Adding Culture to our Spanish Plans

[stephanier.1765]

I'm presently working on our plans for Spanish this year and it is lacking in culture. While he'll get a flavor of it by going through the Mi Vida Loca lessons, it isn't nearly enough. Any ideas? My brain is in overload so I'm drawing a huge blank on how to go forward with this.

 

Thanks,

Stephanie

Edited July 31, 2010 by slr1765

[CO MOM]

We did a little this year with my dd's Spanish as a combination school/4-H project. She could choose one country in South or Central America to study in depth, do a comparison of 3-5 of them, or choose one of them and compare it to the US. Some suggested areas of study were geography, history, language and writing, schools, government, groups/tribes/ethnicities, gender roles/family life, clothing and fashion, food, housing, architecture, painting, sculpture, dance, music, drama, literature, customs/holidays, leisure/recreation, sports, religion, money, trade, industries/agriculture, etc. She chose to do a comparison on the US and Mexico and chose 3 areas of the arts - art(painting), movies, and dance to compare. She researched and wrote reports on these areas as well as creating a time line of the development of art in both countries, watching different genres of movies from both, and going to a Mexican dance performance. She also read a couple of "easy reader" type Spanish literature books (levels 2 and 3) along with her textbook.

 

There would be a lot of ways you could go with this depending on your goals. We live in an area with a fairly significant Hispanic population, so there are quite a few options. I had planned to have her watch more Spanish TV/listen to Spanish radio as we have several stations, but we didn't do much of that other than some of the World Cup games.

 

Anyway, hope that helps a little and doesn't overload your brain further!

[stephanier.1765]

Thank you. I love that idea! I found this idea on the internet so I think I could combine both ideas and come up with something both doable and enjoyable. Yay!

 

http://questgarden.com/46/12/5/070207143004/index.htm

[sunnyca]

Here is a link to a website I frequent that uses pop culture to teach Spanish. It has some great cultural lessons that are contemporary but can be controversial. Discernment is key but I don't throw out the baby with the bath water. :) I teach Spanish and my kids have enjoyed some of these lessons that make what they learn relevant and, in most cases, interesting in that they find that it is a small world after all and some things cross cultural borders.

 

http://zachary-jones.com/spanish/

[stephanier.1765]

Here is a link to a website I frequent that uses pop culture to teach Spanish. It has some great cultural lessons that are contemporary but can be controversial. Discernment is key but I don't throw out the baby with the bath water. :) I teach Spanish and my kids have enjoyed some of these lessons that make what they learn relevant and, in most cases, interesting in that they find that it is a small world after all and some things cross cultural borders.

 

http://zachary-jones.com/spanish/

 

Perfect! Thank you! One project he's going to do is create a postcard. He'll have to create art for the front inspired by a Spanish artist and he is going to love the Superhero Picassos. Honestly though, he'll probably choose one of the abstracts since art is NOT one of his passions. :lol:

 

I'm excited to see what else the website has to offer.

[2cents]

We have done things like celebrate Cinco de Mayo. We visited a local panaderia and bought some mexican breads. We've experimented with different Spanish and Mexican recipes at home. At Halloween we'll celebrate Día de los Muertos and will be reading Las Puertas Retorcidas/The Twisted Doors by Kathie Dior. We have also used Hayes School Publishing- A Trip to Spain and A Trip to Mexico. I pull in a lot of Unitedstreaming videos too.