Language Resident/Assistant Name: Tamara Olivos
Day and Date: February 2, 2021
Language and Level : Spanish Advanced
Class theme/topics discussed: Accents
Goal of the class:
- To talk about different accents in English and Spanish.
- To talk about how accents influence our perception of people
How did you structure the class?
Ice breaker: “House Treasure Hunt”. The instructor will post items on the chat (one at a time) and students must try to find the item and bring them back as soon as possible.
- A kitchen item that starts with a “C” (cuchara, cazuela, cubeta, copa)
- The longest book/textbook you can find
- Something yellow
- Scissors
- A small box
- A broom
Warm up: Which accent is your favorite in Spanish and in English? Which accent is easiest/hardest to understand in Spanish? Why? Are you good at imitating accents in English?
Activity 1: We watch a video about the different accents in English. What did you think? Did she do a good job? Did you like her accent? Where is she from? Because the video is pretty long, the instructor can pause after each accent and discuss the questions above.
Alternative: Watch this video instead about Spanish accents, although it’s in English.
Activity 2: We watch a series of videos by HBO Latino where they discuss stereotypes and their lives in the US. We discuss the videos. What is the stereotype? What is the situation in their states? How can we change this? What’s the main reason for the rejection of people different from us? Has anyone made fun of your accent, in English or Spanish?
What technology, media or props did you use? (internet resources, playmobiles, handouts, etc.)
Zoom, YouTube
What worked well in this class? What did not work?
I skipped the accents video because my previous class didn’t enjoy it very much. I added an alternative because it may be easier for students to talk about Spanish accents. This class loved all the HBO videos though and had lots of comments. Because we skipped the first one, we had a lot of time to spend on the HBO videos.