IEW and Foreign Language

[Lindi]

My dd is good at maths, science and Spanish and is poor at writing. She has proper grammar and spelling and sometimes, she can even write a decent story but she can't write a decent essay, let alone to a research paper. One day, we were doing an exercise in Spanish that gave me insight. She was asked to write a letter for pretend newspaper,

encouraging people to recyle, use less non-renewable products, find aternatives, etc. She has the Spanishocab and grammar to do this but she claimed she just didn't know what to write. The fact is, she hadn't been exposed to much about ecology where she lived before (she has been with us less than a year). She wasn't in the habit of reading news stories (although I did subscibe to a news magazine for teens which she now reads). So, she didn't know what to say. This reminded me of IEW. I have just bought the course to start next year. I really wasn't planning on trying to put it across the curriculum except when I ask for a paper in history or something. But it occurs to me that using IEW methods for Spanish is a wonderful idea! Find a poem or story in Spanish; use the IEW method to rewrite it.

 

Who else is doing this? Do you have any good sources? She is finishing up Yr 4; next year is supposed to just be writing and speaking. We are thinking of either reading Don Qixode or 100 Years of Solitude in the original and poems by Naruda and Reuben Dario (my fave).

[klmama]

Don Quixote in the original may be a bit of a jump for her, since it is written in the Spanish of the early 1600s. 100 Years of Solitude would be better first long novel. In addition to the poetry you mentioned, you might consider including some short stories by Borges, Quiroga, and Cortazar, or short novels and plays, such as Cronica de una muerte anunciada, La familia de Pascual Duarte, etc.