Language Residents

an archive of lesson plans

Author: Katherine Pérez

ES S21 ADV Indigenous Languages

May 11, 2021 /

Language Resident: Katherine Pérez Gutiérrez 

Class theme/topic discussed : Indigenous Languages

Goal of the class 

  • Discuss the relationship between Spanish and indigenous languages
  • Talk about the public policies surrounding indigenous languages
  • Learn some indigenous words used in a day-to-day basis in some Spanish speaking countries.

Class structure

  • Warm-up:  Students play 3 rounds of would you rather.  
  • Activity 1: In breakout rooms, students answer some questions related to the languages they speak. Do you speak any more languages other than English and Spanish? What are the benefits of speaking multiple languages?
  • Activity 2: We watch a short video about how some indigenous languages are dying and what kind of public policies are being ruled to help this issue. In addition, students discuss a couple of questions to check what they understood from the video: What are the advantages and disadvantages of learning an indigenous language in school? What factors contribute to the loss and death of indigenous languages? What do you think about prioritizing teaching a foreign language over an indigenous language at school? What are the consequences?
  • Activity 3: I read aloud a paragraph of colloquial Chilean Spanish and students have to identify the indigenous words and guess the meaning of the words used in the text.
  • Activity 4: After checking and discussing the meaning, students come up with a dialogue where they use at least 2-3 of the words just learnt.

Resources used

  • PPT
  • Youtube:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyMjFoqUhfA

Reflection: What worked/did not work? How can it be improved?

  • It was a good class. We spent most of the class on activity 2 discussing the questions and the video. Although students were engaged with that activity, I think moving on faster so that you have enough time to do the last two activities would be more fun and more dynamic.

ES S21 INT/ADV Abortion Laws (Marea Verde)

May 11, 2021 /

Language Resident: Katherine Pérez Gutiérrez 

Class theme/topic discussed : Abortion Laws in Latin America

Goal of the class 

  • Discuss “Marea Verde”, the pro-choice movement born in Argentina

Class structure

  • Activity 1 Green/Blue Scarves: I show students pictures of people of protestors wearing green (pro-choice) and blue scarves  (pro-choice). Have you seen these pictures before? What do these people stand for?. 
  • Activity 2 Marea Verde: Students hear a short presentation to contextualise the pro-choice movement “Marea Verde”, which started in 2018 in Argentina.
  • Activity 3: What do you know about reproductive rights policies in the US?  Students discuss in pairs and then volunteers report in the main room
  • Activity 4: In small groups students choose 2 different countries (a Spanish speaking country & another one) an do a small research on reproductive rights public policy from those 2 countries. What to these countries’ policies have in common? Are there any differences? 
  • Activity 5 75 Opiniones: Students are given a list of 5 questiones used by a Peruvian Organization to gather opinions about abortion within the country. They discuss how appropriate they think these questions are to address the issue and whether they would use a different set of questions.

Resources used

https://www.guttmacher.org/sites/default/files/factsheet/fs-aww-lac-es.pdf

Reflection: What worked/did not work? How can it be improved?

  • ADV: The class worked great! I was worried about how students would feel talking about more controversial topics, but they were very talkative and seemed to enjoy the class a lot. For activity 3 almost all groups chose different countries so it was very interesting comparing that many policies. 
  • INT: It was a good class too, we weren’t able to have the same dynamic, thought-provoking discussion as with the advanced group but students still enjoyed it.
  • ** I asked both classes in advanced if whether they were interested talking about this topic or not, and how did they feel about it.

ES S20 INT/ADV Fake News

May 11, 2021 /

Language Resident: Katherine Pérez Gutiérrez  (cred. to José Gómez & Tamara Olivos)

Class theme/topic discussed : Fake News

Goal of the class 

  • To exchange information in an argumentative way
  • To hypothesize about the veracity of different news
  • To understand, summarize and present a piece of news as a professional TV presenter

Class structure

  • Activity 1 Intro questions: : Students answer some questions about different ways of keeping up with news (TV, online newspapers, etc.), the time they dedicate to it, the importance it has, etc. 
  • Activity 2 Fake News Video: I show them one video of a piece of fake news from an online newspaper (El Mundo Today) with lots of comic fake news. They answer some questions about it and, in case students do not figure out that the piece of news is fake, I reveal it and tell them about the existence of this online newspaper. 
  • Activity 3 Pieces of News: Students receive different pieces of news. Most of them will be fake, except for one. In pairs, they have to read the piece of news, understanding it to be able to summarize the main content. 
  • Activity 4 Discussion Students present their news in a very professional way, as if all the news were true and very serious. They will have to discuss afterwards about which news are fake and which one is true. 
  • Activity 5 White Lies:  Fake news are full of lies, so students talk about white lies. Are they good or can they be good sometimes? Do they lie a lot? Are they good liars? Have you ever been caught lying?
  • Activity 6 Follow-up Excuses:  Students are given a list of hypothetical situations and have to come up with excuses to avoid getting into these situations. 

Resources used

Reflection: What worked/did not work? How can it be improved?

  • This was a great class for both section. They talked a lot in their small breakout groups. Because using handouts on zoom is harder, having each news article on a different google doc made it easier to share with students.  
  • The intermediate class needed some extra help with the vocabulary on the articles so it is good to jump back and forth between breakout rooms for that section.

ES S21 INT/ADV Lifestyle – Minimalism

May 11, 2021 /

Language Resident: Katherine Pérez Gutiérrez 

Class theme/topic discussed : Lifestyles & Minimalism

Goal of the class 

  • To understand information different lifestyles and their relation with culture and language.
  • To reflect and contrast on the long-term effects and consequences of specific lifestyles

Class structure

  • Warm-up:  Students read the word minimalism on the slide and have a couple of minutes to think about what comes to their minds when they see the word. They look up a picture that represents their interpretation of minimalism and share it in breakout rooms. 
  • Activity 1: Students watch a couple of videos on minimalism to check if their idea of minimalism is correct 
  • Activity 2: Students see a small survey on minimalist lifestyle and as a class we choose three main questions: Are you a minimalist person? Do you know anyone who lives a minimalist life? Would you be able to live such kind of life?
  • Activity 3: Minimalist challenge. Students have 5 minutes to think about 15 items in their room/house that they could throw away within the next 5 minutes. Students also make a top 5 list of things they could never get rid of. In small breakout rooms they share their lists and compare.
  • Activity 4: Students decide to change their lifestyle. Taking into account different lifestyles, minimalist included, students discuss the benefits of some of them. They have to find a lifestyle that suits them the best and come up with a plan as to how they will implement that on their daily life from now on.
  • Extra activity: On a google slides presentation, students see pictures of 11 different households and their fridges. These people are from all over the world so students have to discuss 1) Where do they think they are from, 2) What kind of lifestyle they think they have by looking at their fridges. 

Resources used

Reflection: What worked/did not work? How can it be improved?

  • The class worked great for both levels. For the intermediate class the first video was slightly faster but, because it was one of the first activities, it worked well anyways. We did the extra activity as well in both classes, students enjoyed working with the pictures a lot more than the discussion-based activities this time, so it would have been nicer to have spent more time on it.

ES F20 ADV Jobs & School dropouts

December 1, 2020 /

Language Resident: Katherine Pérez Gutiérrez

Class theme/topic discussed : Jobs & School dropouts

Goal of the class 

  • To exchange information about job experience
  • To discuss the current job & student dropout rates situation in Spanish speaking countries

Class structure

  • Warm-up:  In one minute and in pairs, the students had to think of as many professions they could think of.
  • Activity 1(cred. Blanca Barranco): In pairs or small groups students answer some questions about their own job experiences: type of job, working conditions, best and worst things about the job, etc. They will have some extra vocabulary hints on the screen about payments, contract and job terms, which will also help with the comprehension of the following activity. 
  • Activity 2: Student watch a video on school dropouts and why some students in Latin America and the Caribean have to choose between going to college or working. They comment on it
  • Activity 3: Each student choose Spanish speaking country (the US included so we can compare). They have to search info about that country’s dropout rate, unemployment rate, and labor laws (working hours). After commenting on their findings, students discuss the following questions: What country’s situation surprised you the most? What do you think is the cause for these rates/laws? What could be done to have a better situation?
  • Activity 4: Students do a role-play simulating a job interview. They will receive a handout with possible questions, but they will also be encouraged to use their own questions.
  • Activity 6 (extra): Having discussed younger people’s situation, we watch a short movie that talks about how hard it is for people over 35-40 to find jobs. Have this happened to anyone around you? Do you think it is a good strategy for hiring people? If you were in a hiring committee, what would you take into account to hire a candidate?
  • Activity (extra2): The teacher shares some personal experiences regarding job interviews. For example, questions of the current position interview for Pomona: Would it be a problem for you to live in a small place such as Claremont?
  •  

Resources used

Reflection: What worked/did not work? How can it be improved?

  • I had issues logging into zoom again, so we started the class at about 4:20 pm instead, on google meet.  Other than that, the class worked really well, students liked the topic. I have noticed that this group enjoys doing “research” activities (like act. 3) a lot more than previous groups, so I will keep using that method .
  • Ended up just doing the first 3 activities

Annex

ES F20 INT/ADV Climate Change

December 1, 2020 /

Language Resident: Katherine Pérez Gutiérrez

Class theme/topic discussed : Climate Change

Goal of the class 

  • Talk about environment and climate change issues

Class structure

  • Warm-up Focused Free Writing (cred. Tilman Viëtor): I give students 5 sentences/words related with climate change (eating habits, waste, habits change, economic system, tourism, 3 Rs). After choosing one, they have 3-5 min to write about how that word/sentence is related to environment & climate change.
  • Activity 2 Intro questions: What do you know about climate change? What climate change related issues do you know about? Is there anything you do to help the environment? Do you think tourism has anything to do with the environment? What do you think about recycling?
  • Activity 3 UN Discussion: I show students key words related to what UN recommends people to do to for a greener world post-pandemic. They have to discuss why they think this term is there and how it is related to environment/climate change. (Key words: Nature, essential goods and services, energy, eating systems, cities, public funds)
  • Activity 4 What about my town?: In groups, students look up environment issues their cities/states are struggling, and how people (individuals & government) are dealing with it (measures being adopted).
  • Extra activity: Students have to choose one of the many issues discusses in class and choose a measure, that they could implement in their lives, aimed at solving this issue (You can ask how did that go a few weeks afterwards 🙂
  • Extra activity 2: Discuss the consequences social distancing and quarantine has had on environment (Less contamination, wild animals on the street, etc.)

Resources used

Reflection: What worked/did not work? How can it be improved?

  • It was a fun class. I was worried students would not be willing to talk much about the topic because it tends to be repetitive, but having activity 4 helped because they brought the topic into their own lives. We did not have enough time to do extra activities.
  • Having questions related to each key word on activity 3, in case students are a bit lost as to how to address the topic can be useful. I did not need them with the advanced class, but I used a few of them with the intermediate class.

Annex

  • Questions for activity 3:
  • Naturaleza: ¿Crees que dependemos demasiado del petróleo? ¿Se te ocurren otras alternativas?
  • Servicios esenciales: ¿Cómo debería controlarse el gasto de agua? ¿De qué manera se puede proteger lugares con escasez hídrica?
  • Energía: ¿Crees que malgastamos mucha energía? ¿Cómo? ¿Piensas que deberíamos dar prioridad a las energías renovables? ¿Si pudieras elegir una energía renovable cuál sería? ¿Qué problemas crees que tienen las energías renovables? ¿Crees que deberíamos usar la energía nuclear?
  • Sistemas alimentarios: ¿Crees que hay sistemas alimentarios más perjudiciales que otros? ¿Cómo afectan las diferencias alimentarias de distintas culturas los espacios físicos?
  • Ciudades: ¿Piensas que el tráfico en las ciudades debería ser controlado de alguna manera?¿Crees que el turismo tiene algo que ver con el medioambiente?
  • Dinero público: Crees que se puede compatibilizar el Desarrollo economico con el deterioro medioambiental? Crees que los gobiernos estan lo suficientemente comprometidos con el cuidado del medio ambiente?
8.-Cambio-climático-INTDownload

ES F20 INT Routines

December 1, 2020 /

Language Resident: Katherine Pérez Gutiérrez

Class theme/topic discussed : Routines

Goal of the class 

  • Get students to know each other
  • Talk about daily life

Class structure

  • Warm-up Routines: I show students how a day in my life looks like. To have them add vocabulary I ask them if they days look very different from mine (Do you do anything else? Workout, meditate, cook, play music, watch a show). In groups, they start talking about their daily routines and answer some questions: What do they have in common? How are they different? Is there anything you would like to start doing? Is there anything you would like to stop doing?
  • Activity 1 Habits: How would you describe a habit? Which ones are good? Which ones are bad? In breakout rooms students brainstorm different vocabulary.
  • Activity 2 Addictions: We start talking about addictions.  What are they? Do they think they are similar to bad habits? Are you addicted to something? What is this generation’s addiction?
  • Activity 3 Internet addiction questionnaire (cred. Tamara Olivos): In pairs they complete a questionnaire that will determine how addicted they are to the internet. We share the results with the entire class.
  • Activity 4: Where you using internet in a different way before COVID-19? How so? Do you like it better now or before? How can you balance “work online” time vs “social life online” time?
  • Activity 5: As a class, we discuss ways in which you can change your bad habits/addictions.
  • Follow-up: In groups they do a brief debate about the drinking age, 18 or 21?

Resources used

Reflection: What worked/did not work? How can it be improved?

  • The class worked well, we worked up to activity 4 but did not have enough time to share the questionnaire’s results. For this activity I put everyone in the breakout room and, although I went through all the questions to check vocabulary before, it was hard to check on students. It would be better if the questionnaire is not as long, or has easier vocabulary.

Annex

3.-Rutinas-INTDownload
Internet-addiction-questionnaireDownload

ES F20 ADV Diet & Food labeling laws

December 1, 2020 /

Language Resident: Katherine Pérez Gutiérrez

Class theme/topic discussed : Food Industry & Diet

Goal of the class 

  • Practice vocabulary related to diet and food industry
  • Discuss how health laws are related with health issues and the role food industries have on consumption.

Class structure

  • Warm-up questions: What’s a “diet” for you? Have your eating habits changed since you were a child? How would an average diet look like in the US? What diets have you heard of, what do they consist of?
  • Activity 1 Organic Diet: Students discuss the issues that are supposed to be solved by switching to a 100% organic diet. After introducing the possible new issues that may arise as a consequence, students discuss the short- and long-term effects an organic diet may have for the environment and agriculture. Would it be feasible for everyone?
  • Activity 2 Food labeling laws: Student watch videos about food labeling regulations in the US and in Chile. They answer some questions about them: Do they have anything in common? How are they different? What effects do you think these regulations have had on public health concerns? Do you think it changed people’s eating habits? Would it work in the US?
  • Activity 3 What’s for dinner (cred. Tamara Olivos): In groups students must create a recipe with a “secret ingredient” to make it special (doesn’t have to be food, they can be as creative as they want). Then, they present their creation to the class as if they were on TV.

Resources used

Reflection: What worked/did not work? How can it be improved?

  • It was a great class. Two students who took my class the year before so we had already commented on the food labeling laws, but in a much more superficial level. They were all very interested on how different the regulations were, the effects it had had on public health and how a regulation like this would be beneficial in the US.

Annex

4.-Dietas-ADVDownload

F20 Online: Social Media

August 14, 2020 /

Conversation Class Lesson Summary

Language Resident Name:

Maria Segura

Maria Glukhova

Katherine Pérez Gutiérrez

Day and Date:

Week 3-4, Fall 2020

Language and Level (intermediate or advanced class):

All

Class theme/topics discussed:

Social Media

How did you structure the class?

Warm up questions

  • Would you rather have everything on your phone right now (browsing history, photos, etc.) made public to anyone who searches your name or never use a cell phone again?
  • Would you rather never run out of battery power for whatever phone and tablet you own or always have free Wi-Fi wherever you go?
  • Short poll: Do you…
  • Check your phone as soon as you wake up (Consulter son smartphone dès son réveil)
  • Use different devices to watch/read stuff at the same time (Lire des informations ou regarder du contenu (photos ou vidéos) sur plusieurs écrans simultanément.)
  • Check your phone every 10mn just in case (Consulter son smartphone toutes les 10 minutes au cas où.)
  • Reply to every text in less than 10mn (Répondre à chaque message en moins de 10 minutes)
  • Texting and driving at the same time (Utiliser son smartphone au volant)

> Do a quick graph with the answers to show how students use their phones/social media/technology.

General discussion questions

  • Some people “collect” friends in social networks. Is it possible to have 500 friends in real life?
  • What do you think about social media? 
  • How would you define them? 
  • What types of social media do you know/use? 
  • What are the advantages and disadvantages of social media?

Activity 1 – Carmen & Twitter

  • Carmen: show the video. Ask students, in pairs, to focus on one of the characters: either Stromae or the bird. How do they change throughout the song?
  • Compare with the original opera Carmen. Quels éléments linguistiques, musicaux, etc. Stromae emprunte-t-il à « Carmen » ? À votre avis, pourquoi Stromae a-t-il fait ce choix ? Que pensez-vous de ce clip ? Atteint-il les objectifs supposés ?

Activity 2 – Create your own social media (cf Katty SP LR 2019)

  • Made-up social media platform: After giving an example of  a social media platform a friend and I created, in groups of three, students have to create new social platforms using either of the criteria provided in the table (they can also add new ones). They have to consider three different categories: Topic, target audience and functions. Also, they have to create a name and a logo for their platforms

Activity 3 – Social media and social movements

Article on how social media affected the “Printemps Arabe” back in 2011. Could be the starting point of a discussion on the impact of social media on social movements: 

  • Do they think social media can be used for more than fun?
  • How different are they from more traditional ways of communicating information? What are their specific characteristics? (direct access/easy to share with a lot of people/younger target audience)
  • What are the risks?

Activity 4 [For Rus] – VKontakte

Go to vk.com and create your own VK account! (you can talk about the structure, differences with FB, copyright..)

F20 Online: Hobbies

August 11, 2020 /

Conversation Class Lesson Summary

Language Resident Name:

Maria Segura

Maria Glukhova

Katherine Pérez Gutiérrez

Day and Date:

Week 3-4, Fall 2020

Language and Level (intermediate or advanced class):

All

Class theme/topics discussed:

Hobbies

How did you structure the class?

Warm up – what can you do with this object? (//Rosina SP LR 2015)

The LR writes a word on the board (eg: lamp). Then, they divide the group into two teams. Each team has to come up with the greatest amount of “crazy” ways in which a certain object may be used. Online, the chat could be used, or a padlet where each student/team would write down their words as they come up with them.

General discussion questions

  • What is a hobby?
  • What is your hobby?
  • Why do people have hobbies?
  • Why did you start your hobby?
  • Does your hobby influence your choice of friends?
  • Which hobbies are the most popular in your country?
  • Did you have any hobbies when you were a child?
  • Can you think of any hobbies which are popular with children and adults?
  • Do you think a hobby is different from a sport?

Activity 1 – Lost on a deserted island

  • Each student is asked to write down two/three objects that represent something they enjoy doing (it doesn’t have to be realistic handy objects eg could be a swimming pool, the ocean, a horse) —> hobbies. The class is divided in two/three groups. Each student presents to the rest of their group the object and explains why it represents them. 

— Variant 1.

  • Once every student has described and explained their item, the class is divided in smaller groups. They are now on a deserted island and only have the objects they had chosen with them. They must work together to improve their chance of survival by combining all the objects of the group in fun and innovative ways. 
  • To wrap-up the activity, ask the students to discuss in their small groups or in pairs one of their hobbies. 

— Variant 2.

  • Students draw 2 objects instead of just one, and then they exchange pictures without seeing them *online, we could probably use a folder?*. 
  • Students pick 2 pictures that someone else drew. Their task is to come up with ideas of how these two objects would help them to survive on a deserted island. 

Activity 2 – Creating a club, American campus style

  • Students who have very different kinds of hobbies are paired up/put in groups of 3. Together, they must create a club that they would present to the next Turf dinner. The club must be a mix of their  two hobbies plus another element that I randomly gave them (tea, pets, knitting…). They need to fill in a chart with information about the club and prepare a presentation for the Turf dinner. 
  • Fake Turf dinner: in turn, each group presents their club to the rest of the class. The other students must find, with their partner(s), at least one question to ask to each group.

Activity 3 – Jeopardy

  • In small groups, students have to make small presentations on a hobby’s’ categorie, such as, sports, music, audiovisual, cooking. They should include fun & interesting facts about these categories in relation to the countries where and people who speak the target language. For example: Soccer is the most popular sport in Latin America; Guillermo del Toro has won over 10 awards. 
  • The instructor creates a game on https://jeopardylabs.com/ using info students had mentioned during the class, diving the game into the same categories. 
  • This activity would work better if the presentations and the game are done on 2 separate classes. If you have the presentations on a Tuesday and you play the game on a Thursday to make sure all the questions you include in the game are going to be based on information your students already know from the previous class.

Activity 4 – Hobbies charades

  • Using vocabulary reviewed during the class, on zoom, the instructor sends a private message with a hobbie they had mentioned in class (ex: wine tasting) to a student. The student pantomimes the activity mentioned and the class guesses. The student who guesses gets to pantomime next and so on.

Extra activity  – Guess who

  • Part 1: At the beginning of the class ask students 10 questions about hobbies ( Who likes cooking/baking? What do you like to cook/bake?). The instructor asks students to reply the yes/no question using the “thumbs up” icon on zoom. Whoever has clicked the icon has to write down on the chat what it is that they like to do (Baking cakes).  *Check if it’s possible to clear the chat on zoom”
    • Do you like playing sports? Which one?
    • Do you like cooking? What do you  like to cook?
    • Do you like baking? What do you like to bake?
    • Do you like arts and crafts? What do you like to do?
    • Do you like watching films? What genre?
    • Do you play any instrument? Which one?
    • Do you like reading? Which one is your favorite book?
    • Do you like listening to music? What genre?
    • What’s your favorite thing to do? (If previous questions don’t provide enough info)
  • Part 2: At the end of the class, the whole class plays guess who. The instructor randomly chooses one student and the rest of the class starts asking questions to guess who is the chosen student. Repeat a few different times
    • Do you like ball sports/extreme sports/water sports/ outdoor sports?
    • Do you like savory/sweet/hot/cold/spicy/ food?
    • Do you use thread/paint/pencil/paper/etc?
    • Do you like action/comedy/crime/drama/fantasy/historical/horror/thriller/romance/etc.?
    • Is the instrument you play a woodwind/percussion/string/brass/keyboard?

Extra activity version 2 – Guess the sport

  • Display on your screen/Send to your students a picture with about 20 sports. Either the instructor or one student chooses a sport from the display. The rest of the class has to guess which sport was chosen by asking questions to gradually get rid of the different sports. Specify that they have to ask broad questions like: 
    • Do you like ball sports/extreme sports/water sports/ outdoor sports?
    • Do you like savory/sweet/hot/cold/spicy/ food?
    • Do you use thread/paint/pencil/paper/etc?
    • Do you like action/comedy/crime/drama/fantasy/historical/horror/thriller/romance/etc.?
    • Is the instrument you play a woodwind/percussion/string/brass/keyboard?

ES S20 INT/ADV Traveling

May 10, 2020 /

Language Resident: Katherine Pérez Gutiérrez (Credit to Marie Segura)

Class theme/topic discussed : Travel

Goal of the class 

  • Practice vocabulary related to traveling and means of transport
  • Get to know popular touristic destinations in Spanish speaking places

Class structure

  • Warm up: Questions (Do you like traveling? What does traveling mean to you? What are the advantages and disadvantages of traveling? Do you think traveling is a form of education? What places have you been to? Would you like to travel on your own?
  • Input:  Story about one of my trips (emphasis on means of transport and activities I did there)
  • Activity 1: What type of traveller are you? Students have been given a free trip but they can’t choose where to go. In pairs, students fill in a chart explaining what type of traveller they are and rank a list of things they like to do the most when traveling.
  • Activity 2: Organize the trip. Organize a surprise trip for another pair of students using their preferences. Each pair of students receives another pair’s list of preferences. Now they have to organize a surprise trip, by first choosing a destination (4 destinations are proposed on a handout with the main activities you can do there but they can also choose another Spanish-speaking destination and look up for information online) and then deciding on different aspects of the trip: length of the trip, means of transport, housing, activities organized there. When they’re done, students pick 10 items out of a list that they would pack for this trip. They can add things if they want to. 
  • Activity 3: Presenting the trip/Receiving the Gift. Each group presents the trip they organized to the rest of the class (and especially to the group who receives it who has to react)
  • Activity 4: Customs role-play. Students are on their way to their destinations. In small groups they have to recreate getting to the airport, checking their luggage, going through customs and everything people usually have to do when in the airport.
  • Activity 5: Filling a complaint. Students come up with a complaint about something going wrong with their trip (the flight got delayed, the airline lost their luggage, the place they where staying at wasn’t clean enough, etc.) 
  • Activity 6: COVID-19. ¿How has traveling changed since the virus started spreading? What measures have been taken by airlines/airports? Do you think this is going to have a more permanent effect on traveling in the future? How are airports and airplanes going to look like after the pandemic is under control? 

Resources used

Reflection: What worked/did not work? How can it be improved?

  • The class worked okay. Trying to use the handout was hard because of zoom, but after trying to make the questions in a more conversational way, it worked okay. Because only 2 students joined the class, we only did the first 3 activities.

Annex

  • Traveler’s handout
Viajero-handout.pages

ES S20 INT/ADV Literature/Idioms

May 10, 2020 /

Language Resident: Katherine Pérez Gutiérrez

Class theme/topic discussed : Literature & Idioms

Goal of the class 

  • To practice literature related vocabulary
  • To become familiar with Spanish speaking authors and popular titles
  • To recognize common idioms

Class structure

  • Warm-up: Questions about reading taste & habits (Do you like reading? How often do you read? What was the last book you read? Who is your favorite author? Which one is your favorite book? Do you have any favorite character? Do you have any reading routine?) 
  • Activity 1: I show students the book covers of 6 Spanish literature classics. After randomly reading  the back cover of the books, students have to match them to the book cover and come up with a title for the books. At the end students comment on which book seems the most interesting for them.
  • Activity 2:  Santiago en 100 palabras: I show students a Micro-stories. After reading 2 examples,  in groups, using a template provided by the organization in charge of this contest, they have to write a micro-story.  (https://www.santiagoen100palabras.cl/web/#libros)
  • Activity 3: Don’t judge a book by its cover. Students have a list of idioms commonly used in Spanish. In groups they have to guess the meaning of each idiom. I explain what the real meaning of each idiom is before jumping onto the next activity.
  • Activity 4: Using story cubes,  in groups, the class comes up with a short story where they put the idiom in context.
  • (extra) Activity 5: Childhood texts stories. I tell students a story about how this children story that marked me greatly when I was a kid. They do the same. 
  • (extra) Activity 6: Students are randomly assigned one of the idioms we have been using all along the class. They have to write the idiom for their classmates to guess, but only using emojis.
  • (extra) Activity 7: Students watch a video where you have to guess new idioms based on emoji phrases.

Resources used

  • PPT
  • Youtube
  • Story cubes
  • “Santiago en 100 palabras” handout

Reflection: What worked/did not work? How can it be improved?

  • The class worked well. Even though we didn’t go pass activity 3, they seemed quite engaged when reading and commenting on the books’ blurb.

Annex

Santiago en 100 palabras handout

S100p-¿Y-cómo-es-el-cuento

S100p-Periodista-por-un-día

ES S20 INT/ADV End of Term Report

May 10, 2020 /

Language Resident: Katherine Pérez Gutiérrez

Class theme/topic discussed: End of term report

Goal of the class:

  • To look back on the year and prepare some goals for the upcoming year.
  • To practice past tenses, conditional
  • To  exchange information about the future to be able to hypothesize 

Class structure

  • Warm-up: Students discuss  whether they know or the meaning of the following words: Goals, balance, accomplishments, to achieve a goal, to be thankful.
  • Activity 1: Students discuss the following questions: What goals people usually propose for themselves? Can you think of 2 or 3 goals related to these areas of life? (Health, work, money, family, couples, studies, friendship.
  • Activity 2:  Year’s balance/ recap: in pairs students complete each other’s chart of memorable things that happened to them during whatever period of time you are talking about. Then they share. (In case the conversation his going to slowly, use the questions in the annex) 
  • Activity 3: (cred. Marie Segura & Mikiko Saigo) New Year’s Resolutions: (This activity takes place during a family dinner/dinner with friends) Students are separated in groups. In turn, they roll the dice and discover their new year’s resolution. Then, they have to convince skeptical friends/family that they are actually going to keep their resolution this year and to explain why it is so important to them and how are you going to do it.
  • Activity 4: Students become fortune tellers and predict each other’s future with the help of the story cubes and some images. They will make predictions about health, success in work and education, and love. 

Resources used

  • Resolutions sheet
  • PPT

Reflection: What worked/did not work? How can it be improved?

  • As the last class of the semester, it worked pretty well. For activity 2, if it’s an online class, it’s better to have the questions in hand.

Annex

  • Activity 1 Table: 
SaludTrabajoDineroFamiliaParejasEstudiosAmistades
Ej.: comer más sano





  • Activity 2 Chart: 

Cosas divertidas que hice: …
Algo nuevo que aprendí: …
Gente interesante que conocí: …
Lugares que visité: …
Algo que nunca olvidaré: …
Algo de lo que estoy orgulloso/a: …

  • Extra questions for Activity 2: 

¿Cuáles han sido los momentos más destacados?

¿Qué cosas nuevas has probado durante este año?

¿Cuáles han sido tus momentos más felices?

¿Qué has aprendido durante este año?

¿Cuál ha sido tu mayor éxito personal? ¿Y cuál tu mayor éxito profesional?

¿Cuál ha sido el mayor aprendizaje sobre ti mismo?

¿Qué harías de forma diferente?

¿Qué quieres mantener durante el próximo año? ¿Qué te gustaría cambiar en el año nuevo?

  • Resolutions sheet

ES S20 INT/ADV Music

May 9, 2020 /

Language Resident Name: Katherine Pérez Gutiérrez

Class theme/topic discussed: Music taste and music genres

Goal of the class 

  • To work on music related vocabulary
  • Learn about music culture in Spanish speaking countries

Class’ structure

  • Warm-up: Introductory questions about music taste and word cloud on music instruments. 
  • Input: Small presentation on Cueca. It includes instruments usually used to play that music, exponents and dance (how is it and how the costumes look like).
  • Activity 1: Students choose between different Spanish speaking countries music styles. They have to make a small a presentation and include the same information as in the presentation the teacher gave (cumbia, ranchera, flamenco, rumba, timba, tango, salsa, merengue) 
  • Activity 2: Students describe a picture in which writing and music is related and discuss whether music should also be considered poetry. Students receive fragments of different reggaeton songs and poems and have to distinguish which are which. They listen to all of them, read as if they were poems and share their results
  • Activity 3: Each group of students works with one of the fragments which corresponded to reggaeton songs and have to invent a new fragment. We listen to the songs and I pause them right before their fragment comes, so that they sing it. 
  • Extra Activity 1: Discussing the content of some reggaeton songs and their cultural significance: Yo perreo sola – Bad Bunny
  • Extra activity 2: I play different songs linked with the styles they talked about in their presentations. Students have to guess the music genre. 

Resources used

  • Youtube: 
  • PPT

Reflection: What worked/did not work? How can it be improved?

  • Students enjoyed the discussions at the very beginning, but doing the zoom presentation was a bit hard. When talking about online classes, it’s better to avoid those “group research projects” because some students may just be on their phones or have a harder time doing group research.
  • As an extra activity we created a playlist in Spotify and I’ve heard students commenting on the songs, which is fun and engaging for them.

Annex

ES F19 INT/ADV: Social Media

December 13, 2019 /
SOCIAL-MEDIA-IntAdv

Spanish Conversation Class – Intermediate/Advanced

Language Resident Name:  Katherine Pérez Gutiérrez

Class theme/topic discussed 

  • Social media

Goal of the class 

  • Practice vocabulary related to social media
  • Compare and contrast different situations usually found in social media
  • Create new social media platforms 

Class’ structure

  • Attendance (2 min)
  • Warm up:  What do you know about social networks? What words come up to your mind: Students create a Menti Word cloud with words they would use to define social media. Most interesting words are chosen and discussed by everyone: Would you use this word as well? Why? Where in social networks do we see it reflected the most? (10-15 min)
  • Input: Video + Survey: I show students a video that talks about uses, advantages and disadvantages of social network uses. Followed by a discussion: Do you agree with this? How many of you do this kind of things when on the internet? We also talk about a survey that shows which are the most common social platforms used in some Hispanic countries. They discuss and compare to the US (5-7 min)
  • Activity 1: Toteking – “Redes Sociales” music video. Students watch half of the video and, as they are watching it, they have to check at least 2 critiques the singers makes to social media. Afterwards, they get three short statements from they just heard. In groups they discuss they statements to finally report their discussions to the class (10-15 min)
  • Activity 2: Made-up social media platform: After giving an example of  a social media platform my sister and I created, in groups of three, students have to create new social platforms using either of the criteria provided in the table (they can also add new ones). They have to consider three different categories: Topic, target audience and functions. Also, they have to create a name and a logo for their platforms (15-20 min)

Resources used

Reflection: What worked/did not work? How can it be improved?

  • I did this class at the beginning of the year so students felt more comfortable working in groups at first. For Activity 2 you have to be careful not to take that much time giving an example about what they have to create because the activity itself already takes a long time. They had a lot of fun with activity two and you can even do a jury like activity in a following class where they all have to grade each other’s platforms

Annex

  • Social networks table
Categoría Público Funciones
Citas
Empleo
Noticias
Compra y venta Lifestyle Educación
Comida
OTROS
Ancianos
Adultos +30
Jóvenes Niños Animales
OTROS 		Fotos y videos
Transmitir en vivo
Juegos
Mensajería directa Música
OTROS 
  • Grading Table
Grupo N



Idea



Nombre



Logo



ES F19 INT: How do they look like?

December 13, 2019 /

Language Resident Name:  Katherine Pérez Gutiérrez

Class theme/topic discussed: People’s physical appearance.

Goal of the class: Learn vocabulary to describe someone’s physical appearance.

Class’ structure

  • Attendance (2 min)
  • Warm up: In small groups, students brainstorm words related to physical description. They also answer: What do you think about when talking about physical appearance? How would you describe your closest friend? How would you describe yourself? (3-5 min)
  • Input: I show students a picture of my friends and I give a mini description of almost each one of them. Students have to give a mini description of 2 people in the picture, who I haven’t described yet. (5-7 min)
  • Activity 1:  “Una mujer fantástica” trailer: Students watch the trailer of the movie and describe the main character’s appearance (height, hair, age, etc) in small groups. Then, they whole class comment on the description and add more traits to have a more detailed description of the  movie characters’ (5-7 min)  
  • Activity 2: In pairs, students describe each other. One by one, students get a paper with a classmate’s name written on it. They have to give a description of that classmate so that the rest of the class guess who are they taking about (emphasize that the descriptions have to be hard enough for the class to not guess immediately right after) (5-7 min)
  • Activity 3: Detective role play: Each student get a picture of someone who “has gone missing”. One of the student is a detective and the other one has to tell how does the person missing looks like. The “detective” draws the person who is being described. Both students get to be a “detective” using one different picture each. After having done this, each group describes their partners’ picture and we all get to compare and see how accurate the description was (15-20 min)

Resources used

Reflection: What worked/did not work? How can it be improved?

  • The activities worked okay. Activity Nº2 worked fine because the class was small, but it could also be done with smaller groups in a larger class. The topic could have been developed in a bit more depth with a more complex activity to make it a bit more challenging.

ES F19 ADV: Migration

December 13, 2019 /

Language Resident Name:  Katherine Pérez Gutiérrez

Class theme/topic discussed: Migration.

Goal of the class:

  • Talk about current immigration affairs (both on a personal and general level)
  • Practice the use of past tenses (preterite & preterite imperfect) 
  • Practice storytelling (1st & 3rd person)

Class’ structure

  • Attendance (2 min)
  • Warm-up: Students and I go over the talk we went to on the previous class (“Commonsense Racism and Latin American Mobility in the Time of Trump”)  and comment a bit on what the speaker said.  In small groups, they start discussing: What where some common phrases used by Trump? What group/s of people is he usually referring to when talking about migrants? Why do you think people leave their countries? Which ones are the largest groups of migrants in the US? Do you have any idea about immigration in other places, like Chile?  (5-7 min)
  • Input: 1) Students look up on their phone where do people who migrate to Chile come from. After discussing their findings, I showed them a video about a Foundation in Santiago. During the video they had to answer: When was the foundation created and by whom?Around  how many students and volunteers where participating there? What was the role of the more advanced students?

2) I also talk about how my experience working in that foundation was. (5-7 min)

  • Activity 1:  In groups, students tell each other wether or not they have had any experience related to migration, and, if so, they share it to one another. Afterwards each group share their stories with the whole class, but each student has to tell one of their classmate’s story. (10-15 min)
  • Activity 2: Aporofobia (fear and rejection towards poverty and poor people): Students look up the meaning of that word and comment on it. They have to answer: Have you seen an example of that in the U.S? Where? When? Does that sound similar to what I’ve told you about Chile? (5-7 min)
  • Acrivity 3: “Linguistic barrier”: I read a paragraph from a news article about Haitians in Chile and how language is a barrier for them as well. Students comment on that as well, comparing and contrasting U.S. situation with Chile’s one (5-7 min)
  • Activity 4: Migration explained with kitties: I play a video that explains Central American migrants situation with kitties. In groups, students answer some questions related to the video:  Why are they using cats to explain the migratory situation? Why do Central American migrants travel in caravans? What are some of the issues they face along the way? Mention 3 reasons why they leave their countries. (10-15 min)

Resources used

Reflection: What worked/did not work? How can it be improved?

  • .The class worked really well in spite of how sensitive the topic can be. If you emphasize that they should not feel pushed to share anything they don’t want to, as long as you pay attention to how students are feeling, the class should work just fine.

© 2024 Language Residents

Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑