Author: Blanca Barranco Lafuente
Conversation Class Lesson Summary
Language Resident Name: Blanca Barranco Lafuente
Day and Date: 26th February
Language and Level (intermediate or advanced class): Spanish Advanced
Class theme/topics discussed: Street Art
Goal of the class:
- To be able to describe a painting and express own feelings
- To exchange information about street art
How did you structure the class?
- Warm up: Students see some graffiti images and have to decide whether they are art or not. What is considered art and what is considered vandalism?
- Activity 1: Students complete a quiz about graffiti vocabulary in order to learn more words of street art (https://quizlet.com/140617233/vocabulario-graffiti-flash-cards/).
- Activity 2: Students review a handout with expressions used to describe pictures. In pairs, one student will solve a puzzle of a painting and the other student will describe the painting.
- Activity 3: Students discuss different controversial questions related to street art.
- Extra final activity: Students see a picture of a graffiti and comment on the author (Banksy, an anonymous street artist). Students see the video of a polemical auction in which one of Banksy’s pieces of art is sold and auto destroyed.
What technology, media or props did you use? (internet resources, playmobiles, handouts, etc.)
- YouTube
- Quiz with graffiti vocabulary
- Puzzles
- Discussion questions about street art
What worked well in this class? What did not work?
- Students shared very interesting opinions about street art and they were specially engaged during the puzzle solving activity.
How could this class be improved/modified?
- This class served as introduction for the conversation project about street art, allowing students to discuss basic issues revolving around the topic and to learn basic street art vocabulary, so I would not modify it for this specific purpose.
Conversation Class Lesson Summary
Language Resident Name: Blanca Barranco Lafuente
- Credit: José Gómez
Day and Date: 20th February
Language and Level (intermediate or advanced class): Spanish Advanced
Class theme/topics discussed: Advertisements
Goal of the class:
- To understand cultural differences through advertisements
How did you structure the class?
- Warm up: Students answer some questions about publicity (e.g. Which was your favorite advertisement of the Super Bowl? Where is publicity more effective?)
- Activity 1: Students watch a controversial US commercial and comment on it. They will then compare it with Spanish commercials.
- Activity 2: Students get a handout with different slogans and they have to guess which product the slogans are selling. Then they watch the real advertisements.
- Activity 3: Students speak about the importance of adapting the different advertisements according to the target culture. In small groups, they analyze the existing differences in the same Coca-Cola spot for Spain, Mexico, Argentina and Peru.
- Extra final activity: Debating the advantages and disadvantages of personalized advertisements.
- Extra final activity (2): Speaking about subliminal publicity. Testing students by placing blue pictures of idioms with eyes over Oldenborg and asking them to choose a part of the body and a color to see if these subliminal posters had some effect on their choice.
What technology, media or props did you use? (internet resources, playmobiles, handouts, etc.)
- PowerPoint Presentation
- YouTube
- Handout with slogans
- Posters for the subliminal publicity activity
What worked well in this class? What did not work?
The whole class worked very well. They talked a lot and were engaged all in the activities. They specially liked the last activity of the subliminal test, since they were not able to notice the signs around them and were very surprised.
Conv_Advertisements Conv_Advertisements_Handout Conv_Subliminal-picturesConversation Class Lesson Summary
Language Resident Name: Blanca Barranco Lafuente
Day and Date: 15th April
Language and Level (intermediate or advanced class): Spanish Intermediate
Class theme/topics discussed: The Bar (Film)
Goal of the class:
- To exchange information about the main topic of the film
- To analyze the characters of the film and their evolution throughout the film
- To relate the topic of the film with recent events that have taken place in our society
How did you structure the class?
- Warm up: Students share general opinions about the film and their cinema preferences: What did you like most about the film? And the least? Do you like these kinds of films? What is your favorite cinema genre?
- Activity 1: Students discuss the significance of the title and analyze the intro of the film: Why did the director choose those images for the intro? How does the music of the intro make you feel? What are your expectations of the film after seeing that intro? Does it match the rest of the film?
- Activity 2: Students analyze some cultural expressions and events that happen during the first part of the film, learning colloquial idiomatic expressions.
- Activity 3: Students focus on the characters, analyzing the first impression that they portray and possible derived prejudices, also describing their personal problems and how their behavior changes throughout the film. Who is your favorite character and why? Is there any character that you specially dislike?
- Activity 4: Analysis of the use of humor in the film. Students talk about humor scenes. Is humor compatible with a horror movie?
- Activity 5: Students relate the topic of the film with the current global crisis. Are there any aspects that appear in the film that also show the behavior of people these days in real life? They will also be given some speaking prompts with quotes from the film.
- Activity 6: Debate of a hypothetical situation. Students write down the most essential professions during the Coronavirus crisis according to their opinion. The vaccine for the virus is out, but there is not enough for everyone: Which working collectives should have priority and receive the vaccine as soon as possible and why?
- Extra final activity: Analyzing the advertising of products throughout the film. E.g. the abundance of Coca Cola drinks in the bar.
What technology, media or props did you use? (internet resources, playmobiles, handouts, etc.)
- Netflix
- Handout with questions and activities
What worked well in this class? What did not work?
- They had nice discussions with the activity of the vaccine, and they were able to answer all of the questions, however the film and the topic might be too hard for some students.
How could this class be improved/modified?
- They did not have as much to say as I had expected with the first activity, about the intro of the film, so since there are lots of activities, I suggest simply skipping that one.
Conversation Class Lesson Summary
Language Resident Name: Blanca Barranco Lafuente
- Credit: Ivan Lucic
Day and Date: 4th March
Language and Level (intermediate or advanced class): Spanish Intermediate
Class theme/topics discussed: Sports (2)
Goal of the class:
- To learn about cultural facts related to sports
- To exchange information about famous athletes
- To simulate a sports interview and record it for the conversation project
How did you structure the class?
- Warm up: Students create a list with the sports that they believe are the most famous in the United States. They do the same with Spanish sports. Then they see the real rankings.
- Activity 1: Each student receives a sport and students have to look for the best athlete of that sport. They will have to fill in a table with concrete data (e.g. trophies, salary, funny facts about childhood, etc.). Then they share their person with a classmate and discuss some extra questions (e.g. which sport is more difficult or which one deserves a better salary).
- Activity 2: Role-play. Students act as sport journalists and athletes. They answer a set of questions as if they were the famous person about whom they made some research.
- Extra final activity: Speaking about unsportsmanlike actions and reading about some of the most polemical cases. Agreeing on the suitable punishments for each of those actions.
What technology, media or props did you use? (internet resources, playmobiles, handouts, etc.)
- PowerPoint Presentation
- Handout with table and interview questions
- YouTube
What worked well in this class? What did not work?
- The interview worked well and some of them were really creative with their responses. They also did a very well job while researching about famous athletes.
How could this class be improved/ modified?
- The research part was individual and took quite long, so it would be better to look for fewer questions so that they can focus more on the speaking part without spending too much time working individually.
Conversation Class Lesson Summary
Language Resident Name: Blanca Barranco Lafuente
Day and Date: 2nd March
Language and Level (intermediate or advanced class): Spanish Intermediate
Class theme/topics discussed: Sports (1)
Goal of the class:
- To review and use vocabulary related to sports
- To exchange information about sport interests
- To design a new sport and rules for it
How did you structure the class?
- Warm up: Students answer some general questions about sport (how often they practice it, why they practice sport, etc.).
- Activity 1: Students play a memory game about sports to review some vocabulary and learn new words. They will have to match the name of the sport with one rule about that sport.
- Activity 2: I show them some pictures of myself when I was a child and used to play basketball on roller skates. I explain some basic rules of the sport.
- Activity 3: Students explain to a class mate the rules of their favorite sport.
- Activity 4: Students invent a sport mixing up two different sports and create some basic rules.
- Activity 5: Students present their sport to the rest of the class. First they will not speak and will only mimic the sport and the rest will have to guess what it consists on. Then they will explain which rules they made up.
- Extra final activity: Watching some of the weirdest sports ever invented and commenting on them.
- Extra final activity (2): Speaking about extreme sports.
What technology, media or props did you use? (internet resources, playmobiles, handouts, etc.)
- PowerPoint Presentation
- Memory game cards
What worked well in this class? What did not work?
- Students enjoyed the mimic activity and inventing a new sport. I think the memory game was also a good warm-up activity.
How could this class be improved/ modified?
- I like the class as it is, however whether this class is successful or not will also depend a lot on students’ interests, so it is important to know if they enjoy practicing sports.
Conversation Class Lesson Summary
Language Resident Name: Blanca Barranco Lafuente
Day and Date: 2nd December
Language and Level (intermediate or advanced class): Spanish Intermediate
Class theme/topics discussed: Shopping
Goal of the class:
- To exchange information about shopping preferences
- To learn how to bargain in flea markets
- To find the best present for an assigned student
How did you structure the class?
- Warm up: Students answer some questions about shopping: how often they shop, what is the best / most useless thing they have ever bought, etc.
- Activity 1: Brainstorming about the different possibilities of shopping and sharing preferences about where to shop. This will lead to the introduction of special shopping places such as flea markets. Students watch a video of the most famous flea market of Spain and answer some comprehension questions (what can be bought there, when it takes place, etc.).
- Activity 2: One of the main things that happens when buying at this flea market is bargaining. Therefore, students practice bargaining with other students to get the best prices for different products. Then they share different advices and techniques for bargaining.
- Activity 3: In pairs, students have to “go to this flea market” and find the best present for other randomly assigned students in the class. They will have to agree on what the best presents are according to their personalities.
- Extra final activity: Discussing extra topics about shopping preferences (local vs. shopping malls, second hand vs. new, branded clothing, etc.)
- Extra final activity (2): What would you buy if you won the lottery? Sharing ideas. Explaining how the Christmas lottery works in Spain, since it is a very important event.
What technology, media or props did you use? (internet resources, playmobiles, handouts, etc.)
- YouTube
- PowerPoint Presentation
What worked well in this class? What did not work?
- They were really into the bargaining part, so the role-play worked pretty well.
- Some of the questions of the warm-up were not suitable for all students because they did not go shopping that often, but they were still able to share their ideas and preferences, which was one of the goals of the lesson.
Conversation Class Lesson Summary
Language Resident Name: Blanca Barranco Lafuente
Day and Date: 30th September
Language and Level (intermediate or advanced class): Spanish Intermediate
Class theme/topics discussed: Food
Goal of the class:
- To learn vocabulary about food
- To exchange information about favorite dishes
- To invent their own creative dish
How did you structure the class?
- Warm up: Students see different pictures of food and try to guess which one is Spanish.
- Activity 1: I tell them that my favorite dish is the Spanish omelet and I explain them how to do it. Meanwhile students complete a worksheet about how to do a Spanish omelet.
- Activity 2: Students think of their favorite food and explain the recipe to another classmate.
- Activity 3: In groups students will become chefs and have to think of a super creative recipe. They receive three main ingredients that their dish must contain (they will be weird combinations) and they have to invent a name for the dish and a recipe.
- Activity 4: Presentation of the dishes in front of the class and results from the jury.
- Extra final activity: Showing them weird foods or strange food combinations that people eat and discussing whether they would try them or not.
- Extra activity (2): Telling them a personal story about a cooking disaster.
What technology, media or props did you use? (internet resources, playmobiles, handouts, etc.)
- PowerPoint Presentation
- Handout about Spanish omelet
- Cue cards with ingredients for the task
What worked well in this class? What did not work?
- They seemed to have fun while inventing their own recipe and they showed lots of interest during the warm-up activity discovering new Spanish dishes. They were also shocked by my cooking disaster; they really like these kinds of personal stories.
How could this class be improved/ modified?
- The comprehension activity while I was providing them with some input was a bit confusing because there were two tasks in the same activity. It would have been better to simply put the statements in order and leave the part of matching statements with pictures only for fast-finishers.
Conversation Class Lesson Summary
Language Resident Name: Blanca Barranco Lafuente
Day and Date: 12th November
Language and Level (intermediate or advanced class): Spanish Advanced
Class theme/topics discussed: Cinema
Goal of the class:
- To exchange information about cinema
- To acquire cultural knowledge about Spanish cinema festivals and awards
How did you structure the class?
- Warm up: Students answer some questions about personal preferences regarding cinema and films.
- Activity 2: Students see the flyers of different films that have received Spanish awards and match them with the corresponding genres and synopsis.
- Activity 3: Students become part of the jury of the awards. After seeing part of the trailers of those films, they have to vote for the best film, best music and best animation (sharing their personal preferences and professional aspects that they can notice).
- Extra final activity: Students become directors and potential leading actors and actresses. That is, each “director” interviews different potential actors in order to hire the most suitable one for a specific genre that will be randomly assigned. The directors will make questions that are important for them in order to hire an actor suitable for that film genre and the actors invent a personality that would be suitable for that genre as well. Once the interactions finish, the directors share the names of the hired actors and actresses and see if the assigned genres matched or not.
- Extra final activity (2): Once directors and actors are paired, they decide the main plot of their new movie.
What technology, media or props did you use? (internet resources, playmobiles, handouts, etc.)
- PowerPoint Presentation
- Handout with film synopsis and warm-up questions
- YouTube
What worked well in this class? What did not work?
- The selection of movies was appropriate, since they really enjoyed watching the trailers.
- They did the extra questions and they were very fast and creative inventing new plots for the movies.
Conversation Class Lesson Summary
Language Resident Name: Blanca Barranco Lafuente
Day and Date: 31st October
Language and Level (intermediate or advanced class): Spanish Advanced
Class theme/topics discussed: Halloween
Goal of the class:
- To know more about how Halloween is celebrated in Spanish regions
- To invent their own scary story
How did you structure the class?
- Warm up: Students are asked about how they celebrate Halloween to find out different possibilities. Students do a Kahoot quiz to prove how much they know about the origin of Halloween.
- Activity 1: I explain how Halloween is celebrated in Spain and, more specifically, how it is celebrated in my city, where one of Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer legends takes place. They do some comprehension activities about the legend.
- Activity 2: Students invent their own legend with the help of the story cubes.
- Activity 3: Students share their stories with the rest of the class and ask one or two questions to make sure that they understood it and that they were paying attention.
- Extra final activity: Speaking about Halloween customs, about the ones they liked the most so far and the one they will be wearing this year.
What technology, media or props did you use? (internet resources, playmobiles, handouts, etc.)
- PowerPoint Presentation
- Kahoot
- YouTube
- Story Cubes
What worked well in this class? What did not work?
- They created very original stories and they were really into it.
- The Kahoot quiz worked pretty well.
Conversation Class Lesson Summary
Language Resident Name: Blanca Barranco Lafuente
Day and Date: 10th September
Language and Level (intermediate or advanced class): Spanish Advanced
Class theme/topics discussed: Regional festivities (1)
Goal of the class:
- To know about the different festivities that take place in different parts of Spain.
- To invent their own festivity.
How did you structure the class?
- Warm up: Students brainstorm about Spanish festivities that they have heard about. Afterwards, they see a map of Spain with stereotypical features of the different regions to appreciate how the stereotypes change in the different cities. They match some of the Spanish regions with sentences that describe those stereotypes.
- Activity 1: Students see some of the typical festivities that take place in some parts of Spain. It will serve as example for the following activity.
- Activity 2: Students receive a handout with a table about different elements that are needed to describe a festivity (when, where, what, why, etc.) and one card describing the main element of the festivity (e. g. tomatoes). They invent their own festivity filling the table.
- Activity 3: They share their festivity with the rest of the class and see how the real festivity is (in this case, la tomatina), being able to compare it with their invented ones.
- Extra final activity: Students walk around talking to each other about their favorite festivity in the US.
What technology, media or props did you use? (internet resources, playmobiles, handouts, etc.)
- PowerPoint Presentation
- Handout
- YouTube
What worked well in this class? What did not work?
- They really enjoyed watching some videos of the festivities, since some of them were really unique. They also participated very actively while inventing their own festivity.
- The invention of the new festivity took less time than I thought, so we had enough time to do the extra activity and they were able to talk about their favorite American festivities. Some of them insisted that there were no such festivities in the US, but still they had nice conversations with each other.
