21 chronological questions in both Spanish and English to accompany the film Motorcycle Diaries which chronicles the early life of Che Guevara. This film won awards and is excellent for any level of Spanish or Social Studies. However, one should note that the film carries an R rating for the language that appears in the subtitles. (the English is harsher than the original script) and you will want to obtain parental permission or limit this film to junior and senior students. Movie guide also contains 9 follow up topics for class discussion or independent student writing. Great film! Your students will love it.

This 10 slide powerpoint outlines the basics of the SABER/CONOCER dilemma, covers usage, conjugations and a slide of practice sentences and answers. Good for launching an explanation of SABER CONOCER to Spanish I or higher. Takes about 20 minutes to present. Download also includes word doc for scaffolded notes and practice that accompanies the powerpoint.

This 56 minute documentary on Netflix is the best thing I have seen this year for either a Spanish or Social Studies. 4 college students spend 56 days in a remote Guatemalan village on 1 dollar a day budget, while exploring effects of living in extreme poverty and some innovative solutions people have come up with to survive. Excellent for any Spanish class where you have been studying immigration and reasons people leave their home countries to risk their lives traveling to the US, or for a Social Studies class looking at underdeveloped countries and what it means to live in extreme poverty. My students loved this film bc it was created by four college students and used their observations and connections as narrative between interviews with people in the village. (Interviews are in Spanish with subtitles, narrative in English. ) Suitable for any level middle, high school, available on Netflix, this film was such a gem you will want to own a copy. Movie guide contains 29 questions.

This giant 36 slide powerpoint covers Direct Object pronouns from beginning to end. We start by identifying them in English, then moving into Spanish, we replace Direct Objects with pronouns in 1 verb, 2 verb, gerund, postive command, negative command and use them in questions. Slides contain step by step notes, explanations of accents, personal "a" usage and contains tons of examples. This powerpoint is best used over several days of instruction with classroom activities and exercises as students learn all the uses for DOP's. Best suited for SPanish II students learning pronouns for the first time or as a review for a higher level course. All practice examples reveal the answers as you go along, so no worries about an answer key! Total teaching time is at least 90 minutes if students work the practice examples as you go along, but I would chunk this up over several days as DOPs can be overwhelming.

This mini adventure webquest puts students to work compiling information about a Spanish speaking country of choice. I recommend partners and a day in the lab together where you can guide them through the website and help them to form conclusions and comparisons to their own lives in the US. Assignment can be completed in one class period. Allow two more class periods for students to present their findings to the class. Assignment is in English as its designed for lower level or introductory courses but could easily be converted into Spanish for a higher level class, or used for a French class with Francophone countries.

This movie is great for a middle school beginning Spanish class. It deals with a young Mexican athlete who lives illegally in Los Angeles and has a chance to realize his dream as a professional soccer player in England. Dialogue is mostly in English, with some family interaction in Spanish with subtitles. This film works great as a conclusion to a chapter on sports or as an opener to the discussion of the importance of soccer to Hispanic people and around the world. Film is rated PG-13, and contains a couple of swear words, but otherwise is "safe" for a middle school audience. Movie guide contains 29 questions in order of the film and 5 follow up themes for discussion. Movie is available from Amazon, on Netflix or on Youtube.

A four day lesson plan for the short story EL HIJO includes: Pre-reading questions for discussion in small group, chart for drawing the story as students listen to the audio version on the cold read, activity for students to complete as they re-read the story in pairs, 2 essay prompts for students to choose for final assessment, and link to a good version of the story narrated. El Hijo is available on line for free from a variety of sources if you don't have the text, and is best for a level IV class or higher or Heritage speakers as the vocabulary is complex. Lesson takes about 4 days to complete with time in class for reading and discussion. Preview file contains a suggested plan for how to teach this story with my activities. This lesson does not contain an answer key because the students will create their own discussion, reactions, ideas and they will vary depending on how they interpreted the story.

This 90 minute documentary from PBS chronicles the life and career of Frida Kahlo, explains her work and her relationship with muralist Diego Rivera. If you are teaching Mexican art to Spanish students and don't want to show "Frida" because of its R rating and evocative scenes, this film gives all the information necessary to understand Frida's life, love and works, with beautiful up close visuals of many of her greatest paintings. Movie guide contains 30 questions that follow the film and two follow up topics for class discussion or to be assigned as an essay for homework. This film works well for Level III teaching Realidades unit on Art, or AP curriculum as well as for an art or social studies class. Movie will take 2-3 days to complete, depending on if you stop to discuss questions with students ( PBS documentary is available for purchase on Amazon starting at $10 or directly from their website for $24.99)

Roy Germano PhD in poli sci visits small Mexican towns to interview people about why many people risk their lives to leave for work in the US. Germano talks with workers, farmers, spouses, families and municipal employees to discover reasons people leave and what happens to their families when they go. This compelling documentary is 55 minutes long and fits neatly in 1 class. It is an excellent companion to one of the many movies about undocumented immigrants and their journeys to the US. Most of this film is in Spanish w English subtitles and works well with any level high school Spanish or Social Studies where you have spent time discussing the immigration. This film is very well made, not rated, and has won awards at film festivals, available on Netflix or for purchase on Amazon. Movie guide contains 22 questions that follow the film. I divide students into small groups and assign each group sections to answer, then share out. Questions included in Spanish and English.

This powerpoint presentation will launch the unit on subjunctive, covering requirements for a subjunctive verb, formation of the tense and many of the irregular, weird Yo, stem changer verbs, and lots of practice examples. There are several slides for oral practice where students can shout out then check their conjugations, followed by a list of WEDDING conditions for subjunctive sentences with examples and 32 practice examples on slides with answers so students can check their work and discuss along the way. I use this presentation over the course of several days to work on subjunctives and follow up with a practice packet of additional exercises, but the powerpoint could easily carry students through the first three days of notetaking and practice. Presentation adapts nicely to the AVID style of Cornell notetaking. I was observed using this lesson and the administration loved it!

Fictional film based on true events, the Bolivian Water Wars of 2000 when the govt tried to privatize the water supply, raising rates 300% making clean water inaccessible for a large sector of population. A Spanish director filming a movie about Columbus conquest in Bolivia is an interplay between scripted scenes where the Spaniards exploited the Taino under Columbus, and Bartolome de las Casas defends them, while in modern day scenes villagers are exploited by the government and even by the film makers, until one man helps them mobilize and stand up for their rights. An excellent movie, It opens discussion for how little has changed for indigenous poor in much of Central & South America and parallels between the initial exploitation and modern day inequities. Best suited for older/higher level high school students studying the cutural aspects of Latin America as well as language. Contains questions, answer key, topics for discussion and a list of topics for follow up research.

This project is designed for the end of level III or the beginning of level IV Spanish class. Students are introduced to relevant thematic vocabulary and then use it to track the events in a soap opera of their choice for 5 days. Students then have a choice of 2 oral projects to present the main events of the soap and to voice their recommendations to their peers. Great review for preterite vs imperfect while introducing students to the popular culture Hispanic telenovelas. Project includes vocabulary, guidelines, note taking template and rubric.

This worksheet reviews days of the week, months, and seasons for students who need extra practice or are just being introduced to them.

This 96 question reading guide accompanies the book La Línea by Ann Jaramillo. The story is fiction but based on facts she learned from her own ELL students. This story chronicles the perilous journey of two Mexican children heading North to reunite with their parents. This book is in English but is full of Spanish words and would be a great filler activity to read in a lower level Spanish class for a few minutes daily or to use in a middle school classroom or with ELL learners who could connect with the story. The book is highly recommended and positively reviewed. Its a cliff hanger in parts and a tear jerker in others, and should invite students to be introspective about the hot topic of illegal immigrants in the US. This book would also work well with the film "La Misma Luna" or the documentary "WETBACK".

A really difficult very tense for students to integrate into their spoken vocabulary, this A-B partner practice has students asking their partners what they would do under a certain set of circumstances. Best suited for a Level IV or V AP class, this exerise is also fun for Heritage Language Speaker students who seldom get the practice they need in past subjunctive tense. Takes about 15-20 minutes to run in class and you will enjoy sharing out some of their answers large group afterwards to hear how they responded.

This A/B partner practice has students reading short statements about some problems they might have and the other partner makes recomendations on how to resolve the issue using an impersonal expression from the list and verbs in the subjunctive tense. Practice works best for a level III or higher class where students have been working with the subjunctive and are familiar with how to form regular and irregular verbs. Takes about 15 minutes to run in pairs and answers can be shared out in large group following.

This partner practice combines imperfect verbs and childhood vocabulary. Students take turns asking each other about peoples childhood. Each student gets 8 questions using imperfect verbs and childhood vocabulary. Works best with students who are learning imperfect verbs and are familiar with forming both AR and ER/IR verbs. Practice takes about 15 minutes in class and is a good warm up before a quiz or as an extra speaking practice.

Helpful list of the numeric codes to key when typing letters with accents. Printable word doc that you can share with your students.

Lots of practice words organized alphabetically for brand new Spanish beginners to practice pronunciation.

More number practice for when your students have learned all the way up to 100. Same idea as the 0-20 version.