Books recommended as 'easy'

I found a helpful post on Amazon.com where someone recommends easy novels to read while learning Spanish. I hope to order them and see whether they might be good for Spanish 2, since I'm all about feeding kids authentic rather than learner Spanish from the beginning.

One is La Tierra del Fuego, and the other is El Clan de la Loba/La Guerra de las Brujas.

For Bethanie, who asked a long time ago, and anyone else who cares.

**update**
Here are a couple of other options recommended to me via Twitter and Amazon:
A children's sensation in Spain, Manolito Gafotas (if you can find enough copies en español)
The last of the Manolito series, Manolito Tiene un Secreto
Adventure novel Limpieza de sangre
El pirata Garrapata (and sequels)

Pure present tense & at least 22 repetitions of 'ya no'

This is an old song by Juanes but great for 'ya no'- a phrase used so frequently that doesn't have a good matchup as far as syntax with English. You could say "no longer" but we typically have the 'not' paired with do/does + 'anymore' after the main verb... yuck. 'Ya no' is much more user-friendly. ;-)

The YouTube video actually shows an execution by electric chair so it's a bit rough in that way.

For a conference attendee: resources in math

Someone at my session asked for resources for math in Spanish. I promised I'd try to post some.

Look here for a list I found.

Also I forgot that I had this resource, education tools from the Department of Education in Venezuela.

Searching BBC Mundo

I promised to add some information as I stumbled through searching on BBC Mundo during my presentation Prompts with Power. As it turns out, I was thinking of the Radio ONU website--theirs is easily searchable and programs are scripted.

To search BBC Mundo for print sources, go to Google, and on the right, click 'advanced search.' On the part that says "only search this site," type bbcmundo.com. Then type your term in the top and click 'search.'

For video and audio, on the bbcmundo.com site, type your search term in Spanish at the top. I typed "ambiente" as mine. Hit enter. On the right you'll see the first 3 video/audio results. Click "more audio/video results" and look through to see what you want. On the 2nd page of my results there was one about the chestnuts in the Amazon, a nice idea to include.

Prompts with Power: writing/speaking prompts

These are the sample prompts we are doing in my presentation, Prompts with Power, with sources.

Unit theme: Interpersonal relationships
Prompt theme: Adamari Lopez and Luis Fonsi divorce

LEVEL 1
Target "should"
She is sick.
He "should..."
Extend: why?

LEVEL 2
Target: talking about the past
Compare their relationship to a time when an illness affected your relationships.

LEVEL 3
Target: Perfects, subjunctive
What has happened to their relationship?
Extended: How do you feel about Luis Fonsi now?

LEVEL 4
Target: None specific.
Write an essay for your Marriage and Family class on the following topic: How does stress affect relationships? Give a personal example. How do you think famous couples could deal with the stress of fame and separation to make their relationships last? What about when an illness adds to the challenges?

Potential audio sources:
Adamari Lopez no se dio por vencida
Confirman Luis Fonsi y Adamari Lopez su separacion

Print sources:
Luis Fonsi: "Miento si digo que estoy bien"
Siguen cuidando uno del otro

Prompts with Power: Prezi

Here's the Prezi for Prompts with Power.

Prompts with Power: German & French resources

These are the promised German and French resources from my presentation, "Prompts with Power."

Hausegemacht.tv

Radio on demand
Morganpost TV on YouTube
More radio on dradio

For both French and German, a print source I mentioned a few posts back, Ads of the World.
Also change your Google settings to show pages in German/French as well as English, and use news.google.com to find online news.
Surf thousands of online newspapers to find newspapers from Germany, France, China, Liechtenstein, Congo, you get the idea.

For French audio:
ARTE radio
RFI radio
Radio France
BFM radio
France 24's YouTube channel

Prompts with Power: Dating in high school

This is a writing or speaking prompt I'm making available as a follow-up to my upcoming presentation called "Prompts with Power." Prezi coming soon.

The prompt is:
¿Deben los jóvenes salir con novios en el colegio?

My favorite audio source for this (you have to watch both to get the full drama):



And the print source is an article from EPA.

Another possible audio source (but I didn't want them both to be about pregnancy, etc. and the Patito Feo is a good glimpse of the manipulation that can come from immature relationships):

KWLA Presentation: PLN-ology

Here's my Prezi for the three-hour workshop @jannachiang and I are doing at the annual fall conference of the Kentucky World Language Association, this weekend in Lexington. The title is "PLN-ology" and the topic is how to use online tools, specifically Twitter, the eduPLN on NING, and Delicious social bookmarking, to enhance professional development (and for fun too!)

Tweet with double objects

This tweet from @Fonseca came through just now--why not use it to see how your students do with the double objects?

Plus his use of 'q' and 'super' are fun.

"En Bogota hay un restaurante q se llama "EL COMEDOR", se los super recomiendo! Buenisimo!"