18 September 2010

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.

17 September 2010

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.

15 September 2010

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!)

14 September 2010

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!"

31 August 2010

Interactive comic creator using Maya & Miguel


The Pbs Kids website's Maya & Miguel section not only has a nice selection of Spanish fun, but one of the features is an interactive comic creator, in which you select the background and then choose which words you want to use and which pictures match the words.  Wait-- it's in Spanish, you choose the words, and then you choose the pictures that match the words? Does that sound like some seriously fun vocab acquisition and practice or what?  I don't care if your students are nine years old or in ninth grade, you've got to try this out.

30 August 2010

Ads of the World | Creative Advertising Archive & Community



I'm always on the lookout for authentic print and audio sources. I'm convinced that we should be feeding our students authentic audio and print from the very beginning. I think there's something they can understand in just about anything. (My 1st graders today were "reading" the cuentos on Playhouse Disney Latino's website.) I think if we continually feed them learner language that's all they'll ever understand.

For simple, attention-grabbing language, you can't get any better than advertisements. Check out Ads of the World for a great resource of advertisements in target language from all over the world. (Careful, be sure to screen them first.)

15 August 2010

Added some great new links

I've tweaked some of my links on the right - added a couple of "communicative bloggers" and some "communicative tools" including a FANTASTIC YouTube channel for anyone who's raising bilingual kids or teaches Spanish to children. I also finally replaced the old Yahoo radio link with a new link to my Pandora station, so you can listen to the station I use to find almost all the pop music I use in my classroom.

There's so much great stuff out there. :)