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Calle 13- No Hay Nadie Como Tú

I always play music for my students as they are walking in to class, that is, if I can get there first! I also like to incorporate songs into my lessons based on the theme we are studying or the grammar. Sra. Birch from El Mundo de Birch wiki has compiled, and continues to do so on her own and with input from colleagues, an amazing list of Spanish songs. Not is it just a list, but it has categories by relevant topic/grammar point, which is just amazing! How little it takes to excite a Spanish teacher, eh?

Visitante y Residente de Calle 13

In my first year, Grade 10 Spanish class, we have been studying adjectives, and what better song than Calle 13's (you can never go wrong with them) and Café Tacuba- No Hay Nadie Como Tú.

I took 1.5 days to go through the activities, which were:

1. Listen to the song only. Answer the question: ¿Cómo es la canción en tu opinión? (feliz/contento, triste, enojado, loco, etc.)

2. Listening activity where I talk about the group en español, its origins, etc. and show the PowerPoint below, as they answer questions from the worksheet. Student and teacher copies included below.

Calle 13- Noy Hay Nadie Como Tú- Ejercicio Escucha- Estudiante

Calle 13- Noy Hay Nadie Como Tú- Ejercicio Escucha- Profesor

Calle 13- PowerPoint 

3. Listen twice and complete cloze activity. Filling in the gaps. (Some students freaking out as Residente sings quickly, but then shock themselves when they end up catching more than 2 words) Cloze activity included on page 2 of document above.

4. Underline the adjectives and decide if they are feminine/mascline and singular/plural.

The song was very well received and the activities went well, so I think I will definitely use this one again.

**Note: There are a few words in the song that some teachers may be uncomfortable dealing with. I had a quick word with my kids about maturity and what the song deals with and that I want no silly behaviour. They were perfect and didn't act like the 15 year old boys that they are.**

Calle 13 y Café Tacuba

Portuguese anyone?

You know how, you go to the club (I mean, remember when you were 20 and you used to go?) and people are mouthing the lyrics to a song as you dance, and you can tell immediately when someone does not know them? Their mouth is forming words that just don't match the actual lyrics? I don't like to be that person. Even worse, is when someone hears the actual words you are saying and they are completely off. 

I've been enjoying the song Ai Se Eu Te Pego by the Brazilian Michel Telo which  is in Portuguese (Pitbull also has a remix of it, but I enjoy the original), and for a little while I was walking around making up my own lyrics. Keep in mind, the only Portuguese I know is Obrigada and Eu falo portuges.  As you can see, the knowledge in that department is limited. Therefore, I made a mental note to spend a few minutes learning the lyrics, but what really pushed me to do it was my 20 month old son. This is currently one of his favourite songs, so, not only do we dance to it and listen to it multiple times a day, but it is our nighttime lullaby now! 

 

This being so, I had to learn the correct words, as he is imitating every word that comes out of my mouth, as a 1.5 year old does. 

I turned to my faithful youtube and learned the lyrics. There are very few, which makes it nice and easy! I also wanted to know what I was saying, and found a video with a translation to go along with the Portuguese lyrics. So now that I am confident in what I am singing to him, he asks for Nossa Nossa when he wants to hear it!

But, what I wanted to share was this great video below, that my son found! Yes, it was he, not I. After watching the original video a few times on his ipad, he began to check out the other videos that have the title of the song in their title, he quickly discovered some soccer (which he is obsessed with) related videos and then this one made by a gentleman in Germany, which is awesome. He of course could not enjoy the humour. 

Isn't it brilliant?

Infográfica: Michael Jackson

El Mejor Trabajo en el Mundo/ The Best Job in the World

As of today there are 98 days left until the beginning of the 2012 London Olympics! 

Proctor and Gamble (P&G) has been releasing a series of commercials in honour, not of the athletes, but of the mothers that support the athlete throughout their journey of reaching the Olympics, calling motherhood the most difficult AND best job in the world. I completely agree Proctor and Gamble! I am focusing on the most current release for this activity.

It is a very well done video, very touching, in fact. It was directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu, whose work I love. (I own all of his movies.)

A quick glance at P&G's youtube channel shows me that their videos are produced in many languages, with this one being in English, a Spanish version with subtitles (which I used for my activity), a Portuguese one, a dubbed and edited to only show one of the athletes Polish and Czech version (hmmm, interesting...). 

I've thrown together a quick worksheet that incorporates watching the video with answering some questions, filling in gaps and completing a listening read out loud by the teacher.

El Mejor Trabajo del Mundo- Student worksheet

El Mejor Trabajo del Mundo- Teacher's copy

Poema Acróstico

We recently learned about adjectives in one of my classes and to show me their stuff, the students had to put together a little acrostic poem describing themselves. I asked for the use of adjectives, but kept it open for when they may get stuck.

To show them an example, I threw one together describing myself.

Catherine Tate- Multilingual Interpreter

Keep calm and...

You know the famous

 

Now you can create your own! I've been using these as my avatar on twitter for example, but originally I started out by making them for my classrooms. 

There are a few sites you can make these on. I use the The Keep Calm-o-Matic. It is so easy to use. You can change the colours of the foreground and background, adjust the size of the text and the poster and even change the image at the top by uploading your own.

You could have your students make their own, or just make some yourself to decorate your walls with.

Here are some of the ones I have made.