This wonderful movie produced by Edward James Olmos for HBO chronicles a student led intitative to stage citywide walkouts in order to protest discrimination against Chicano students and punishments for speaking Spanish in school. Based on a true story and co-written with actual participants in the walkouts, this movie is wonderful for any level of Spanish class or as part of a social studies unit on the civil rights movements of the late 60's. Discriminatory practices were not limited to African Americans, and this film gives great understanding to some of the unfair treatment Latino students experienced in California. The film is rated TV-14 and is suitable for students in either midde or high school. Dialogue is in English with options for Spanish. Movie guide contains 27 questions in chronological order and several follow up themes for discussion or as an independent writing assignment. Movie guide questions in both English and Spanish versions.

This one hour documentary from PBS chronciles the Supreme Court Case Hernandez vs Texas as a critical moment in determining if Mexican Americans should be considered a protected class against discrimination under the 14th amendment of the Constitution. 19 questions in chronological order of the film, with answer key and translated version in Spanish. The DVD is available from PBS or on line from Amazon, and is suitable for either a social studies class studying civil rights, or a Spanish class where you want to provide students with a little history. DVD also has audio track in Spanish for Heritage Learner classes. Movie takes one class period to view.

This reading guide accompanies the sequel to Francisco Jimenez Cajas de Carton. Senderos is divided into 25 short chapters and this reading guide accompanies each chapter. Components include, asking students to make predictions about the story based on chapter titles, useful vocabulary to better understand the story, and reading comprehension questions for students to apply to what they read. Also included are some topics for small group or pair share. This book is best suited for a Level IV class or higher and can be completed together in class or assigned as homework. 1 chapter per night, this book will take approximately one quarter to complete, if you intersperse the reading with other topics covered in class. Senderos Fronterizos Reading by Barbara Davis is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

This 6 page organizer guides students through every stage of how to organize a persuasive presentation around a controversial topic. Download includes an outline of the components, two graphic organizers, a large list of controversial topics for suggestions, a list of transitional words and their definitions to improve students writing and a rubric for you to assess their final projects. This project is written to be presented as an oral presentation but could easily be adapted for a 5 paragraph essay. Project works best for AP V level students or Heritage learners who already have a good command of the language and are capable of conducting their on line research in Spanish. Budget one day to walk students through how to complete the organizer, 1-2 days to research supporting sources and one day at least to create the Prezi. Students may wish to work in pairs, and/or research opposite sides of an issue.

This 17 minute broadcast tells the story of some Colombian musicians who were kidnapped and forced to play music at a paramilitary birthday party in the middle of the jungle. 10 questions in chronological order that follow the podcast and an essay topic for reflection afterwards make up the guide that follows this program. This lesson is best suited for a Heritage Learners Spanish class or a Level V AP where students can follow sustained spoken Spanish for a period of time. You may wish to break the episode down into smaller segments or repeat the broadcast several times for students who do not speak Spanish outside of your class. Lesson takes one class period to complete. Answer key is included.

This short newspaper article in Spanish discusses Latino student graduation rates in the US and some of the long term economic benefits of staying in school. I use this article and guided reading organizer with my Spanish for Spanish speakers classes where they already have a high reading comprehension level in the language, but an AP level class could easily complete the same assignment, although it may be less culturally relevant if the students doing it are not Latino. Download includes the actual article as well as a link to it, guided reading questions and partner think/pair/shares and an essay prompt on if students feel that teachers are positive or negative forces in the lives of students. Students write a short prompt with supporting evidence from their own scholastic experiences. Article and questions take one class period to complete with the essay as homework.

This 100 minute film introduces students to life in Spain at the beginning of the Spanish Civil War. Carol's mother brings her home to her village and then passes away, leaving Carol under the care of relatives. Carol's father is a pilot and is fighting WWII. She befriends a boy in the village and the local school teacher. Its a really good story that gives students an idea of how scary it was to live in Spain when Franco seized power. This film is available on Netflix or can be purchased from Amazon.com suitable for high school students of any level, film is in Spanish with English subtitles, movie guide is in English and also contains an answer key. Film is not rated, but contains no nudity or profanity and minimal violence as the story centers more on Carol and those around her. You may wish to follow up or pre-teach a little about the Spanish Civil War to help students understand what happened there under Franco.

This 83 minute academy award winning documentary chronicles the journeys of children and adolescents as they risk their lives to come to the United States. Its an excellent video and students can identify with the main characters as they are all children close to their own age. A great way to open discussion about illegal immigration or just give students something to think about the hardships these people leave behind. 24 Chronologically ordered questions and 5 topics for follow up. Movie takes two days with a little time at the end of each hour for student questions and answers. Film is in Spanish with English subtitles.

This is a semester long out of class project for students of exploratory, elementary or first semester Spanish I. The project is desigend to create an awareness in students to the presence of Spanish in our everyday lives and products. Beginning students who have completed this project tell me that ever after they can't stop reading labels in Spanish. It's a very easy project to do and grade and is best for younger learners and absolute beginners. Lesson includes directions and a blackline master of artifact sheets you can copy and give to your students to label their items and get the most out of the assignment. This lesson is written for teachers to give to their Spanish students, but could easily be adapted for other languages.

I wrote this mini-lesson for my community service class. Students were studying ethical dilemmas and the consequences and values compromised when making choices. This mini project sends students searching for pop songs of their choice to identify an ethical dilemma. Included are the criteria for an ethical dilemma, some pre-search scenarios to get kids thinking about what comprises an ethical dilemma, a short song list you could present a few songs from to start and parameters for the students choices. Project takes about two days to do in class. One for you, and one for them. This lesson would be good for a Leadership Class, a homeroom activity in character education or as an icebreaker to a contemporary issues social studies class. This mini lesson was not rocket science, but it was fun and students enjoyed connecting the idea of ethical dilemmas to their favourite music.

This amazing 90 minute film about what goes into our food and the effects it is having on people is an excellent way to introduce students to making better choices about what they put into their bodies. This documentary examines what kinds of chemicals are finding their way into our food and the resulting health problems that come from eating these highly processed foods. Movie guide contains 29 chronological questions that accompany the film and an answer key is also included. Follow up link for TED Talk also included. 2 day intro to nutrition, suitable for 7th grade through high school students.

This activity starts class every day, as students take charge of the warm up by asking their classmates to complete a variety of challenge questions and practices. Takes about 5-10 minutes of class time, so you can take attendance and catch up absent kids while a student leads the rest of the class. It works best with students who have at least had 1 semester of Spanish but can be used through every level as you switch up the difficulty of tenses and vocabulary. Download includes directions, blackline for students of questions and answers to complete, extra questions for mid year, and a sign up template to keep track of who is "in charge". This review actually aids in retention of material covered in Spanish I and keeps students practicing interrogatives, numbers and other useful skills every single day. A great daily review for them, while you settle in to each day's lesson!

A sweet movie that lasts 2 class periods, rated PG. Best suited for students in the first years of Spanish study, and appropriate for middle or high school students. This movie works well with "Under the Same Moon" as it looks at a relationship between an undocumented single dad and his American born son. Topics explored include limited work options, inability to report crime, temptation to join a gang and drop out of school. Middle school students loved this film, and I was able to use it to explore how the US handles undocumented workers with a fictional storyline. Movie guide contains 19 questions that follow the film in chronological order and three topics for discussion. Takes two class periods to show, or three with time for discussion and questions. Movie guide and most of film are in English. Movie Guide: A BETTER LIFE by Barbara Davis is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

This is my favourite story to teach to higher level Spanish classes (4, 5, AP) Lesson download contains vocabulary charts by paragraph to help students identify and define tricky vocabulary, I have enclosed two versions, one with English answers so you dont have to look them all up either! Lesson also contains comprehension questions and a link to download a free PDF of the story. I have numbered the questions to correspond to the download, so just print the story, make copies, have students number the paragraphs and you are ready to go. Story takes about 3 days to read and discuss in a level 4 class. Students love the story bc it has such a spooky ending. Chaac Mool Carlos Fuentes Reading Guide by Barbara Davis is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

This project has pairs of students investigating a major event in the history of a Spanish speaking country. Options include: Social issues, terrorism, crime, wars, dictatorships, civil wars, natural disasters. Students work in pairs to research a big event and create a presentation to educate the class. Students also design a creative activity to include in their presentation to help peers understand the big event. Activity can be conducted in class (need computer lab internet access) or as independent research outside of class. Students can work individually, in pairs or small groups on a topic of their choice. Lesson includes project outline, rubric,list of potential topics, questions to guide students, and a brief brainstorming activity to introduce the concept. Lesson works best with high school students who have had at least one year of Spanish, and is excellent for higher level classes to do their entire presentation in the target language. Also suitable for homeschool students.

My Spanish IV students asked me to prepare them a review grid of tenses (present, preterite, imperfect, future, conditional and subjunctive) for most commonly used verbs. There are no conjugations on this grid, but its a useful template if want to give students extra practice or a review before they start creating or narrating a story. No answer key for this one, but its free for anyone who can use it. :)

This movie guide follows the journey of an American school bus as it heads to Central America to be transformed into a vibrant, colorful method of public transport. Documentary contains interviews with drivers, passengers and the people who renovate the repurposed bus. Documentary takes about a class and a half and is available for purchase on line. Beautiful and informative, this documentary works well with AP classes studying the themes of beauty and global challenges.

This project is designed for the end of level III or the beginning of level IV Spanish class. Students are introduced to relevant thematic vocabulary and then use it to track the events in a soap opera of their choice for 5 days. Students then have a choice of 2 oral projects to present the main events of the soap and to voice their recommendations to their peers. Great review for preterite vs imperfect while introducing students to the popular culture Hispanic telenovelas. Project includes vocabulary, guidelines, note taking template and rubric.

Take your students to the computer lab for an hour to learn about Day of the Dead. Webquest guides students through important vocabulary and provides links to video links for students to observe Day of the Dead traditions and to respond with their own reflections. Lesson takes one class period to complete and is appropriate for level III or higher where students have some comprehension of Spanish.

This activity works well for AP Spanish IV or V students, or Heritage Language learners working with the concept of identity. This project has students choose a specific age from their childhood and then guides them through how to create poem about how they were at that age. Allow at least one day in class to work, one day to help students proof their rough drafts and one day for students to present their poems to peers.