a short story that students can practice identifying what they have learned. Best suited for a level IV or AP class or any middle or high school language arts class conducted in Spanish.

Students practice conjugation of verbs in the Passe Compose while watching a couple of scenes from Napoleon Dynamite. This is one of my students favourite activities bc the film itself is so stupid. They don't even realize they are working because they are too busy laughing. Passe Compose verbs use both AVOIR and ETRE. This activity serves as a great launchpad if you want to assign students to create their own similar practices from their favourite films to share with classmates.

Seems like your textbook NUNCA gives enough practice on this difficult concept? and NADIE comprende when we teach it? Here are 30 basic practice sentences with box charts and notes for students who are learning indefinites for the first time or just need extra practice.

This practice packet covers all the finer details of adjective usage, with a brief review of possessives and demonstratives, introduction of long form possessives, adjectives as nouns, indefinite adjectives, adjectives that change meaning according to placement in relation to the noun, possessive and demonstrative pronouns. Explanations, reference charts and practice examples, followed by translations and an essay prompt with rubric. Packet works best at an advanced level (III or higher) where students have already had exposure to most of these adjectives, or as a review for a higher level class.

Teaching the Cultural Component to a foreign language class can be challenging. This collection of 99 independent projects grouped together by interest (art, music, history, internet, etc) has something for everyone. Students select which projects to complete and present their findings in the first five minutes of the class daily. Projects have different point values based on time and difficulty levels which students combine to complete 50 points each semester. This portfolio is the ongoing work and revision of 15 years of teaching cultural topics in foreign language classes. Years later students tell me that these are the projects they found to be the most interesting and memorable in their foreign language experience because they connected to areas of personal interest. Download contains goals of investigation, step by step instructions on how to complete the projects, activity sheets for students, 99 diverse cultural activities, supporting guided adventure sheets for community excursions and an exit survey to collect their feedback year end. You will need a couple of days in class to explain to them how to do the projects and to field any specific questions they might have. I ask students to read the activity list and highlight projects of interest to discuss in further on day 2. Afterwards, every day is a new adventure as your students lead the class in their discoveries. Projects help students hone their presentation/public speaking skills while everyone learns. This portfolio works great for home-schooled students as well, they can work at their own pace to discover as many different adventures of interest and connect them to other curricular areas such as art, history, music and culinary. Load up your printer, download is 43 pages long! Note: You will need to insert your own "approved restaurant list" as it will vary depending on where you live and teach. Keywords: differentiated, internet, culture, French, presentation, community, historical, artistic, culinary, communicative

This giant 36 slide powerpoint covers Direct Object pronouns from beginning to end. We start by identifying them in English, then moving into Spanish, we replace Direct Objects with pronouns in 1 verb, 2 verb, gerund, postive command, negative command and use them in questions. Slides contain step by step notes, explanations of accents, personal "a" usage and contains tons of examples. This powerpoint is best used over several days of instruction with classroom activities and exercises as students learn all the uses for DOP's. Best suited for SPanish II students learning pronouns for the first time or as a review for a higher level course. All practice examples reveal the answers as you go along, so no worries about an answer key! Total teaching time is at least 90 minutes if students work the practice examples as you go along, but I would chunk this up over several days as DOPs can be overwhelming.

I use this activity to start my foreign language classes but it would work really well for ESL students, Social Studies or even a psychology course. Students examine components of culture, both surface and deep and discuss what makes up a person's culture. Small group brainstorming sessions interspaced with large group share outs and individual reflections on culture, social circles and deep vs surface. Project and reflection questions at the end for students to complete at home. This lesson takes at least one-two class periods to complete and is a great introduction to get them thinking about cultural differences and how people assimilate.

40 point quiz on positive and negative commands in all forms focusing on basic conjugation of regular and irregular verbs in command forms. Answer key is included.

This 12 paragraph news article discusses the dangers of listening to music at high volumes for prolonged periods of time: http://bit.ly/1Rptva6 Lesson plan includes a word doc format of the article and an in depth lesson plan that guides students through reading a text critically. Lesson begins with a brief survey of student listening habits, followed by 7 youtube sound effect links you can play in class for students to measure decibel levels on their smartphones (fun and free) Students read article and mark text (AVID strategy) and then reflect on what they read by completing some sentence starters based on the text. Lesson also includes key vocabulary with space for student definitions and an answer key for you so you don't have to look them up. Lesson is best suited for AP Level 5-6 students or a Heritage Learner class who is preparing for the AP test. Article falls under theme of Science and Technology and is relevant to students daily life choices about how they listen to music. Takes one full class period to complete.

This documentary claims to be 50 minutes long, but is really only 40. It serves as a nice introduction to Machu Picchu, the history of the Inca who built it, how they got conquered and looks a little bit at the stone cutting techniques used to build Machu Picchu and other Inca structures. Movie guide has 18 questions in English that follow the film chronologically and a couple of topics for further discussion. This documentary bounced around a bit, but students will receive a decent overview of the basics on the Inca Empire and Machu Picchu. I purchased this DVD on half.com for $2.00, it was worth it for a decent emergency lesson or to tie in with what you already teach about Machu Picchu/Inca.

This mini adventure webquest puts students to work compiling information about a Spanish speaking country of choice. I recommend partners and a day in the lab together where you can guide them through the website and help them to form conclusions and comparisons to their own lives in the US. Assignment can be completed in one class period. Allow two more class periods for students to present their findings to the class. Assignment is in English as its designed for lower level or introductory courses but could easily be converted into Spanish for a higher level class, or used for a French class with Francophone countries.

This HBO/National Geographic Documentary chronicles several immigrants perilous journey to attempt to cross into the US. Its one of the best films I have ever used to teach this theme to students of all levels. Most of the film is in Spanish, but has subtitles. Suitable for Spanish students of any level or ESL students of Hispanic origin, this film will open students eyes to the dangers and despair that illegal immigrants face while trying to pursue the American dream. 20 chronological questions in English and a 2nd version in Spanish. Word bank of additional vocabulary for students should you wish to give them an out of class follow up writing assignment.

This worksheet can be used with any episode of EL INTERNADO if you turn on the subtitles. Heritage Learners struggle especially with words that begin with a silent H and words that contain "V" that sounds like "B". Kids track words as they view the episode.