Monday, October 22, 2012

Doing "Las noticias" - Part 2

Okay, right after I posted the other day about my great idea for how to do "Las noticias" in levels 3, 4 and AP consistently and really work in the language, culture, etc. I morphed it again.  Here is my latest method.  (You need to be able to project from your computer onto a screen to do it this way.)

1.  Go to bbcmundo.com (this site is my new best friend in the upper level classroom)
2.  Specifically look for articles/news bits that have a video (either by looking for "Lo más visto" usually on the right hand side off the home page, or, if nothing there suits, go to either the América Latina tab or some other tab and just start searching the lists of articles for those that have a white "play" sign on the picture.)
3.  Copy and paste the first paragraph or so of the article's text onto a Word document, make it huge font, save and title it "Las noticas Oct 23" or something along those lines.
4.  When the class comes in, project the Word document on the screen and question through it with the question words as described before, talking about unfamiliar vocab, etc.
5.  Follow up with the 1-2 minute video, sometimes with some prepping of what they should expect to hear in advance (my students seem fascinated by these videos and really do listen and try to understand.)
6.  Pause the video a couple of times to see what words anyone picked up (if desired)

The awesome thing about the videos to go with the news bit of the day is that my students are hearing different accents from all over the Spanish-speaking world.

I look for articles that aren't overly controversial or upsetting.  (I want them to focus on the Spanish, not on screaming at each other about the results of the latest presidential debate.)  I look for articles that will feature cultural facts, places, famous people and leaders from Spanish speaking countries because that will contribute to AP knowledge nicely.

Here are some articles with videos I've used recently in class and really liked:

Art and Culture - Picasso exhibit in New York, et al.:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/mundo/noticias/2012/10/121011_video_movida_cultural_10oct_jg.shtml

Cuba's new law eliminating the need for permission to travel abroad (video has "Key Questions" that are written out on the screen for your teaching/reading pleasure):
http://www.bbc.co.uk/mundo/noticias/2012/10/121016_ultnot_cuba_permisos_viaje_extranjero_jmp.shtml

"Latin Beats" with some Chilean band that has really fun music and an interview with the lead singer:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/mundo/video_fotos/2012/10/121015_latin_chico_trujillo_aston_pea.shtml


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