A correction on the correction of La Frase Tonta

I blogged about my favorite 5a Estación song, La Frase Tonta de la Semana, here and here. The second time I reported that the music video had been taken down for violation of copyright. Good news, Sony BMG has the videoclip oficial up on the La Quinta Estación YouTube channel, along with the duet with Alex Ubago of the same song.

On a side note, I think this new duet between Natalia and Marc Antony is fabulous, and I thought the video was going to be very interesting... until the sex scene ruled it inappropriate. Blah. Wish they wouldn't do that.

I am in technology heaven

Kids motivated by technology?
Want to get them creating AND listening to their own Spanish?
This could be the most revolutionary tool I have seen for my classroom in a long time.

I made this video in about twenty minutes.

An AP oral presentation, with past tense: "Consecuencias"

Today my AP students will do what they do every Wednesday--give a 2-minute oral presentation based on a print source and an audio source, involving some type of synthesis and persuasion.

Our current unit (in my own curriculum) is called "Un Pasado que Me Construyó" and is intended to practice and develop command of the past tenses and discuss how our pasts affect who we are today. Today's topic is "Consecuencias," in other words, how our actions can have consequences.

Our print source is from theonlinemom.com and is about texting while driving. Our audio (video) source is a YouTube clip about alcoholism in Mexico, particularly in D.F.

It took me maybe 15 minutes to find these, and they're a lot more interesting than what's in Triángulo (which we are using as a supplement), IMO.

I love crossover songs

I love crossover songs. That's what I call those songs that have so much good material in them that they're great from Spanish 1 to AP. Fanny Lu's new hit Tú No Eres Para Mí is one of those. It's especially good for uses and conjugations of ser. There's the title, which is of course a Spanish 1 level comment, all the way to fuera in unreal if clauses. As usual her video is too skanky for my class, but enjoy the songs. A girl making fun of a guy's cheesy pick-up lines? Super fun and lots of good grammar points. Enjoy.

Pan's Labyrinth, without subtitles (imperfect vs. preterite)

I found the intro to Pan's Labyrinth on YouTube, without subtitles! I'm totally against showing subtitled videos in class--if I can't concentrate on the Spanish audio, I know my students can't. But I love the intro to this movie, because it's such a good example of imperfect vs. preterite--this is what things used to be like when the girl lived in the under world, but then 'one day'... and every verb after that is preterite. Anything that can make the distinction clearer is a gem.

I'm pretty sure all the movies uploaded on YouTube in their entirety are big violations of copyright, but I consider this like the 'short portion for educational purposes' exception in print copyright law. I only show it up to the point where the girl escapes to the real world. And then I encourage my students to see the film... if their parents will okay it and agree with me that though it's rated R, the linguistic and historical significance outweigh the war-related violence (though I will say the torture scene is a bit much for me).